Ranking all 24 teams at the League of Legends World Championship
By Josh Tyler
2. Fun Plus Phoenix
Qualified via
LPL 2019 Summer Champion
Roster
Top – Kim “GimGoon” Han-saem
Jungle – Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang
Mid – Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang
ADC – Lin “Lwx” Wei-Xiang
Support – Liu “Crisp” Qing-Song
How they got here
Coming out of nowhere to become a dominant force in the LPL, FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) was an afterthought entering the 2019 Season, as they’d been only a middle-of-the-pack team for most of the previous year. With the additions of Tian and Doinb, no one could have predicted that FPX would be this good.
Yet here they are, having ended both the Spring and Summer Splits with the best regular-season record in the LPL. Although they didn’t manage to even make the finals in spring, in summer FPX came back and finished the job in the playoffs. They defeated RNG in the LPL finals, 3-1 to secure their organization’s first trip to the World Championship.
Player to watch
It has to be mid laner Doinb, who is finally going to get to showcase his skill on the world stage. The veteran driving force for FPX has spent much of his career surrounded by weaker teammates. Now, with some back-up, he’s looking to put his name into the hat as one of the best mids in the world.
Best case scenario
FPX could be this year’s Invictus Gaming. They have a lot of talented players with experience that never quite made the leap from underachieving to performing on the big stage. Given how strong they’ve been all year, this team could win the World Championship.
Worst case scenario
They’d have to have multiple members either lose their arms, slip into comas, or develop some form of amnesia where they forget what League of Legends is to not at least make semis. I guess they could end up losing there, though.
Prediction
They’ll make it all the way to finals, poised to continue IG’s legacy…only to lose.