China is back on top of the global League of Legends scene.
In one of the most convincing runs of dominance through the tournament, JD Gaming of the LPL have won the 2023 League Mid-season Invitational, defeating their region-mates Bilibili Gaming in four games to secure the championship. In total, JDG posted an individual game record of 12-3 throughout their run to the MSI history books.
JDG made short work of nearly all of their opponents during the event, winning all four of their matches and never dropping into the lower bracket at MSI. JDG—who were placed directly into the bracket stage of MSI due to their status as a Spring Split regional champion—opened up their run with back-to-back sweeps over G2 Esports and Bilibili in the first two rounds before squeaking out a five-game thriller over T1 in the winners’ finals.
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Today, JDG looked on form as ever, defeating Bilibili for the fourth time in the last two months. Today’s MSI final went exactly as it did back when these two teams played each other in their domestic finals last month, with a 3-1 scoreline being a consistent result in both matches. Similarly to that match, JDG mid laner Knight had another performance to remember today, posting a 6.9 KDA in the tournament-clinching series and being awarded the title of Finals MVP for his efforts.
In all three of JDG’s wins in this series, Knight played Jayce, and used the Defender of Tomorrow to the tune of a 17/1/11 scoreline. He has a 90 percent win rate and 14.3 KDA on the champion this season, according to League stats site Games of Legends.
JDG came into the tournament as a potential favorite to win the whole thing, especially after T1 slipped up in their domestic final against Gen.G. With a seemingly wide-open field, JDG made the most of their appearance on the international stage, redeeming themselves for last year’s Worlds semifinal elimination in the process. While co-favorites T1 (who JDG were eliminated by in last year’s Worlds run) proved to be the toughest test for the eventual MSI champs, JDG reminded fans that they were the real deal early and often throughout their run.
Now, the team enters the second half of the 2023 League season as the odds-on favorite to repeat as domestic champions in the LPL Summer Split. And while the World Championship is still months away, the buzz around JDG and another potential international win is already starting. Only one team—2016 SK Telecom T1—has won both MSI and Worlds in the same season.
