League of Legends: Year in Review 2019 through Numbers
2019 is an eventful year for League of Legends. In the LCS, there is the joyful smile of the winners mixed with tears of regret from the losing teams. With Season 2020 approaching, everyone is looking forward to another successful year of League.
To sum up 2019 season, here’re some facts and figures from the year through numbers:
No. 5: Numbers of New Champions in 2019
In 2019, there are 5 released champions: Sylas, Yuumi, Qiyana, Senna, and Aphelios. Most of the new champions (except Aphelios) are often get selected in the LCS. Sylas and Qiyana are mostly selected for the Jungler, Top, and Mid role. Yuumi always seems to stick with the giant Garen, and Senna can totally become a solid ADC.
Compare to 2018, Riot Games only released Kai’sa, Pyke, and Neeko. The Champion Dev has given the players more options to play this year.
No. 10: League o Legends Reaches 10 Years Old
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of League of Legends. Riot has organized events throughout the servers. Riot not only to show their appreciation to the players with the rewards in games, but they also revealed the new League related games in progress. For example, Legend of Runeterra, LoL Esports Manager, League of Legends Wild Rift, and many more projects.
Riot Games want to show that League of Legends can be experienced in different ways. However, one of the best parts about this 10-year-old celebration is to use the fan-arts for the splash art of the first 40 LoL champions.
No. 15: The Longest Winning Streak Team in 2019
2019 is a true “roller coaster” year for Griffin. They became the Top 1 LCK throughout the season and have a record of 15 consecutive wins. At that time, many people considered them invincible and going to become the best team in the world.
However, in the last Spring and Summer Finals, GRF lost to SKT T1 (now T1). Even before the World Championship 2019, cvMax – GRF’s former coach, left the team. After that, there were a lot of problems that came to light and became controversial until now.
There is suspected abuse of players, the slave contracts that led Riot Games forced Still8 (The mother company of GRF) to replace the management before entering the 2020 season. Also, all the players at that time got set free. These actions may help GRF to receive the negative effects of 2019 and make their 2020 become more successful.
No. 18: The Longest Losing Streak Team in 2019
JAG always ranked last in the LCK rankings and recently they also lost in the LCK promo round. With a record of 0-18, they are the team with the longest losing streak in 2019.
In the past, despite competing for JAG (Jin Air Green Wings) always found a way to stay in the LCK. They were even considered to be the Griffin of the pro round because whenever they had to fight for LCK, they played extremely sublimated.
However, at this year’s promo stage, they were unable to continue their tradition and had to play in the Challenger tournament. “The happy flight” couldn’t take off to the LCK. Hopefully, 2020 will be the year of JAG. As one of the senior teams in the LCK, JAG will have to prove themselves and find a way to return to the LCK.
No. 25: Numbers of the Champions Who are not an ADC, but were chosen to play as one
Traditionally, bot lane always consisted of a DPS champion and a supporter in the early game; so, then the ADC could shine in the mid and late game. However, this year, there are up to 25 champions have been chosen to replace DPS champs.
For instance, Cassiopeia, Irelia, and Yasuo could completely replace other ADC with their massive damage. Other champions like Sona, Taliyah, and Garen would have to accompany specific supporters like Taric, Pantheon, and Yuumi.
No. 100: Pantheon Bans/Selects at Worlds
On August 16, 2019, Pantheon received an update on his appearance and playstyle. The initial reaction to the new Pant was his interesting skill set, the basic stats and skills were still lacking and made it difficult for Pantheon to compete in the professional game.
Immediately, Riot buffed Pantheon in patch 9.17, with his Q critically strikes of 155/240/325/410/495 (+200% bonus AD) with champions below 25% health. This powerful buff makes the Sparta warrior too OP no matter which role he plays in the game. Pantheon was only selected once at Worlds and was banned in all remaining matches.
No. 115: Highest KDA of A Pro Player
In January 2019, after a 2-0 win against SKT in the LCK Spring, Chovy became the first pro player to have a perfect KDA of 115. With KDA after the group stage of 44/1/60, he achieved MVP title of the group stage. As the mid laner of DragonX next season, Chovy continues to conquer the LCK with new teammates.
No. 1977: The Unofficial Number of G2’s Tweets Throughout Worlds
G2 Esports is a team that not only dominates the LEC, but they also enjoy taking it out for fun. They usually trash talk on Twitter (of course, it’s just for entertainment). Fact, they are considered the “Villains” because many people are unable to adapt to their jokes.
According to Inven Global Data Lab, G2 Esports posted 2150 tweets in September and 2448 posts in October. With 4598 posts in just around the time Worlds took place, Inven Global estimated that up to 1977 posts were to tease rivals. However, keep in mind that these statistics have only been counted by Global and no exact figures have been released yet.
No. 44,000,000: 2019 World Championship Hits Record Viewership
The 2019 World Championship consisted of 120 games across Berlin, Madrid, and Paris, and fans across the world watched more than 1 billion hours of content during the 5 weeks of competition. Additionally, the event featured the most diverse meta of any previous World Championship with 99 champions picked or banned.
2019 Worlds hits 21.8 Million of an average minute audience and 44 Million of peak concurrent viewers.