Our Top 10 Favorite Worlds 2021 Moments In The Entire Tournament

Worlds 2021 has been concluded for weeks now but we know a lot of fans still feel a faint hint of adrenaline from watching the tournament. For those that want to relive the experience, we’ve recalled our Top 10 favorite Worlds 2021 moments one last time. The month-long tournament felt like it concluded a bit too fast but in the span of 32 days, we’ve seen some exciting stuff unfold that we don’t ever want to forget for the years to come when we compare this Worlds to the next!

Our Favorite Worlds 2021 Moments!

There were a lot of Worlds 2021 moments that stuck in the hearts of the fans depending on which team or region they were supporting. For us, we loved every part of the tournament and have chosen from the ones that stuck with us even after a week after its conclusion. For many people, League of Legends is more than a game they play especially since it’s filled with people they admire and memories they wish to hold. Worlds the biggest stage and it’s only natural that dreams are broken or fulfilled in these moments.

There are so many Worlds 2021 moments that it’s really hard to pick just 10 but we’ve chosen them nonetheless. We didn’t limit these moments to just our favorite plays since we included moments from players, teams, and even the casters since they’ve also had some amazing moments on stream. There are a lot of in-game and on-stage scenes that will definitely live on until the next few years since the game isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

10. Kobe Forgets How Dragon Souls Work

To kick off our favorite Worlds moments, we have Kobe forgetting how dragon souls work. It’s easy to forget that even analysts and casters sometimes make mistakes but in the biggest tournament of the year, you’d think that the casters have all their cards in order! This moment made us confused for a good 20-seconds and made us check the patch notes if they changed how the soul works. Eventually, when Kobe and the rest of the casters realized his mistake, it became a hilarious situation.

For context, Kobe thought that it was possible to cycle out the 3rd elemental dragon by giving it to the enemy team so that they’ll get “a better dragon soul”. Unfortunately for Kobe, he forgot that the 3rd elemental dragon permanently stays that way for the rest of the game. Of course, we understand that Kobe hasn’t slept well due to jet-lag but it has given us a lot of laugh the entire tournament. The no-sleep casting became even funnier when he paired up with Drakos and they sounded like two drunk friends having a conversation.

9. The First-Ever 4-Way Tie in Groups

Nothing beats the excitement of a group stage than by having ALL FOUR teams in the Group being tied at the end of their 2nd round robin. Worlds 2021’s Group D was expected to be close since they were all very similar in skill level but nobody thought that it would end up in a 4-way tie. Since this has never happened before in Worlds History, everybody was at the edge of their seats as the group would proceed to a 4-way tie-breaker series that would determine which two teams would proceed to knockouts.

The stakes were also extremely high in this group since MAD Lions were the last hope of Europe to get at least one team in the Quarterfinals. Team Liquid was also desperate to break their curse of not getting out of groups, which was probably their best chance to do so. Unfortunately for Team Liquid, Gen.G managed to take the tiebreaker but MAD Lions revitalized the hope of the LEC by being able to overcome LNG in an extremely close tiebreaker game!

8. Damwon Kia Wins From 6k Behind!

Even though MAD Lions managed to get out of Groups, they immediately got seeded against Damwon Kia, who were the tournament favorites during that time. Regardless, LEC fans always have confidence in their teams and know that being the underdog only means the victory will be sweeter. They thought that MAD Lions would take Damwon Kia to at least 4-games with the possibility of beating the titans still on the table especially since it’s a best-of-five series.

Sadly, Damwon Kia proved why they were seen as the best team in the world when they would smash MAD Lions in the ground. In Game 2, MAD Lions took the lead early on and the game looked done and dusted for Damwon Kia as the MAD Lions only needed to secure objectives and win the game. However, thanks to Khan’s superior flanks and Canyon’s Lee Sin mastery, they managed to slowly retake the game and beat MAD Lions while they were 6k gold behind the Europeans!

7. LNG Ale’s 16-Minute Flame Horizon

After Gen.G’s Rascal had a below expectation week, the team decided to play Burdol for their next 2 games. In the LCK, Burdol was known as the master of Irelia and when they locked it against LNG, the people who were familiar with the LCK scene thought the game was practically over. However, LNG’s Ale answered with his Fiora, a pick that was equally as strong at the hands of a master strong-side top laner and he was a player that didn’t lose the laning phase the entire tournament.

Ale proved that being an LPL top laner meant that you were the best in the world by securing the early lead against the Irelia. A few ganks by Tarzan secured him in the lane and every time Irelia would come even remotely close against the Fiora, he would instantly die. A fed Fiora meant he was untouchable in lane and no one dared to gank her which led to Ale quickly gaining freedom in lane which secured his 100+ cs advantage over his top lane counterpart in only 16 minutes!

6. RNG Cryin Picks Annie at Worlds?

Mid laners are probably the most highlighted people in any tournament because they have such a huge spotlight on them, kinda like the lead vocalist in the band. However, Cryin is a unique kind of player because he plays a style that can only be considered as a weak-side mid laner which doesn’t make any sense but that’s exactly how we would describe it. He plays utility champions that complement his side laners and rarely chooses a champ that tries to solo carry the game.

LPL fans know that Cryin’s champion pool is extremely shallow and he only really played Twisted Fate successfully in the Group Stage. When EDward Gaming started targeting Cryin’s champion pool in the ban phase, RNG surprised the world by picking Annie, a champion nobody expected would make an appearance in professional play. This Worlds 2021 moment became even spicier when EDG even threw a respect ban towards the Annie at the final game to finally win the series 3-2.

5. Cloud9 Saves NA Again!

Of all the LCS teams in the past few Worlds, nobody really found as much success as Cloud9. The region has been struggling to keep up with the other 3 major regions and hasn’t been able to place a team to the knockouts in the past 2 years. With this year’s draw, the only real team that stood a chance at getting out of Groups was Team Liquid since their group was extremely close. Since Cloud9 got drawn into the Group of Death with Damwon Kia, FunPlus Phoenix, and Rogue, nobody really expected them to come out.

Fortunately for the North Americans, FunPlus Phoenix faltered at the last day of Groups which gave Cloud9 enough wins to play for a 3-way tiebreaker. Since Rogue already defeated FunPlus Phoenix, it was up to the two western teams to play for the last spot in one of the Most Storied Rivalries in EU vs NA. The LCS team made the region proud by defeating the LEC and making it into the quarterfinals. The team marked their own Worlds 2021 moment special by making it out of the “Group of Death”

4. DetonatioN FocusMe Creates History For Japan

Just a year ago, the LJL was considered the worst league among all of the esports regions. It was only in MSI 2021 that they finally showed that they had what it takes to compete with the best in the world. Even though they ended up getting eliminated early, the fact that they managed to beat Cloud9 once proved that they weren’t as bad a region as they were described. Their Worlds 2021 moment would make them even more prominent as they went on to beat Cloud9 again on a grander stage.

The Play-In stage is the ultimate proving ground for most wild card regions and that includes Japan’s LJL. For most of the teams, this is where their journey ends. However, DetonatioN FocusMe went on to prove that they had what it takes and beat all the other teams in their group including the LCS’ Cloud9 and PCS’ Beyond Gaming to take the top spot in their group. Nobody expected them to get out, let alone beat Cloud9 to secure their spot in the Worlds 2021 Group Stage.

3. DK Showmaker Taunting the Camera

There were a lot of Worlds 2021 moments that included players making camera appearances before or after the games. From MAD Armut’s stare-downs to DFM Evi’s iconic thumbs-ups, there were a lot of players that proved they weren’t camera shy at all. However, nothing beats Showmaker taunting the camera and showing his fierce side by getting into battle positions as he charges towards the camera “angrily”.

This moment happened after DK beat T1 in a very heated 5-game series where everybody thought that T1 would take the series after Game 3. However, Showmaker and Canyon stepped up during that game to bring their team to the brink of defeat. Showmaker showed a similar face while he was streaming in Korea that quickly became a meme. Seeing it again at Worlds is simply a wonder to behold and made everyone laugh at how even the notoriously serious LCK players can make fun of the moment.

2. The Fnatic Drama

One of the best and worst Worlds 2021 moments was the entire Fnatic drama series. At the beginning of the Group Stage, everyone was surprised that Upset, who undoubtedly had a major contribution as to how Fnatic made it to Worlds, announced that he would not play. He mentioned that he had to attend urgent family matters but fans concluded that something else was happening behind the scenes that Fnatic and management might not want to get out.

At the same time, Bwipo was also not his usual self since he and his girlfriend had been the topic of conversation against the Fnatic management. It was later revealed that Bwipo and his girlfriend have been having a tough relationship during Worlds 2021 but managed to stay strong for the team. There’s also the Fnatic vlog where they show Nisqy crying after going 0-3 in Groups. Bean’s appearance straight into Worlds was also a huge highlight. The entire saga was really a rollercoaster of emotions.

1. EDG’s Amazing Underdog Story

Last but not the least, our favorite Worlds 2021 moment has to be EDG’s underdog story. Yes, the team may have been the champions of the LPL but nobody, not even LPL analysts, thought that they would be the ones to win Worlds 2021. It was either FunPlus Phoenix, Royal Never Give Up, or Damwon Kia that would take home the trophy. They were underdogs from start to finish and we even mentioned in our Top 10 Teams List that we didn’t think they’d be the ones to take it home.

EDward Gaming became even more of an underdog coming into groups seeing as how the LPL severely underperformed. When they finally won against tournament favorites – Damwon Kia – every single person was surprised (among many other emotions) to see this team win. It was truly a magical moment not just for the LPL but for every team that was every considered the underdog. Which is why we chose this as our favorite Worlds 2021 moment!