<INTRODUCTION>
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Hye-Min majoring in electrical engineering at Kookmin
University. The reason why I’ve joined this department is because of my precious high school
experience. In high school, I tried lots of projects in engineering. For example, I made a system that
make it possible to grow plants without human touch. Through these experiences, I decided to
study electrical engineering in university.
And I’m 20 years old. My hobby is playing computer games and watching e-sports pro-leagues.
This is related to the topic I will present today. Additionally, I enjoy exercising. When I was young, I
practiced boxing for almost 3 years. Even now, I sometimes exercise by hitting a punching bag.
<Presentation>
Today, I’m going to talk about the pro-league of computer game called ‘League of Legends’.
Here’s the list of contents I’m going to cover today. Types of Leagues, LCK vs LPL, History of
‘Worlds’.
Have you ever heard about Faker? I think many of you guys have heard about him at least one
time. Recently, because of Asian game you might heard of him in news. He is representative player
of League of Legends e-sports. Additionally have you ever heard of this quote? It was a famous
quote that resonated with Korea in 2022. Did you know that it was from League of Legends? I will
tell you about the history of this word.
Without further ado, let’s get into the point. I will introduce about basic information of League of
Legend pro-leagues. There are 4 major leagues, LCK Korean, LPL Chinese, LCS North American, and
LEC Europe, Middle East, Africa.
Let’s talk about the tournament in a year. Commonly each league has their own Spring and
Summer season, and there are two international tournaments. Mid-season invitational, called MSI
is the first international tournament between Spring and Summer season. Second is after summer
season, called League of Legends World Championship. It is the biggest tournament of the year. It
is similar to the ‘Champions League’ in terms of soccer. People used to call it as ‘Worlds’. Now let’s
talk about the history of ‘22Worlds’ tournament.
Recent Worlds’ winners were either LCK or LPL. They are old rivals. Their match always happens
at important moments and becomes a hot topic. However, often LPL’s key players are Korean. So, I
thought if it becomes to national competition, Korea will win China overwhelmingly. Lately, it was
proven. In 2022 Asian game, League of Legends has been officially adopted as a discipline. And
Korean team has won the gold medal in it. However, in 2023 MSI, our two LCK teams have defeated
by just one LPL team which is consisted entirely of Chinese players. So ‘Which league is stronger
than other?’ is an ongoing debate and will always be a hot potato.
In LCK, 4 teams can advance to the Worlds. Last year, team DRX in LCK advanced to it in last
place. Even in the early stage of the tournament, they showed an uncertain performance. However,
they advanced to next step by winning LPL with reverse sweep in the quarterfinals, which means
lose lose win win win in best-of-five competition. Their opponent in the final was T1, which was
undeniable favorite in the Worlds. And all experts predicted T1’s victory. When team DRX was in
trouble at the beginning of the Worlds, DRX’s captain Deft spoke this quote. Finally, he defied
everyone’s expectations and won the championship. He’s wonderful winning story and endless spirit
of challenge left a deep impression of Koreans, and the quote became tremendous meme.
Actually I’m huge fan of T1, the runner-up of the 22Worlds. Back to the season, I was looking
forward to winning the championship, and I thought it would happen without any doubt. So when
the final began, I felt like we have already won the game. However not long after we defeated, I
was really shocked and couldn’t do anything for a while. When T1 player, Keria sobbed with his
trembling hands, I related to him. I was sad at that moment, but I think there must be positive side.
I think after going through it, T1 players must have become stronger and got strong mentality. And
this would make them win the 23Worlds in this year. I trust they will make it, obviously.
That’s all for my presentation today. Thank you for your time.