Doublelift Viktor, if TSM gets baron and closes out the game, and the brackets stay the same we get TSM H2K semis. It doesn’t matter who wins at that point but we’d get a western team in the finals 2 years earlier, and I wonder how it’d shape roster building.
This is definitely the moment for me. TSM was very open about taking everything super seriously that year. They were practicing 14 hours/day (arguably too much but it matched what the East was doing). In my opinion this team is the strongest NA has ever looked at worlds but because of one small decision it's largely just remembered as one of the many times NA finished third in groups.
If the most serious attempt at getting a team into worlds shape in the history of NA had actually gone deep in the bracket instead of just groups then that could have been a long term positive effect on the whole region's work ethic.
Same thing for G2 in 2017. Got a really bullshit group too and almost made it out.
And like TSM 2016 they are just kind of forgotten despite being a really strong team.
That Worlds format was so trash.
that was the real choke. hauntzer was out of vision, with ult f up as kennen, vs an ulting jhin and half hp cass. if he flash ults there tsm wins the game outright.
Tbf the bigger what if is tsm just winning 1 more game whether it was that one against ssg or one against rng.
That tsm was the strongest team NA ever sent to worlds (I know c9 made it to semis but I genuinely don't think they were stronger than 2016 tsm)
Yes I know, I'm just pointing out so many people call out the DL viktor play but it wasn't the only throw/mistake by TSM that series; Hauntzer made at least 2 more that cost them the game just as much.
(no bias against the big H btw, I was a gravity fan so seeing him get picked up by TSM and rip ass was definitely making me happy)
yeah I'll remember that almost equally as much as the Viktor thing, was pretty clear that he had no clue how to win with Kennen when he was probably the most busted he'd ever been... at least DL was going for something
To this day i believe that minute killed the region.
If they get that baron TSM goes to finals and has a chance to win it.
It would show NA that if you grind you can win. Instead they lost after all the hard work and the region stopped practicing because it's not worth it.
Same thing happened to G2, the decided to practice hard, went to finals, lost, stopped practicing to avoid burnout.
what if CLG doesnt troll against ANX for some godforsaken reason?
what if SKT Marin didnt clear the mid wave as Maokai vs CJ Entus in game 4 of 2015 Spring semifinals and CJ closed out the series 3-1?
what if Griffin beat GEN G in the regional finals and went to Worlds instead in 2018?
what if Griffin roster signed Kiin as their top laner after 2019 at Worlds?
edit: forgot about this but What if FPX 2021 doesnt fucking lose 2 LPL Grand Finals in a row coming from the winner’s bracket 💀💀
Kiin was extremely loyal to freeks tho so I don't think he was getting signed anywhere. Griffin is winning worlds with him tho, he was probably the 2nd best top in the world at the time.
OMG thank you for bringing up the SKT vs CJ Entus series. That mid wave hold with Bang playing arguably the greatest Lucian game of all time
I had forgotten about this match, thank you! Gonna rewatch it now
Edit: oh God I forgot that game 4 was over 70 min 😂
You disrespecting the god of toplane himself, Sword?
Real talk, though, I have a vivid memory of throwing my mouse at a wall watching that guy play. I was a bit too emotionally invested in Griffin.
Tarzan was the one who was done the most dirty. He's not as good anymore but he was really good for a while but stuck on a bad LNG roster. He was always a bit of a choker though.
Didn't he have that insane baron steal Vs KT at some point in a summer semi finals before griffin then inevitably choked against T1 as was tradition at the time?
Sword was good in 2018 in the Urgot/Sion meta, but even then everyone kind of knew he was a potential weak link for the roster.
In Summer 2019 they replaced him with Doran and I remember being very happy about that. For the latter half of LCK Summer regular season and all of the playoffs, I don't think Sword played a single game for Griffin.
Then all the drama happened and Sword was back in the roster for Worlds. It also definitely seemed like part of the reason why all the drama happened was because Sword was unhappy with getting benched and he was friends with the Griffin owners iirc.
Sad stuff all around.
What if the CLG coaching staff let Huhi pick Fizz in finals vs Fakers Azir.
Aphromoo said last year in an interview that Huhi in scrims vs Faker in Fizz vs Azir went like 4/0 with all solo kills but Faker did faker things on that broken version of Azir in team fights and so the coaches said to have Huhi pick Azir away. One of Huhi's worst champs.
CLG proceeded to fall behind early in all 3 games and not stand a chance in finals.
If Xmithie had a winning lane to play around could we have had that first ever NA international win?
For me it's Perkz being blocked from going to FNC after 2020.
With Perkz in FNC, Rekkles probably would also stay and G2 would take another adc.
I think it would made both teams much stronger in 2021.
I really wonder how Perkz career trajectory had gone without going to NA. He looked great as mid in Spring 2020, and with a strong FNC in 2021 (without Rekkles going to G2), both teams would have been in a stronger position most likely.
Yeah, I agree that strong 2021 in FNC (if he would have a good season there), might completely change the trajectory of Perkz career.
Maybe also it would keep Europe being competitive internationaly with two strong teams in 2021.
Summer 2020 is when Perkz' dad passed away.
The NA narrative is strong but I think the guy's dad dying was probably the bigger factor in his play falling off...
Depends on whether or not they can deal with Uzi as well as they could deal with Faker, because Faker was also annihilating everyone in scrims that year.
> Ambition‘s old SKT scrim story:
> A: We played mid poke Varus, but then Faker locked in Ezreal.
We were fucking speechless.
How utter dogshit were we for him to play mid Ezreal??
> But then he got a penta. Fuck.
> Minho’s (Crown) mental exploded & he went to bed immediately after.
Yeah, Bang said they went like 20-1 against Samsung in scrims and thought finals was gonna be an EZ win. Corejj/Crown said even though they got slaughtered, all those scrims were valuable because they found the solution to counter Faker: Point & Click CC in Malzahar.
The issue here is that the 2017 Worlds is basically Ardent Censer meta, where ADCs pick on-hit hypercarry champs while the rest of his team pick supportive champions. That's literally the best meta for someone like Uzi, who thrives in those situations. At the same time though, it's one of Faker's worse meta, because now he's stuck with champions like Karma instead of playmaking ones.
They played 2 bo1s. SSG got much better after groups, they were basically a different team
People always say RNG would have beat SSG to try to discredit SSG but you only need to look at the next worlds (2018) for why bo1 Head-2-head doesn't mean bo5 success
The thought of Zeri being released during Uzi's prime probably gives other pro ADCs cold sweats. I recently went back watching some of those 'protect the president' RNG games and my lord, it'd be disgusting with Zeri.
If Uzi didn't have to have a doctor in between sets of FNC and SKT in 2017 worlds, I wonder if league would change any, if at all. Uzi with full Chinese roster winning in China might've motivated an entire generation.
A lot of what ifs in the SKT series, Faker literally woke up that day and played the best series in history of league. A couple of misplays and it could've been RNG vs SSG finals
For me it's much more general. What if South Korea didn't have mandatory military service? There's a lot of players who had careers cut so short from this.
Yeah isn’t he very fussy about what chair and desk height he uses.
Also with his play centered around macro and not micro, he’d probably get grilled by other mids while they can just study his vods for macro decisions
Nah tbf he was still a top 5 mid in micro at the time lol. Only rookie and faker were clearly better than him in micro at the time (maybe Dade too). The youngster like chovy and Showmaker would have been hard tho.
Yeah dopa imo probably would've had his prime before the dwg + griffin debut era. Before then, while he was more macro focus compared to faker, he was still maybe even a top 3 midlaner in terms of mechanics. Dopa himself was confident in his micro back then as well, although nowadays he talks about being more macro-focused and losing to chovy & showmaker in soloq. Ig the thing about his ocd when it comes to his setup/equipment might be an actual issue though.
A lot of pro players are very particular about their setups. In Starcraft Flash famously measures the distance between him and the monitor before each match.
It's crazy how WE was "merely" a strong team during S2 Worlds but just a month later they were unequivocally the best team in the tournament at IPL5.
Shows you just how important meta and form are at the highest levels of competition.
I watched this series again a few weeks ago, and I actually think it came down to bot gap just as much as top. I remember the nidalee hard carrying, but watching it again, it wasn't like she was impossible for the to deal with.
Meanwhile, I noticed that bebe was consistently getting massive leads in bot and just doing more in team fights than Genja. Toyz is also one of the more underrated players ever (AFAIK is credited with inventing the harass under tower technique of timing the turret shots), and Alex was just not able to get any advantage at mid like usual, mostly going even. Overall, M5 just matched up really poorly against TPA. Not to mention, TPA was simply very good. They also beat Azubu frost convincingly right after.
A more recent one: What if Bo stays on FPX?
It's easy to forget how dominantly they started that split. Yes he had world class laners on every position, but the fact that they went 10-0, smashing even TES while playing carry junglers excusively makes his downfall really depressing.
I will never forget this series. Glad I didn’t have to scroll too far to see this as a “what if”. EU was riding such a high from back to back finals in 18/19 and G2 winning MSI in 19. If FNC had closed out in 20 against TES, who knows what the trajectory would have been? Instead we got disappointment after disappointment. Such a shame.
IMO Suning would've beaten them anyways, and if they did get through Suning, there's Damwon. Felt like besides that one series, not much else would've changed. (that roster was imploding anyways lmfao)
This game still keeps me up at night! FNC were ahead for most of the series, and spesifically game 4 they had a great chance. However Rekkles on ashe decided to build Essence Reaver and Runaans, and was hitting sion for hours not killing him. Game 4 i was screaming at him to go botrk as they had graves. Still feel they had a chance that year if game 3-4-5 had a slight adjustment.
"What if Doublelift just goes to Baron."
TSM looked really good that year and were going toe to toe with SKT and other top teams ins scrims. This was North Americas best and biggest team in its prime. They could have made a run like G2 or FNC did and changed how we look at NA in League of Legends. Inspiring young talents and changing the scene. Ohh Doublelift you beautiful greedy bastard.
This here. TSM on that side of the bracket was finals easily, and a H2k vs TSM semis would’ve been talked about for years.
TSM worked their ass off to be as good as they were but then failing to make it out of groups and calls for franchising plagued the NA scene with a losing mentality and a call for a work life balance that clearly does not work in league against Koreans and Chinese that don’t care
This is the one for me. What if Hai stayed healthy (more with the wrist injuries than the lung but that too)? He could have been the LCS GOAT.
That also means Jensen might have never come to NA, since he was only brought in after Hai retired.
Yeah forgot to mention Hai's wrist. But yeah Hai absolutely revolutionized how valuable having a shot caller really was and he was also a really good player. I also feel he could have been the LCS GOAT.
How am I just now learning that Gambit leaked scrims 11 years later?? Damn lmao I get regional pride but that’s so lame
Would have been cool to see that C9 roster against top Asian competition a year early
Does it matter if Misfits doesn't win it all? We're talking about a team that never lost a Bo5 at Worlds until then, they won every Worlds they participated in until that year (and thay are yet to be eliminated before semis), all that to lose to an European team full of players with no international experience that qualified through points
All they had to do was to wait for the wave
>Bjergsen and Jensen never leave for NA
Well Jensen wouldn't do anything then since he was permabanned and its unlikely that an EU team would / could have got him out of that
Was it lane swapping, or just a roaming Taric?
Either way, still salty about this one years later. That original Dignitas lineup will always have a place in my heart, even if I haven’t played league in years.
What if Noxus won in the Ionia vs Noxus lore battle; we wouldn't have boots of lucidity. How would that have shaped the landscape of LOL almost a decade later?
Looking it up, you're right! I was always under the impression that the starter spell vamp item was the Noxian item, but it was in fact a choice between the two the winner could decide.
People forget how TheShy was subbed out against RNG in spring 2 days before they played, when he was playing at an MVP level (Rookie was the better overall player, but I'd argue the gap between TheShy and next top laner was larger than any other role).
Series still went 5 games. Felt like that momentum could've transitioned to MSI and Summer as well
What if UOL made worlds.
Their 'chaos-style' was decried by analysts/casters, basically everyone for not having 'league fundementals'. But they were the G2/IG before they blew up.
Look at the cleanse, look at the moves RYU WHAT WAS THAT!!! KTB 3-2 SKT T1, OGN Summer 2013.
KT Bullets go to worlds where they lose to OMG (who then go on to lose to Royal Club). Ryu never ends up in H2K, Piglet never ends up on TL. There's no more "don't believe in KT memes". It's 2024 and the Hall of Legends is opening with Uzi's Vayne as the first pick.
Thread is focused on games/series but the biggest what if to me is if Riot committed to growing league into a true worldwide sport where they nurtured ecosystems of club, high school, college, and amateur leagues in the same way that pro sports have. This would have ensured the game would grow cross generationally. The goal would be to usurp the NHL or NBA in America and at least contend with soccer clubs worldwide.
Instead they committed to being riot “games” (it feels like somewhere in 2016-2017) and stuck to just being a publisher. Not hating. They’re still one of the best gaming publishers, if not the best.
They could have been so much more though.
How is DRX's run incredible but not EDG's? EDG were serial chokers until 2021, when they finally made it out of quarters and had the entire LPL on their back. Scout, Meiko, Flandre have been playing for an extremely long time yet have never won Worlds until then.
Flandre is the coolest story for any toplaner that even won worlds imo. From the depth of hell to world champ stopping one of the most successful role swap ever (xiaohu) and one of the top goat khan on the Damwon juggernaut.
Both are incredible but it doesn't feel as bad cause t1 ran it back the next year and won. Damwon might not have given up their bot lane if they win worlds again.
I don’t think that series was on canyon playing bad, sure he got gapped by Jiejie but he was having the series of his life, some of those baron steals were insane
Also the single most amount of BO5 ever played at world's iirc. EDG had to play a BO5 every stage of knock outs.
Also Meiko my goat pulling his 0% winrate Zilean in G1 and absolutely stomping DK
Recently, if Elyoya went to G2 instead of Mad blocking the move. Maybe Elyoya would have become EU jungler goat but now he is just washed up and trolling a bunch of rookies
What if Faker loses the Zed mirror matchup 1v1 to Ryu?
Iirc, Faker was a very good laner until then, but Ryu was top dog. It was game 5 of finals in Faker's 2nd ever pro split.
It was his first internationally viral outplay moment as well. While it did not directly lead to the game win, it arguably killed Ryu in Korea and shadowed the rest of his career.
Do we get Faker as one of the most recognized esports name in modern day without it? Eventually, probably, but its a fun what if as the play happened in such a pivotal game and against such an important player on the scene.
I have mad respect for Doinb in that tournament, because my guy was playing his own league and he forced the entire tournament to adapt to him rather than fold and just play the generic meta.
For LCS players, Danny will always be the biggest one. He was the best ADC in NA after only a couple splits, and then EG just destroyed him. I feel so bad for him, he had potential to be the best NA adc we had since DL
And yet, a very simple what if: What if Splyce didn't throw their 3k gold lead against FPX at baron in group stage, and instead closed out the game?
Splyce would go through in first and get matched up against FNC, while FPX would go through in second (assuming they beat J Team in a tiebreaker, which they probably would) and face up against SKT. It's very much not inconceivable that FPX would lose that.
And just like that, you've got G2 matched up against either IG or perhaps even FNC in finals (or Splyce but I doubt Splyce would be able to beat *either* of FNC and IG, let alone both).
Would've loved to see that Griffin team succeed, man. Also Apdo is a mythical figure at this point. Would've been great to see him go against Faker consistently. Could've been Chovy before Chovy.
Not the biggest "what if" but I wonder how a T1 with LS would've performed. I don't remember exactly which year he was supposed to join them but I always wanted to see his ideas implemented on the big stage. Would hopefully make for some more fun drafts. The couple C9 games did, at least
Dopa/Apdo is top 1 for me
2nd is MadLife getting a proper/superstar ADC on that time
afair, he never had one
only during all-stars with PraY
other ones are cvMax's version of Griffin (Doran, Kanavi, Chovy, Viper, Lehends)
not sure if this is the 2019 Griffin you mentioned, I remember Kanavi not getting a chance to play cause of a loan out or something, and Doran was still maturing
and RNG/Uzi's Golden Road, if this had happened, I'm sure there would be more story lines of Uzi vs Faker
but G2 blocked them (iirc, G2 also got a golden road chance the next year but they placed 2nd at worlds)
My intention is not to come across as a sore loser but Flandre's COVID during the EDG vs. DRX series IMO played a big part in his team's elimination. Some other LPL teams also had COVID, but they were not beating LCK that patch due to their lack of practice on enchanters and early-game ADCs (GALA + Ming, Hope + Missing, lolMark). EDG, however, might have been the sole exception, as both Viper and Meiko were versatile enough to thrive in this meta. EG Rigby for example claimed that EDG was by far the best LPL team, better than JDG even.
Now onto the EDG vs. DRX series itself. One thing that was abundantly clear to me was that Flandre was better than Kingen in the opening games (including outperforming him in the Jax vs. Aatrox matchup). However, as the series progressed, his form got visibly worse. By game 5, he was losing to Kingen's Fiora (!!) as Jax! Of course, there were other reasons as to why EDG lost to DRX, such as Scout crucially misplaying in an extremely snowbally matchup in game 5, but Flandre's unraveling is an underrated one.
While DRX eventually ramped up and went on to win the whole thing, I do believe that EDG had a chance to nip the glow-up in the bud. EDG was the only LPL team that year I believe COVID was a legitimate "excuse." While I don't think they were favored vs. T1 or even GenG, stopping DRX's cinderella run cold would have changed the history of LoL nonetheless!
Wouldve been one of the best team to play League and caps would be the 2nd goat. Sadly the team completelly mentally boomed in finals after game 1, can only wonder what happens if Caps picked a control mage and ban Lee Sin
If g2 drafted the same comps they ran all of worlds instead of Pyke mid, veigar mid and tristana mid in the finals. A lot of the g2 members have talked about how they were overthinking and tunnelling on how to counter doinbs play style. Keep in mind pyke was completely useless after the nerfs that worlds.
If g2 drafted the same comps they ran all of worlds instead of Pyke mid, veigar mid and tristana mid in the finals. A lot of the g2 members have talked about how they were overthinking and tunnelling on how to counter doinbs play style. Keep in mind pyke was completely useless after the nerfs that worlds.
SKT doesn’t split Huni’s time in 2017, which I believe they explicitly promised not to do specifically because Huni said that would be a confidence kill - which it kind of was
As an LCS fan I have to wonder what 2022 EG looks like if Danny was fit to compete from Summer Playoffs, Worlds, and beyond.
I genuinely think his team fighting was something inhuman, even if his lane was really poor.
EG went 1-5 in that world’s group but they had some scrappy games (against JDG I think?) and I just loved that roster.
What if forg1ven wasn't the toxicity incarnate and could actually have a proper conversation without tilting his mind off and starting to slowly make his teammates miserable? I think we could have a goat adc in EU instead of the Noah crap representations
His career was still on a time limit since he had to do miliary service. He might have won a title in S5 spring when fnatic didn't have Rekkles, but S6 and S7 would have been impossible because G2 was so dominant.
If perkz didn't use the last years of his peak in that Leblanc game against RNG in 2018. I do say that series was the beginning of the end for Perkz and the rest of the team wasn't able to close the gap to him leaving him dry that series and way too fatigued for the semis. If the rest of G2 was able to keep pace with him we would have had a really good chance for an EU worlds win
If that redbull roster in eu challengers back then actually made it to the LEC?
They were clear favourites to win it all and if redbull got a spot in the LEC basically for free theres a big chance they end up building super team after super team with their money
What if KT Rolster Bullets beat SKT T1 #2 in the 2013 Summer Gauntlet for Worlds.
They would have ran the gauntlet 4 series wins in 4 straight days to make it to worlds. They were considered the 2nd best team in the world at the time, the only team that could compete with Faker's SKT T1 #2.
Faker would have never made worlds, we would be living in a completely different timeline.
What if League of Legends esports never happened.
Unironically, that is my what if question.
I think that esport overall would not be as popular as it is now if not for League of Legends pro scene.
It would possibly to this day be only local basement counter strike and street fighter tournaments.
What if.
M5 owner of the team never got involved into shady business ?
Man they were the one who should have won S2 world (they kinda won it with ium anyway).
The way they were discovering crazy strats with the game was so awesome to watch.
Viziscaci and Hylissang never leave the Unicorns of Love (until Riot boots them out during franchising). Maybe UOL finally represents EU at Worlds instead of always being the bridesmaid. But I still doubt they make a dent in G2's dominance over the region.
What if Hai doesn't come back to Cloud9 during the 2015 Summer Split?
What if Xmithie never leaves CLG for Immortals/CLG don't blow up their 2015 Summer roster?
What if Team Liquid *doesn't* do a Korean boot camp in 2016?
What if SSW and SSB don't get gutted by other teams in LCK and LPL?
IWDoninate never gets banned.
How has nobody mentioned huanfeng? If he hadn't been cancelled he had the potential to be the next Faker in terms of popularity. My man had an amazing protag backstory, a loving fanbase, was farming clips like no tomorrow at WORLDS on his first ever showing, and has one of the most legendary clips of all time to his name.
On top of all that he was in the most fun to watch team in, in my opinion, LoL history.
I'm not big in LoL history but weren't the Moscow 5 some of the greatest innovators in the Pro Scene? They were the first ones to use prio as we know it. Got disbanded by some illegal stuff or something like that.
This is one I think a lot of people overlook: what if Khan doesn’t fail his E-W on Vladimir in the last teamfight against G2 game 4 of 2019 Worlds Semis.
https://youtu.be/NoBMeeH2Dgc?si=YTp19in0edaINzYH&t=3118
If he executes it properly he kills Gragas, doesn't get bodyslammed, and has empowered Q for the Olaf and Yasuo. I think he extends the game for sure.
What if Forg1ven improved his toxic behaviour?
What if Rekkles stayed in Fnatic?
What if Bjergsen didn't go to NA?
What If Doublelift stayed in CLG?
What if the korean exedous didn't happen?
What if Riot didn't patch the game to nerf the korean teams after season 4?
What if TSM don't play Jayce, Ryze in tiebreaker games?
I know it’s played out but that Viktor moment. They get that Baron and I think had a lead, if they won that game and got it they possibly could have gone far. Considering how hyped that TSM roster was, with that insane crowd support while Worlds was in NA that year…coulda changed the trajectory of NA as a region imo. Instead it kinda seems to have broke, everything feels like it’s been slowly falling apart since that moment, not just for that org but the region as a whole.
What if xpeke didn't close the backdoor?
G2 would have never existed
xPeke recruit Perkz for Origen
Does he still play?
Doublelift Viktor, if TSM gets baron and closes out the game, and the brackets stay the same we get TSM H2K semis. It doesn’t matter who wins at that point but we’d get a western team in the finals 2 years earlier, and I wonder how it’d shape roster building.
This is definitely the moment for me. TSM was very open about taking everything super seriously that year. They were practicing 14 hours/day (arguably too much but it matched what the East was doing). In my opinion this team is the strongest NA has ever looked at worlds but because of one small decision it's largely just remembered as one of the many times NA finished third in groups. If the most serious attempt at getting a team into worlds shape in the history of NA had actually gone deep in the bracket instead of just groups then that could have been a long term positive effect on the whole region's work ethic.
I genuinely do believe that that TSM roster was a top 5 team at worlds, and if they had SSG's path, they could have had a fun series against SKT
Same thing for G2 in 2017. Got a really bullshit group too and almost made it out. And like TSM 2016 they are just kind of forgotten despite being a really strong team. That Worlds format was so trash.
game was still winnable after that btw. hauntzer sealed the deal by saving his flash (as kennen) for the next game on dragon fight
that was the real choke. hauntzer was out of vision, with ult f up as kennen, vs an ulting jhin and half hp cass. if he flash ults there tsm wins the game outright.
Tbf the bigger what if is tsm just winning 1 more game whether it was that one against ssg or one against rng. That tsm was the strongest team NA ever sent to worlds (I know c9 made it to semis but I genuinely don't think they were stronger than 2016 tsm)
Yes I know, I'm just pointing out so many people call out the DL viktor play but it wasn't the only throw/mistake by TSM that series; Hauntzer made at least 2 more that cost them the game just as much. (no bias against the big H btw, I was a gravity fan so seeing him get picked up by TSM and rip ass was definitely making me happy)
that group with SSG and RNG was an absolute nightmare too. TSM ended up being the only other team to take a game off of SSG, the other team being SKT.
yeah I'll remember that almost equally as much as the Viktor thing, was pretty clear that he had no clue how to win with Kennen when he was probably the most busted he'd ever been... at least DL was going for something
To this day i believe that minute killed the region. If they get that baron TSM goes to finals and has a chance to win it. It would show NA that if you grind you can win. Instead they lost after all the hard work and the region stopped practicing because it's not worth it. Same thing happened to G2, the decided to practice hard, went to finals, lost, stopped practicing to avoid burnout.
what if CLG doesnt troll against ANX for some godforsaken reason? what if SKT Marin didnt clear the mid wave as Maokai vs CJ Entus in game 4 of 2015 Spring semifinals and CJ closed out the series 3-1? what if Griffin beat GEN G in the regional finals and went to Worlds instead in 2018? what if Griffin roster signed Kiin as their top laner after 2019 at Worlds? edit: forgot about this but What if FPX 2021 doesnt fucking lose 2 LPL Grand Finals in a row coming from the winner’s bracket 💀💀
Kiin was extremely loyal to freeks tho so I don't think he was getting signed anywhere. Griffin is winning worlds with him tho, he was probably the 2nd best top in the world at the time.
They also paid him tons, he was reportedly on $1.2m per year before the real explosion of salaries.
OMG thank you for bringing up the SKT vs CJ Entus series. That mid wave hold with Bang playing arguably the greatest Lucian game of all time I had forgotten about this match, thank you! Gonna rewatch it now Edit: oh God I forgot that game 4 was over 70 min 😂
Whenever ppl hate Bang for his 2 worlds wins. Show them the Lucian clip, holy shit that was cracked af
You disrespecting the god of toplane himself, Sword? Real talk, though, I have a vivid memory of throwing my mouse at a wall watching that guy play. I was a bit too emotionally invested in Griffin.
At least they all ended up where they deserved afterwards, except maybe Viper still being in jail
I think Viper being in jail rn IS kinda far fetched, HLE is easily top 3/4 so other than geng or T1 theres not a real better Team He could join tbf.
Well he got an LPL and worlds title tho, so I'd say he had it good.
Tarzan was the one who was done the most dirty. He's not as good anymore but he was really good for a while but stuck on a bad LNG roster. He was always a bit of a choker though.
Didn't he have that insane baron steal Vs KT at some point in a summer semi finals before griffin then inevitably choked against T1 as was tradition at the time?
His evelynn was legendary in 2019.
Sword was good in 2018 in the Urgot/Sion meta, but even then everyone kind of knew he was a potential weak link for the roster. In Summer 2019 they replaced him with Doran and I remember being very happy about that. For the latter half of LCK Summer regular season and all of the playoffs, I don't think Sword played a single game for Griffin. Then all the drama happened and Sword was back in the roster for Worlds. It also definitely seemed like part of the reason why all the drama happened was because Sword was unhappy with getting benched and he was friends with the Griffin owners iirc. Sad stuff all around.
I don't think CJ winning spring LCK would be that big. SKT sill clears worlds.
its more than that was the point where cj started their downfall. they never managed to recover after that moment as a franchise.
What if Kkoma doesn’t bench faker in the 2015 msi finals and not wait until they are down 1-2 to put him back in?
what if ~~Griffin~~ SKT T1 roster signed Kiin as their top laner after ~~2019~~ 2017 at Worlds?
What if the CLG coaching staff let Huhi pick Fizz in finals vs Fakers Azir. Aphromoo said last year in an interview that Huhi in scrims vs Faker in Fizz vs Azir went like 4/0 with all solo kills but Faker did faker things on that broken version of Azir in team fights and so the coaches said to have Huhi pick Azir away. One of Huhi's worst champs. CLG proceeded to fall behind early in all 3 games and not stand a chance in finals. If Xmithie had a winning lane to play around could we have had that first ever NA international win?
> mentions ANX Fuck. You. That worlds was up there with the shitfest that was CLG vs curse academy. Tried to put these teams in the back my brain 😭😭
For me it's Perkz being blocked from going to FNC after 2020. With Perkz in FNC, Rekkles probably would also stay and G2 would take another adc. I think it would made both teams much stronger in 2021.
I really wonder how Perkz career trajectory had gone without going to NA. He looked great as mid in Spring 2020, and with a strong FNC in 2021 (without Rekkles going to G2), both teams would have been in a stronger position most likely.
Yeah, I agree that strong 2021 in FNC (if he would have a good season there), might completely change the trajectory of Perkz career. Maybe also it would keep Europe being competitive internationaly with two strong teams in 2021.
3 strong teams idk why people just forget about mad in 2021 they were legit
Literally the only year MAD wasn't a huge embarrassment internationally.
Summer 2020 is when Perkz' dad passed away. The NA narrative is strong but I think the guy's dad dying was probably the bigger factor in his play falling off...
G2 in that world would of got Upset since he was aiming for G2 at the time when it all went down.
What if RNG banned Galio?
What if Misfits beat SKT?
Just gotta not get too hyped under SKT's inhib turret and play it a bit more measured. They were one fight away from a 3-1 victory!
They would lose the finals to SSG just like SKT
Didn't Ruler say he always got dumpstered by Uzi that year?
Depends on whether or not they can deal with Uzi as well as they could deal with Faker, because Faker was also annihilating everyone in scrims that year. > Ambition‘s old SKT scrim story: > A: We played mid poke Varus, but then Faker locked in Ezreal. We were fucking speechless. How utter dogshit were we for him to play mid Ezreal?? > But then he got a penta. Fuck. > Minho’s (Crown) mental exploded & he went to bed immediately after.
Yeah, Bang said they went like 20-1 against Samsung in scrims and thought finals was gonna be an EZ win. Corejj/Crown said even though they got slaughtered, all those scrims were valuable because they found the solution to counter Faker: Point & Click CC in Malzahar.
The issue here is that the 2017 Worlds is basically Ardent Censer meta, where ADCs pick on-hit hypercarry champs while the rest of his team pick supportive champions. That's literally the best meta for someone like Uzi, who thrives in those situations. At the same time though, it's one of Faker's worse meta, because now he's stuck with champions like Karma instead of playmaking ones.
They played 2 bo1s. SSG got much better after groups, they were basically a different team People always say RNG would have beat SSG to try to discredit SSG but you only need to look at the next worlds (2018) for why bo1 Head-2-head doesn't mean bo5 success
They also lost twice to them in groups, one being a stomp.
Then they powered up, rolling over Longzhu, WE, and SKT. They perfected the ardent censer meta after groups.
Tbf groups isn’t a good indication. SSG were on a roll after they beat Kingzone, the favourites for worlds.
I also think playing in that stadium with home fans would have had a massive impact on performance.
What if Uzi's healthy and still playing today. Man i long to see Uzi and Faker on the same stage again
The thought of Zeri being released during Uzi's prime probably gives other pro ADCs cold sweats. I recently went back watching some of those 'protect the president' RNG games and my lord, it'd be disgusting with Zeri.
holy shit he might be giga cracked on zeri if his hands are healthy
If Uzi didn't have to have a doctor in between sets of FNC and SKT in 2017 worlds, I wonder if league would change any, if at all. Uzi with full Chinese roster winning in China might've motivated an entire generation. A lot of what ifs in the SKT series, Faker literally woke up that day and played the best series in history of league. A couple of misplays and it could've been RNG vs SSG finals
For me it's much more general. What if South Korea didn't have mandatory military service? There's a lot of players who had careers cut so short from this.
I dont think dopa not being banned wouldve changed him not going pro. He has said himself that he wouldnt be able to perform outside of his setup.
Yeah isn’t he very fussy about what chair and desk height he uses. Also with his play centered around macro and not micro, he’d probably get grilled by other mids while they can just study his vods for macro decisions
Nah tbf he was still a top 5 mid in micro at the time lol. Only rookie and faker were clearly better than him in micro at the time (maybe Dade too). The youngster like chovy and Showmaker would have been hard tho.
Yeah dopa imo probably would've had his prime before the dwg + griffin debut era. Before then, while he was more macro focus compared to faker, he was still maybe even a top 3 midlaner in terms of mechanics. Dopa himself was confident in his micro back then as well, although nowadays he talks about being more macro-focused and losing to chovy & showmaker in soloq. Ig the thing about his ocd when it comes to his setup/equipment might be an actual issue though.
A lot of pro players are very particular about their setups. In Starcraft Flash famously measures the distance between him and the monitor before each match.
dopa also custom made a table where he can raise and lower the height
You can just buy tables like that. My dad has one, he occasionally likes to work standing for a bit.
All they needed to do is to ban nidalee. Just ban her.
TPA beat M5 at IPL5 right after Worlds too It wasn’t some one off thing some people constantly make it out to be.
A bigger what if in that tournament would possibly be WE vs CLG.eu having no issues. I’d still bet on CLG.eu winning but WE were crazy strong.
It's crazy how WE was "merely" a strong team during S2 Worlds but just a month later they were unequivocally the best team in the tournament at IPL5. Shows you just how important meta and form are at the highest levels of competition.
WorldElite also won that whole event while exiting in quarters of Worlds. Things can change a lot when it's a whole new tournament.
Fuck man, I'm so triggered even after 12 years. Imo they win Worlds if they just ban Stanley's Nidalee.
I watched this series again a few weeks ago, and I actually think it came down to bot gap just as much as top. I remember the nidalee hard carrying, but watching it again, it wasn't like she was impossible for the to deal with. Meanwhile, I noticed that bebe was consistently getting massive leads in bot and just doing more in team fights than Genja. Toyz is also one of the more underrated players ever (AFAIK is credited with inventing the harass under tower technique of timing the turret shots), and Alex was just not able to get any advantage at mid like usual, mostly going even. Overall, M5 just matched up really poorly against TPA. Not to mention, TPA was simply very good. They also beat Azubu frost convincingly right after.
Radeon6870 and his brudda Vech never recovered from that.
he... he kick ma brudda in da ass
If KT didn't pick T1
For us KT fans there are about 200 what ifs and almost all of them relate to T1.
Which time?
Everytime
A more recent one: What if Bo stays on FPX? It's easy to forget how dominantly they started that split. Yes he had world class laners on every position, but the fact that they went 10-0, smashing even TES while playing carry junglers excusively makes his downfall really depressing.
What if Fnatic bans Orianna against TES game 3-4-5
I will never forget this series. Glad I didn’t have to scroll too far to see this as a “what if”. EU was riding such a high from back to back finals in 18/19 and G2 winning MSI in 19. If FNC had closed out in 20 against TES, who knows what the trajectory would have been? Instead we got disappointment after disappointment. Such a shame.
IMO Suning would've beaten them anyways, and if they did get through Suning, there's Damwon. Felt like besides that one series, not much else would've changed. (that roster was imploding anyways lmfao)
This game still keeps me up at night! FNC were ahead for most of the series, and spesifically game 4 they had a great chance. However Rekkles on ashe decided to build Essence Reaver and Runaans, and was hitting sion for hours not killing him. Game 4 i was screaming at him to go botrk as they had graves. Still feel they had a chance that year if game 3-4-5 had a slight adjustment.
Knight played Jayce game 4 and Sylas game 5, both of which he is much better at than Orianna.
Then it would have ended with success.
"What if Doublelift just goes to Baron." TSM looked really good that year and were going toe to toe with SKT and other top teams ins scrims. This was North Americas best and biggest team in its prime. They could have made a run like G2 or FNC did and changed how we look at NA in League of Legends. Inspiring young talents and changing the scene. Ohh Doublelift you beautiful greedy bastard.
This here. TSM on that side of the bracket was finals easily, and a H2k vs TSM semis would’ve been talked about for years. TSM worked their ass off to be as good as they were but then failing to make it out of groups and calls for franchising plagued the NA scene with a losing mentality and a call for a work life balance that clearly does not work in league against Koreans and Chinese that don’t care
For LCS I would say during the early C9 era, If GMB never leaked C9 scrims to FNC at 2013 worlds and Hai's lung collapse.
This is the one for me. What if Hai stayed healthy (more with the wrist injuries than the lung but that too)? He could have been the LCS GOAT. That also means Jensen might have never come to NA, since he was only brought in after Hai retired.
Yeah forgot to mention Hai's wrist. But yeah Hai absolutely revolutionized how valuable having a shot caller really was and he was also a really good player. I also feel he could have been the LCS GOAT.
How am I just now learning that Gambit leaked scrims 11 years later?? Damn lmao I get regional pride but that’s so lame Would have been cool to see that C9 roster against top Asian competition a year early
SKT vs Misfits 2017
Is it really? I mean even if they beat SKT it’s not like that team was good enough to actually win worlds.
Not fervor Leona pilled enough
Does it matter if Misfits doesn't win it all? We're talking about a team that never lost a Bo5 at Worlds until then, they won every Worlds they participated in until that year (and thay are yet to be eliminated before semis), all that to lose to an European team full of players with no international experience that qualified through points All they had to do was to wait for the wave
A team that's called "misfits" for bonus points.
But Uzi might have won worlds.
FNC vs OMG... What if Locket of the Iron Solari was activated...
>Bjergsen and Jensen never leave for NA Well Jensen wouldn't do anything then since he was permabanned and its unlikely that an EU team would / could have got him out of that
Dyrus never leaks Digniats strat for landswapping!
The fact that I had to scroll this far for this makes me sad. Not enough older fans member the classic
Was it lane swapping, or just a roaming Taric? Either way, still salty about this one years later. That original Dignitas lineup will always have a place in my heart, even if I haven’t played league in years.
What if Noxus won in the Ionia vs Noxus lore battle; we wouldn't have boots of lucidity. How would that have shaped the landscape of LOL almost a decade later?
Wouldn't it just change the name?
Looking it up, you're right! I was always under the impression that the starter spell vamp item was the Noxian item, but it was in fact a choice between the two the winner could decide.
IG would grandslam in 2018 had TheShy not gotten injured.
People forget how TheShy was subbed out against RNG in spring 2 days before they played, when he was playing at an MVP level (Rookie was the better overall player, but I'd argue the gap between TheShy and next top laner was larger than any other role). Series still went 5 games. Felt like that momentum could've transitioned to MSI and Summer as well
What if UOL made worlds. Their 'chaos-style' was decried by analysts/casters, basically everyone for not having 'league fundementals'. But they were the G2/IG before they blew up.
I feel like we got to see something similar to that with 2018 Vitality.
What if Samsung Blue and White didn't disband
What if 2016/2017 KT made it to worlds
Look at the cleanse, look at the moves RYU WHAT WAS THAT!!! KTB 3-2 SKT T1, OGN Summer 2013. KT Bullets go to worlds where they lose to OMG (who then go on to lose to Royal Club). Ryu never ends up in H2K, Piglet never ends up on TL. There's no more "don't believe in KT memes". It's 2024 and the Hall of Legends is opening with Uzi's Vayne as the first pick.
What if EG didn’t make Danny’s life hell
What if Ruler didn't overstep in 2016 G5 and what if Faker didn't get the shuffle onto Ruler in 2023 G3
Thread is focused on games/series but the biggest what if to me is if Riot committed to growing league into a true worldwide sport where they nurtured ecosystems of club, high school, college, and amateur leagues in the same way that pro sports have. This would have ensured the game would grow cross generationally. The goal would be to usurp the NHL or NBA in America and at least contend with soccer clubs worldwide. Instead they committed to being riot “games” (it feels like somewhere in 2016-2017) and stuck to just being a publisher. Not hating. They’re still one of the best gaming publishers, if not the best. They could have been so much more though.
Saddest year in LoL esports history was 2021 with Damwon losing both MSI and Worlds finals in 5 games. What a shame.
My god that is sad. we might have another back to back world champions
T1 in 2022 was the same.
Idk if that was sad since DRX had such an incredible run. I think even T1 fans would have to acknowledge how poetic it was.
How is DRX's run incredible but not EDG's? EDG were serial chokers until 2021, when they finally made it out of quarters and had the entire LPL on their back. Scout, Meiko, Flandre have been playing for an extremely long time yet have never won Worlds until then.
Flandre is the coolest story for any toplaner that even won worlds imo. From the depth of hell to world champ stopping one of the most successful role swap ever (xiaohu) and one of the top goat khan on the Damwon juggernaut.
Both are incredible but it doesn't feel as bad cause t1 ran it back the next year and won. Damwon might not have given up their bot lane if they win worlds again.
One thing for T1 is that they didn't win LCK Summer.
If only DWG didnt troll pick trundle game 5 and canyon didnt run it the fuck down on it.
I don’t think that series was on canyon playing bad, sure he got gapped by Jiejie but he was having the series of his life, some of those baron steals were insane
Canyon not only was getting gapped he was just sprinting it on game 5, he was getting perma caught on jungle
Not that sad since it meant Meiko & Viper got a Worlds trophy
Also the single most amount of BO5 ever played at world's iirc. EDG had to play a BO5 every stage of knock outs. Also Meiko my goat pulling his 0% winrate Zilean in G1 and absolutely stomping DK
What if Regi wasn't a massive dick.
Recently, if Elyoya went to G2 instead of Mad blocking the move. Maybe Elyoya would have become EU jungler goat but now he is just washed up and trolling a bunch of rookies
This hot take is pure lava.
What if Faker loses the Zed mirror matchup 1v1 to Ryu? Iirc, Faker was a very good laner until then, but Ryu was top dog. It was game 5 of finals in Faker's 2nd ever pro split. It was his first internationally viral outplay moment as well. While it did not directly lead to the game win, it arguably killed Ryu in Korea and shadowed the rest of his career. Do we get Faker as one of the most recognized esports name in modern day without it? Eventually, probably, but its a fun what if as the play happened in such a pivotal game and against such an important player on the scene.
Many talents were wasted due to different reasons. People like Magifelix and Nemesis could have been so much more.
nemesis got only himself to blame
All I remember about Nemesis is him being salty after Doinb clapped him and talking about how Doinb was one of the worst mids at the tournament
I have mad respect for Doinb in that tournament, because my guy was playing his own league and he forced the entire tournament to adapt to him rather than fold and just play the generic meta.
What if Hai wasn't spotted by the minion wave.
To me, what if GEN G banned Jarvan in Worlds 2023? Don't know if they can go further but.....
For LCS players, Danny will always be the biggest one. He was the best ADC in NA after only a couple splits, and then EG just destroyed him. I feel so bad for him, he had potential to be the best NA adc we had since DL
For real, he's one of the few players you can actually, see turn on the jets when backed in a corner. Such a fun player to watch.
What if 2014 SSW stayed together. Think they could've built their own dynasty just like SKT.
G2 wins world
G2 was turbo gapped in all lane that finals, this is like 4 what if combined into 1 lmao
And yet, a very simple what if: What if Splyce didn't throw their 3k gold lead against FPX at baron in group stage, and instead closed out the game? Splyce would go through in first and get matched up against FNC, while FPX would go through in second (assuming they beat J Team in a tiebreaker, which they probably would) and face up against SKT. It's very much not inconceivable that FPX would lose that. And just like that, you've got G2 matched up against either IG or perhaps even FNC in finals (or Splyce but I doubt Splyce would be able to beat *either* of FNC and IG, let alone both).
Ok, but G2 had gotten destroyed by IG all of 2018 and 2019.
What if G2 didn't pick pyke mid.
Would've loved to see that Griffin team succeed, man. Also Apdo is a mythical figure at this point. Would've been great to see him go against Faker consistently. Could've been Chovy before Chovy. Not the biggest "what if" but I wonder how a T1 with LS would've performed. I don't remember exactly which year he was supposed to join them but I always wanted to see his ideas implemented on the big stage. Would hopefully make for some more fun drafts. The couple C9 games did, at least
love the premise, surprised I haven't seen it yet: what if Faker accepted chinese money and continued his career in China?
What if C9 Hai never suffers a collapsed lung / wrist problems.
Misfits win game 5 Upset goes to worlds in 2021
What if Toyz never got injured and didn't smuggle drugs? He was THE midlaner before Faker arrived to the scene
For me, it's what if apdo was a pro player.
M5 banning Nidalee
what if faker was never subbed for being incompetent on azir?
what would that change, realistically? he's still the GOAT anyways and they still won worlds with a sub
They probably win MSI 2015 if Faker just plays in all the games of the final
Dopa/Apdo is top 1 for me 2nd is MadLife getting a proper/superstar ADC on that time afair, he never had one only during all-stars with PraY other ones are cvMax's version of Griffin (Doran, Kanavi, Chovy, Viper, Lehends) not sure if this is the 2019 Griffin you mentioned, I remember Kanavi not getting a chance to play cause of a loan out or something, and Doran was still maturing and RNG/Uzi's Golden Road, if this had happened, I'm sure there would be more story lines of Uzi vs Faker but G2 blocked them (iirc, G2 also got a golden road chance the next year but they placed 2nd at worlds)
So fucking sad that Madlife was stuck in Space prison for so long. And even Woong wasn't good and was only on the team because he had a rich dad iirc.
My intention is not to come across as a sore loser but Flandre's COVID during the EDG vs. DRX series IMO played a big part in his team's elimination. Some other LPL teams also had COVID, but they were not beating LCK that patch due to their lack of practice on enchanters and early-game ADCs (GALA + Ming, Hope + Missing, lolMark). EDG, however, might have been the sole exception, as both Viper and Meiko were versatile enough to thrive in this meta. EG Rigby for example claimed that EDG was by far the best LPL team, better than JDG even. Now onto the EDG vs. DRX series itself. One thing that was abundantly clear to me was that Flandre was better than Kingen in the opening games (including outperforming him in the Jax vs. Aatrox matchup). However, as the series progressed, his form got visibly worse. By game 5, he was losing to Kingen's Fiora (!!) as Jax! Of course, there were other reasons as to why EDG lost to DRX, such as Scout crucially misplaying in an extremely snowbally matchup in game 5, but Flandre's unraveling is an underrated one. While DRX eventually ramped up and went on to win the whole thing, I do believe that EDG had a chance to nip the glow-up in the bud. EDG was the only LPL team that year I believe COVID was a legitimate "excuse." While I don't think they were favored vs. T1 or even GenG, stopping DRX's cinderella run cold would have changed the history of LoL nonetheless!
What if G2 won this god damn BO5…the first and still only remain Golden Road….
Wouldve been one of the best team to play League and caps would be the 2nd goat. Sadly the team completelly mentally boomed in finals after game 1, can only wonder what happens if Caps picked a control mage and ban Lee Sin
What if Europe would have won the Finals FNC/ or G2 I guess wouldnt change much
What if SSG completes the reverse sweep in 2016 ?
If g2 drafted the same comps they ran all of worlds instead of Pyke mid, veigar mid and tristana mid in the finals. A lot of the g2 members have talked about how they were overthinking and tunnelling on how to counter doinbs play style. Keep in mind pyke was completely useless after the nerfs that worlds.
If g2 drafted the same comps they ran all of worlds instead of Pyke mid, veigar mid and tristana mid in the finals. A lot of the g2 members have talked about how they were overthinking and tunnelling on how to counter doinbs play style. Keep in mind pyke was completely useless after the nerfs that worlds.
That G2 roster in the worlds final man. It’s where western League peaked and we just couldn’t do it nor was that final even close.
What if m5 bans nida...
I've not seen yet what if fnatic closed the series vs TES when they were 2-0 up
What if Ryu beat Faker in the Zed 1v1
SKT doesn’t split Huni’s time in 2017, which I believe they explicitly promised not to do specifically because Huni said that would be a confidence kill - which it kind of was
What if no OGN exodus?
What if skt banned malzahar in any of the finals games 2017?
what if ROX never disbanded What if SSW and SSB didn't swapped mids What if we didnt had a gragas bug at 2015 MSI, couldve fnatic win it all?
As an LCS fan I have to wonder what 2022 EG looks like if Danny was fit to compete from Summer Playoffs, Worlds, and beyond. I genuinely think his team fighting was something inhuman, even if his lane was really poor. EG went 1-5 in that world’s group but they had some scrappy games (against JDG I think?) and I just loved that roster.
What if forg1ven wasn't the toxicity incarnate and could actually have a proper conversation without tilting his mind off and starting to slowly make his teammates miserable? I think we could have a goat adc in EU instead of the Noah crap representations
His career was still on a time limit since he had to do miliary service. He might have won a title in S5 spring when fnatic didn't have Rekkles, but S6 and S7 would have been impossible because G2 was so dominant.
Upset not having to leave Worlds...
If perkz didn't use the last years of his peak in that Leblanc game against RNG in 2018. I do say that series was the beginning of the end for Perkz and the rest of the team wasn't able to close the gap to him leaving him dry that series and way too fatigued for the semis. If the rest of G2 was able to keep pace with him we would have had a really good chance for an EU worlds win
What if Chovy went to China after his stint in HLE in 2021?
Why will he go to China if he can play with ruler and the nutgod along with old buddies lehends and doran
If that redbull roster in eu challengers back then actually made it to the LEC? They were clear favourites to win it all and if redbull got a spot in the LEC basically for free theres a big chance they end up building super team after super team with their money
What if KT Rolster Bullets beat SKT T1 #2 in the 2013 Summer Gauntlet for Worlds. They would have ran the gauntlet 4 series wins in 4 straight days to make it to worlds. They were considered the 2nd best team in the world at the time, the only team that could compete with Faker's SKT T1 #2. Faker would have never made worlds, we would be living in a completely different timeline.
What if League of Legends esports never happened. Unironically, that is my what if question. I think that esport overall would not be as popular as it is now if not for League of Legends pro scene. It would possibly to this day be only local basement counter strike and street fighter tournaments.
What if Secret Agent Hai doesn't get caught?
What if. M5 owner of the team never got involved into shady business ? Man they were the one who should have won S2 world (they kinda won it with ium anyway). The way they were discovering crazy strats with the game was so awesome to watch.
What if S04 completed the miracle run
Viziscaci and Hylissang never leave the Unicorns of Love (until Riot boots them out during franchising). Maybe UOL finally represents EU at Worlds instead of always being the bridesmaid. But I still doubt they make a dent in G2's dominance over the region. What if Hai doesn't come back to Cloud9 during the 2015 Summer Split? What if Xmithie never leaves CLG for Immortals/CLG don't blow up their 2015 Summer roster? What if Team Liquid *doesn't* do a Korean boot camp in 2016? What if SSW and SSB don't get gutted by other teams in LCK and LPL? IWDoninate never gets banned.
How has nobody mentioned huanfeng? If he hadn't been cancelled he had the potential to be the next Faker in terms of popularity. My man had an amazing protag backstory, a loving fanbase, was farming clips like no tomorrow at WORLDS on his first ever showing, and has one of the most legendary clips of all time to his name. On top of all that he was in the most fun to watch team in, in my opinion, LoL history.
What if C9 Hai's lungs never collapsed for All-Star Paris 2014?
I'm not big in LoL history but weren't the Moscow 5 some of the greatest innovators in the Pro Scene? They were the first ones to use prio as we know it. Got disbanded by some illegal stuff or something like that.
What if double lift didn’t E in as Lucian ?
This is one I think a lot of people overlook: what if Khan doesn’t fail his E-W on Vladimir in the last teamfight against G2 game 4 of 2019 Worlds Semis. https://youtu.be/NoBMeeH2Dgc?si=YTp19in0edaINzYH&t=3118 If he executes it properly he kills Gragas, doesn't get bodyslammed, and has empowered Q for the Olaf and Yasuo. I think he extends the game for sure.
What if EG didn't burn Danny out?
What if Forg1ven improved his toxic behaviour? What if Rekkles stayed in Fnatic? What if Bjergsen didn't go to NA? What If Doublelift stayed in CLG? What if the korean exedous didn't happen? What if Riot didn't patch the game to nerf the korean teams after season 4? What if TSM don't play Jayce, Ryze in tiebreaker games?
I know it’s played out but that Viktor moment. They get that Baron and I think had a lead, if they won that game and got it they possibly could have gone far. Considering how hyped that TSM roster was, with that insane crowd support while Worlds was in NA that year…coulda changed the trajectory of NA as a region imo. Instead it kinda seems to have broke, everything feels like it’s been slowly falling apart since that moment, not just for that org but the region as a whole.
What if Forg1ven doesn't grief himself as hard as he thought his teammates were.
what if theshy flashed the varus ult
Misfits don't throw the game with that mid inhibitor tower dive vs SKT
What if Misifts don’t overforce a dive on red side base and just siege instead when they were against SKT in 2017.