Knight, real name Zhuo Ding, performed exceptionally well in the last Mid-Season Cup 2020 (MSC 2020), capturing the attention of League pro scenes audience.
After MSC 2020, viewers across globe have been taking more about Knight – the mid lane of the MSC 2020 champion, TOP Esports. Having literally obliterrated Faker and Doinb, two of the most universally recognized best laners in the world by then.
Here is a few interesting facts about Knight that you may not have known.
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The origin of the professional alias “Knight”
Zhuo Ding received his in game name by the manager of Young Miracle when he started playing for the team at the beginning of his career in 2017.
Zhuo Ding himself was oblivious to what “Knight” really meant. He mistook the word for a portmanteau of “K” and “night”, therefore he wanted others to call him K-Night rather than Knight.
He is a countryman of Yagao – another mid lane talent of LPL
Knight’s team was defeated by JDG Yagao in the Spring LPL 2020. Both are countrymen who originated from Pingxiang, Jiangxi. They frequently duo queued in the same Internet cafe, with Yagao as the mid laner and Knight in the jungle role. Also, Knight was born in 2000, the same year as Jackeylove and Kanavi.
He was Tian and Ning’s teammates once
Knight is probably the only mid laner who had the opportunity to play alongside two Worlds champions, both from LPL. Under YM, Knight and Ning won the 2nd LPL division but failed in the 2017 LPL Summer Promotion.
When Ning was transferred to Invictus Gaming, Tian substituted Ning’s place as Knight’s teammate. Unfortunately, both of them weren’t enough to save YM’s poor performance in LPL. Knight began his career anew in LPL under Suning, the same team SofM is playing for – a famed jungle who contributed to the revolutionization of the jingling meta.
He was formally a streamer before transitioning to professional play
Not many were aware of Knight’s existence during the time when he was a streamer under the aias of Wushang. He streamed on Douyu – a popular Chinese streaming platform. Knight’s talent caught the attention of YM with whom he officially signed his contract at the beginning of season 7. YM’s ECO, PDD, was a renowned top lane who played for IG before.
Right on his first appearance on the pro stage, Knight demonstrated his potential by massively contributing a 20-win streak for YM, thus giving them the top position in the 2nd LPL division. By this time, Knight is sought by multiple League of Legends pro teams but he played for YM for the remainder of season 7.
Nicknamed “Golden Left Hand”
One of Knight’s most remarkable performance was the 1 v 1 match in the early 2020 All Star LPL in the video below. This playstyle helped Knight surpass all his opponents to achieve the 1st place in the 1 v 1 Solo King Tournament. One notable feat of him was that he won all of this with his arms crossed, left hand on his mouse and right hand on his keyboard due to the right handed configuration of the PC.
After All-Star LPL, Knight was nicknamed “Golden Left Hand” due to his ability to play League of Legends with his arms crossed in the aforementioned fashion.