Top 10 Most Memorable LoL Moments in Esports History

League of Legends is entering the start of a another year and so much has happened since it was released over 10 years ago on PC. As Riot Games and League of Legends began constructing the way for Esports to continue growing as an internationally recognized competitive event, it’s good to look back at some of the most memorable LoL moments in history that makes each year even more special than the previous ones. Let’s test your knowledge of League history with our top 10 most memorable moments!

Unforgettable LoL Moments

League of Legends, like many other international events, come with its share of memorable and iconic moments that are pretty hard to forget. Since League of Legends, in general, has a lot of unforgettable moments that are pretty hard to list down, we’ll be focusing on those events that are related to esports itself. Not necessarily limiting the list to in-game stuff like outplays. We’ll be adding some player or event-based stuff too so since it fits the criteria very well.

Even though the criteria has been filtered specifically to fit only esports events, there are still too many to LoL moments to choose from and it’s even more difficult to rank them accordingly. To make it easier, we’ve just chosen the first 10 things that pop-up in our heads since it won’t exactly be one of the more memorable moments if we had to dig deep to determine what they are. Without further ado, here are some of the most memorable LoL moments in Esports of all time.

10. TheShy Decimates G2 Esports

Worlds 2018 was called The Year of LPL since that was the time that Royal Never Give Up was winning all the tournaments it attended, even beating long-time rivals in the LCK. While RNG never managed to complete its miracle run by winning the World Championships, Invictus Gaming managed to pick up the baton and extend the LPL’s winning streak by beating both G2 Esports and Fnatic in the grand finals of worlds.

Before the finals of the tournament, Invictus Gaming went up against G2 Esports in what can only be described as a complete showcase of dominance. TheShy was at the peak of his skills back then and nobody in the Top Lane managed to even step foot in his domain. TheShy was so dominant that he even dominated the entirety of G2 Esports with one of the most ballsy Aatrox plays of all-time. We’re sure even G2 Esports can still feel his presence until today.

9. xPeke’s Kassadin Backdoor

Intel Extreme Masters Katowice, FNC was against SK Gaming and xPeke was up against an old rival in ocelote. The two teams had quite the back and forth but the deciding factor for the team’s victory was Kassadin’s sneaky backdoor where he was up against an extremely immobile Olaf defending the base. The backdoor wasn’t instantaneous but Kassadin’s kit combined with a bit of fancy footwork let xPeke steal the win from under SK Gaming’s nose.

One of the older LoL Moments on this list, the xPeke Kassadin moment is one for the ages. There’s a reason why the term for backdooring was called “The xPeke” for a few years and a lot of players still use it today. Fnatic also became known for being a Backdoor team since they managed to steal a few games during their time using the tried and tested backdoor method. While the popularity of this play is slowly diminishing, it’ll always be one for the history books.

8. Dyrus’ Retirement Speech

2020 may have had one of the highest number of iconic players retiring in one year for the LCS but one retirement announcement in 2015 made a lasting impact for the years to come. Marcus “Dyrus” Hill was a Top Laner for Team SoloMid and was with them for a few years. Dyrus was a revolutionary top laner in his time because of how well he could play for macro and use picks such as Singed.

There had already been several players retiring before 2015 but Dyrus’ speech on stage after being knocked out of groups in Worlds 2015 was heartrending for the fans since he gave it personally in front of all of his fans, unfiltered. The moment became even more personal when Dyrus couldn’t hold back his tears anymore and his voice cracked in the middle of his speech. Truly, that day was an end of an era in all of esports.

7. Crown 1-shots Doublelift

Worlds 2016, TSM had just come out of a potential game-winning teamfight against Samsung Galaxy that would help them secure the Baron and ultimately go for the final push into the base. CuVee, Ruler, and CoreJJ will take some time to respawn and Crown was pushed below 20% HP. All TSM needs to do in this situation is take the teamfight victory and rush straight to Baron and go back to base so that they could reset their Health Bars or even go for the game-winning push if they could.

Just as everybody thought Team SoloMid had achieved a miracle play that would pull them out of Group Stage in Worlds 2016, Doublelift makes one of the biggest misplays in history by running into Crown’s Viktor which surprisingly took him down after a single combo. Because of this and the fact that everyone at TSM only had less than 30% HP, TSM failed to claim Baron Nashor and was forced to go back to base. Samsung Galaxy would eventually win the game.

6. Faker Cries on Stage

SK Telecom T1 is no doubt one of the most dominant teams in esports history and the name Faker is one that no gamer in the world doesn’t recognize. SK Telecom and Faker at Worlds 2017 had already won the World Championships 3x, but they once again managed to get to the finals in Worlds 2017 for a chance to win it all for the 4th time but this time they’re going for a 3rd straight win.

For most professionals, winning Worlds at least once in their careers is enough satisfaction. But for real dedicated players, winning it all no matter how many times will never stop being the goal. Such is the case for Faker who, after losing the 2017 World Finals against Samsung Galaxy, cried passionately on stage. He had already won 3-times but his tears moved everybody’s hearts and proved that there is no such thing as being content with a few wins.

5. “Everyone Else Is Trash”

The iconic lines “Everyone else is trash” can only be associated with one player – Doublelift. Trash talking has always been a part of competitive culture whether it’s in physical sports or esports. While old-fashioned fans regard trash talk as a disrespectful way to talk about your opponents, many teams (especially today) regard trash-talking as a way to help them be more motivated to defeat the other team. Even esports media promote friendly trash-talk between teams or players as part of Match Teasers.

However, when we talk about trash talk, no one made it more prominent than Doublelift himself. The line was so controversial in his time that it basically created a clash of opinions and drew a definite line between Doubelift’s supporters and more conservative esports fans. Now that he has retired from pro-play, fans can’t help but reminisce on his growth as a player and person. Regardless of where he plans to go in the future, those lines will forever be a part of him and a part of the League of Legends culture that he has built.

4. The Elder Drake at Worlds 2017

Esports events back in the day were already huge but not as flashy as traditional sports events that would feature a lot of opening acts. Luckily, Riot Games isn’t the type to settle for making League of Legends an average event without any LoL moments that anybody would even remember in the future. Every year they step up their game, even recruiting popular artists to open up the even with some semi-animated live concerts that trumps even the performance level of events like The Superbowl.

Who will ever forget the first time in Worlds 2017 that the Riot Games event team managed to pull off projecting The Elder Drake over an open stadium?! For online viewers, that scene was probably one of the most breathtaking LoL moments they’ve ever seen but imagine if you were actually a part of the audience who was looking at a realistic dragon over an open stadium. It’d be less impressive if the stadium had a closed roof but they were looking at the dragon that was literally soaring over the open sky!

3. “I Trust You, Caps”

One of the most shared LoL moments on Youtube is the video where Rekkles says “I trust you, Caps” during a game where Caps wanted to play Vayne in the mid lane after seeing the enemy team pick an almost full tank comp with Galio, Alistar, Sion, and Olaf. During the video, his teammate Broxah and coach Dylan Falco were questioning his suggestion and wanted to choose something more standard like a Corki. The team couldn’t agree on what to pick so Rekkles just told Caps that he should pick Vayne if he thinks it will win them the game.

Rekkles’ line that reassured Caps that no matter what he picks, he knows that he’ll do good was definitely one of the most amazing displays of trust out there. This line has become so iconic that it became a meme. The line became relevant again when Caps went to G2 Esports where fans would try to guild trip him by telling him how Rekkles treated him as a teammate only for him to leave FNC. Luckily, Rekkles will be rejoining his former teammate in G2 Esports and we’ll be able to see these two in action again.

2. ROX vs SKT’s Semifinal Match (ft. PraY’s Ashe Arrow)

The 2016 ROX Tigers was probably the roster that a lot of people wanted to win but failed to do so because of how dominant they looked on paper and even domestically. Unfortunately, even with MaRin leaving, SKT still managed to showcase their experience and ultimately beat ROX in what might be the most memorable and most exciting best-of-5 series in League of Legends history. Up until now, there is very little Bo5s that come close to that caliber of gameplay.

Another thing that made that game so highly praised was because of the infamous PraY’s Ashe Arrow that you can watch in literally every Worlds highlight reel. An exciting base race between the members of ROX Tigers as the attackers and SKT who were frantically trying to recall home was so exciting that not one single person in the world who was watching it couldn’t feel their heart pumping from the heat of the moment. It’s hard to forget one of League’s greatest moments when it’s mentioned in literally every discussion about worlds.

1. Faker’s Zed 1v1 Outplay (-_-)

I mean, was there any other option aside from this one? Out of all the LoL moments out there, Faker’s 1v1 Zed outplay against Ryu would probably be the most memorable esports moment in all of League of Legends. The clip is literally always on the top spots in any esports-related highlight reel of all time even when it’s not entirely League related. You’ve probably watched that highlight more than 10-times already throughout your time playing League of Legends.

The 1v1 itself was extremely iconic since it was career defining for Faker as a rising superstar in Korea but the true hero in this clip has to be Ryu. Very few people know who Ryu was but at the time of this clip, he was regarded as one of the most dominant mid laners in Korea. His face showing a deep level of disappointment is one that everybody knows or has seen at least once in their lives. T1 even acknowledged this and set up Faker with a rematch with Ryu on their channel!