League of Legends Worlds: Can ‘Golden Left Hand’ top ‘Faker’ to earn a grand slam?

One of Zhuo Ding’s nicknames around League of Legends is “Golden Left Hand,” and he will need every ounce of that shimmering fist this weekend to land the knockout punch against his idol.

Zhuo, better known in the gaming world as “Knight,” is one of the rare southpaws on the esports scene. He has long admired “Faker” (real name Lee Sang-hyeok), and for good reason. Faker, the superstar mid laner for juggernaut T1, has been called the Michael Jordan of esports and enters Sunday’s League of Legends World Championship (LoL Worlds) semifinal round in pursuit of his unprecedented fourth world title.

Faker even warned his competition earlier in this tournament: “If you want to be the best, you’ll have to beat me first.”

Knight doesn’t cower from the challenge. Reached while in Busan, South Korea, this week, he respectfully acknowledged that Faker is 6-0 in series against teams from the League of Legends Pro League (China) at Worlds. Knight then said of Faker’s winning streak, “I want to break it.”

The LoL Worlds is the pinnacle of competitive video gaming, an annual culmination of a globe-spanning season of regional leagues that selects 24 teams to compete in a five-week tournament.

Typically, two teams of five players fight across a magical battleground known as Summoner’s Rift, and the landscape is viewed as a vast, scrolling map. Each team starts at its base, or Nexus, at opposite ends of the playing field, with three pathways through the middle — a top, middle and bottom lane. Everything else is jungle. The team that destroys its rival’s Nexus wins the match.

Beyond that is where it gets boundlessly complicated. As in chess, there are infinite permutations, but in LoL, all the pieces are moving around in real time, fighting, building experience points, collecting gold and respawning when they die. Throw in monsters, minions, turrets and other plot twists, and these best-of-five series can overload the senses.

The Golden Left Hand has a golden opportunity Sunday when his JDG Intel Esports Club (JDG) team faces Faker and T1 in a semifinal showdown at the Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan. One team will advance to play the winner of the Weibo Gaming-Bilibili Gaming matchup in the Worlds final Nov. 19 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, an indoor venue with a capacity of about 17,000.

As last year proved, things can get wild at this stage. A year ago at Chase Center in San Francisco, Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu guided upstart DRX to a cinematically dramatic victory over heavily favored T1. Along the way, Deft upended Faker, his rival since their days together at Mapo High School in South Korea.

“The greatest Cinderella story in esports,’’ as Naz Aletha, the global head of League of Legends Esports, called it during a recent interview. “DRX climbing their way through the entire tournament to face off against the GOAT himself on the finals stage. The storylines and backstories behind these teams, behind Deft and Faker, took the stakes and emotional connection of the game to a whole new level.”

The English-speaking broadcast of the 2022 Worlds final was the most popular esports event of the year, registering 1.6 million peak viewers, an increase of 41 percent over the 2021 Worlds. The 2022 final accrued 121.7 million total hours watched between the live airing and the official rebroadcast.

Improbably, the 2023 tournament might top last year. Knight, one of the best mid laners in the world since his 2017 debut at 16 years old, has been a key cog for a team on the precipice of LoL history. JDG could polish off a grand slam at Worlds, winning all four major titles in the same season. They’ve already won the Spring Split finals, Mid-Season Invitational, Summer Split finals and Worlds.

Only once in the 13-year history of LoL Worlds has a team reached the Worlds finals with a chance to complete the grand slam. Berlin-based G2 came up short after winning the first three legs before finishing as the runner-up at the 2019 Worlds.

Now, JDG is knocking on the door — with a Golden Left Hand. Perhaps there’s a bit of serendipity in the fact LoL fans refer to the grand slam in their sport as the “Golden Road.” JDG has yet to lose a best-of-five series in all of 2023.

“We’ve seen titans of the game. We’ve seen underdog stories that we’ll never forget. Every other achievement really has been taken at this point,” industry expert Tyler Erzberger said. “The one that we’re really looking for is the grand slam — the Golden Road. … JDG is (two) match wins away from completing the Golden Road and becoming, I would have to say, undoubtedly, the greatest League of Legends team of all time.

“Maybe there are arguments for a better dynasty. But for a one-year stretch, you would have to say no one’s been better than them.”

This semifinal showdown offers a choice between a towering personal milestone and an astonishing team accomplishment. In one corner, Faker — the famed “Unkillable Demon King” — could win his first Words title in seven years and regain sole possession of the record for most championships (Bae “Bengi” Seong-wong also has three). Faker has celebrity status in Korea and sometimes gets the rock-star treatment from rabid fans. More notably, he is permitted to skip what is usually mandatory military service by winning a gold medal at the Asian Games.

In the other corner, JDG — a team built through pricey offseason acquisitions that secured the first three legs of the slam by winning two LPL trophies and one Mid-Season Invitational earlier this year. Its offseason additions of players like Knight and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk strengthened a talent-rich roster that put egos aside to play as one.

“I feel like we’re gradually able to improve our teamwork over time,’’ JDG coach Yoon “Homme” Sung-young, told The Athletic during a recent video conference. “That probably has become our biggest strength.”

Though teams from China have hoisted the Summoner’s Cup, which goes to the Worlds champion, it’s always been South Korean mid laners who have starred on those teams. Erzberger said Knight wants to be the first Chinese mid laner to hoist that trophy — and maybe become a national treasure himself.

“Knight’s the prodigy!” Erzberger said. “He wants to show that he can be not only the face of China, but the face of League of Legends as a whole.”

Duoduo Wang, a China-based shoutcaster (what other sports call a broadcaster), has seen this building over the past few years. He cast Knight’s first pro game in the LPL in 2017.

“I think if JDG can win the final prize, that will be a historic thing. We really need a symbol of esports here in China,’’ Duoduo said in a video conference. “With JDG, they kind of show the quality of Chinese people, of Chinese players. They are hard-working. Less talk, more action. These are the same qualities of Chinese people.”

The semifinal showdown between JDG and T1 — the most talented team ever assembled against the greatest player ever looking to return to his native turf — could be a doozy.

“We might be able to see Faker win his fourth world championship and return to the throne after seven years!” said Jeon Yong-jun, also known as Caster Jun, a Seoul-based esports icon known for his booming voice. “What can be more fantastic than this?”

Despite the epic stakes, Knight is managing to stay cool. During a video conference, he explained he’s keeping his head down until his mission is complete.

“After so many years I’ve been playing as a pro player, it’s still that final goal, the ultimate goal that I really want to achieve,’’ Knight said through an interpreter. “I feel like LPL titles, they’re still very good, but they’re not attractive enough for me. So, for sure, I’m extremely excited about a chance to raise that Summoner’s Cup.”

Knight is an established star, having delivered the promise he showed immediately upon his professional debut under legendary top laner Liu “PDD” Mou. This year, he’s found his comfort zone because JDG’s vast talent pool means he can simplify his approach. Knight isn’t counted on to lead; he can just play.

“Every player on JDG, they’re all very experienced, especially in terms of international tournaments,’’ Knight said. “I feel like we don’t have to do a lot of work in communication or synergizing with each other. Everybody can just play their game, do our own work, and we can have a very good bond.”

Erzberger indicated that might be a tad of an understatement.

“I think what makes Knight so incredible is that he’s so mechanically gifted, but he also has the brains behind it. He’s flexible,’’ he said. “There are very few champions he can’t play at an elite level. He’s a playmaker, he’s a dynamic game-changer. If (JDG) needed a supportive kind of player, he can do that. But if you need him to be the guy to just win the game and just to feed him and have him be the late-game carry, he can do that, as well.”

Knight likes the nickname Golden Left Hand. There are different stories of the origin of the nickname, but Dot Esports credited PDD for coining it after seeing how dominant Knight was in-game — particularly in one-on-one scenarios while playing left-handed mouse and right-handed keyboard.

“Yes, it’s a fun nickname,’’ Knight said. “It’s kind of special, and it makes sense that people call me that.”

But there are a few more layers behind its appeal.

Knight isn’t just the rare esports star who plays left-handed. Indeed, he is the rare Chinese citizen to operate as a southpaw. Fewer than 3 percent of people in China report being lefty, the lowest percent of any country per a recent study, as researchers suspect a cultural stigma that prompts parents and schoolteachers to turn even natural lefties into righties.

“As far as I know, in Western Culture, a lot of people are left-handed,’’ Duoduo said. “But if they are born left-handed, sometimes their parents are going to make them change. It is a really rare thing to see players going left-handed.”

One more twist: Duoduo said in China, Knight’s Golden Left Hand moniker evokes another beloved — if unlikely — athlete. Diego Maradona, the soccer legend from Argentina, was wildly popular in China in the 1980s. Maradona skyrocketed to international fame when he led Argentina to the FIFA World Cup in 1986, the first time China started live broadcasting the soccer extravaganza.

Maradona’s thrilling “Hand of God” goal, scored with the help of his hand, became very popular among Chinese fans.

“I think fans see the same thing, maybe the same qualities, in Maradona as well as Knight,” Duoduo said.

Knight is within reach of carving his own legend. Seven years into his career, could this be the year for him and his team?

“I think Golden Left Hand fits him kind of perfectly, right? I think what it’s really about is the left hand reaching out to grab the future,” Erzberger said. “He’s hitting his prime, and I think we’re at the point now where it’s put up or shut up for him. Can you rise to the top and win this world championship and say he is possibly the best player in the world?”

It’ll be up to the Golden Left Hand to make all the right moves.

(Top photo of Zhuo “Knight” Ding: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games)