By James Zheng

Esports, as I previously mentioned in one of my posts, has become a modern well-organized industry. Its influence over the world has expanded during the last two years. The heyday of Esports has come. In this post, the main focus is the League of Legend Season 9 Championship Tournament and the Champion team named FunPlus Phoenix, often referred to as FPX from the Chinese region. 

The Heyday has been extended due to a new participant from China that serves as a dark horse in the competition. This team called Invictus Game, known as IG, unexpectedly defeated most of the well-known strong teams and eventually won the final. All of the players became extremely famous after the final night, and it is not an exaggeration to say that this absolute unexpected winning by this team has shaken the national population in China. Even for the people who know nothing about Esports, they have felt a heavy atmospheric excitement from the internet and neighborhood. It has been proven that LPL (League of Legends Pro League, specifically the Chinese region) has obtained the strength to fight against the outstanding South Korean, European, and American teams. It truly makes other regions start to pay attention to IG; it is an unprecedented surprise to them that such a team nobody has knowledge of could win the championship. 

As Season 9 Tournament climaxes, the best known regions including North America, Europe, South Korea, and China  will send their three qualified teams to fight. It is a great enjoyment for those who know each team well to watch them fight against each other, to give an example, just like the NBA fans watching the Lakers go against the Warriors, or Celtics go against the Rockets. We are not sure which one will win; those teams are exceptionally strong. All this  just builds up the suspense for the fans. 

Coming back to our protagonist, FPX, the team, is considered the new rookie who has not shown anything astonishing until it wins the 2019 League of Legend Rift Rivals and later gains the popularity from forums, blogs, and Esports media outside China. And FPX shows its power again by defeating IG to become the first-seed team from a Chinese region, and then go on fighting in the tournament against IG (champion from 9th tournament), Fnatic (Champion from 1st tournament), G2 (champion from 9th mid-season invitational). FPX prevailed over all of them without pressure, and one of the players even taunted G2 in an after-game interview saying, “I don’t think they are actually playing.” 

The victory of IG and FPX, the two teams used to play the role as minions, now has stood on the apex of the Esports realm. Their effort epitomizes the beginning of a new age, followed by the end of 2019 that ends with FPX’s conquest, more and more fans around the world are seeking more events involving these two teams. The European region and the South Korean region have found their worthy opponents.

Esports may seem trivial and sound like an alien thing to many people. The prosperity of Esports manifests as an emergence of a refreshing concept.

Beginnings/Endings Editor: Katelin Slosky