A lot can change with the turn of the calendar, and with 2023 on the horizon, a lot looks different in the world of professional League of Legends. It has been a chaotic offseason with new superteams forming, the return of a certain G.O.A.T to the only place that feels right, and some very intriguing imports across the globe. With all that being said, there are a few players League fans should watch out for come next year.
Top lane — JD Gaming’s Bai “369” Jia-Hao
Nobody embodied the phrase “top gap” quite like 369 did in 2022, and a flip of the calendar won’t change much at all for the rest of the world. The fun running joke 369 has with his name revolves around the idea each game he plays he’ll perform to either a three-, six-, or nine-level ranking. Throughout summer and his team JD Gaming’s Worlds run was nothing but nine-level rating performances from 369.
Despite a 3-1 loss to T1 in the semifinals, 369 was arguably the best top laner in the world. Consistently besting opponents in lane, especially in the farming department. Across the group and knockout stages of Worlds, 369 only finished down CS to his lane opponent in three matches. Most of the time. he would finish contests up anywhere from 30-60 creep score up, even in JDG’s few losses as a team.
What sets 369 even further apart from the rest of the elite is his champ pool diversity. Through JDG’s run to a LPL 2022 Summer Split championship and World’s semifinals appearance, 369 played eleven unique top lane champions. 369 succeeded in lane playing duelist champions like Fiora or teamfight-oriented tanks like Ornn. It really didn’t matter what champion you put him on, 369 would rarely end the laning phase behind and would always show up huge in teamfights.
Now with JDG adding Zhuo “knight” Ding in the mid lane and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk at AD carry 369 has even more firepower on his team heading into 2023. The LPL and the world are on notice for the 369 revenge tour.
Honorable mentions
- Hanwha Life Esports’ Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon
- T1’s Choi “Zeus” Woo-je
Jungle — DWG KIA’s Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu
There’s no beating around the bush here: Canyon has been one of if not the best jungler in the world for some time now. He is heading into his sixth year of competitive League, and all six have been with DWG KIA, including the championship run in 2020—a run that saw Canyon win Worlds MVP that same year.
The accolades over the years speak for themselves. Multiple LCK first-team nods three years in a row. LCK MVP and split MVPs in 2021 and 2019, respectively. Every year since joining the LCK in 2019, Canyon has gotten DWG KIA to Worlds, and this year nearly toppled a superteam in the quarterfinals. Canyon’s Graves was so unstoppable throughout the group stage of the tournament that Gen.G banned it in all five games of their quarterfinals clash.
Consistency is difficult to find in an esport like League, yet Canyon has consistently been one of the best in the world in the jungle for nearly half a decade now. He’s shown his flexibility to play multiple playstyles, high-damage scalers like Graves and Viego, teamfight-oriented bruisers like Wukong and Xin Zhao, high skill cap junglers like Lee Sin, and even the big frontline tanks like Sejuani and Maokai. All of those champions were helmed by Canyon during the LCK 2022 Summer Split and Worlds.
Canyon has routinely lived by his alias in jungle matchups split after split, and now looks even more poised for an international run with a bolstered DWG KIA lineup around him. Do not get in the way of one of the best with the championship pedigree Canyon carries game in and game out.
Honorable mentions
- Gen.G’s Han “Peanut” Wang-ho
- Edward Gaming’s Zhao “Jiejie” Li-Jie
- KOI’s Kim “Malrang” Guen-seong
Mid lane — T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok
The Unkillable Demon King. The Greatest of All Time. After three titles and enough individual accolades to fill a trophy case, Faker is still performing every split. Until he loses a step, Faker will always be a player to watch out for. He hasn’t been perfect, and there are a couple of new challengers that have gotten the best of him in certain moments, but there is still nobody to compare to Faker in the grand scheme of professional League.
Three-time Worlds champion. Two-time MSI champion. Faker has won ten splits in the LCK. On top of all of that, Faker has taken home two Worlds MVP titles himself. There is just nobody on Earth to compare. No one has won Worlds as many times as he has, or brought home two separate Worlds MVPs. Not to mention Faker also holds the Mariana Trench of champ pools that allows him to fit into any meta Riot Games throws out.
Though all of that is in the past, the future still looks bright for Faker. The three-time champ was just one game away from bringing home his fourth world title, and T1 has kept the entire young core around Faker for another run at the Summoners Cup in 2023. No matter what superteams have stood in his way, Faker has always found a way to make a deep run at Worlds year in and year out, and 2023 doesn’t look to be much different for the G.O.A.T.
Honorable mentions
- DWG KIA’s Heo “ShowMaker” Su
- JD Gaming’s Zhuo “knight” Ding
- Gen.G’s Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon
- Hanwha Life Esports’ Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo
AD carry — Hanwha Life Esports’ Park “Viper” Do-hyeon
Choosing the best AD carry for 2023 was the toughest choice yet. There is a ton of talent at the position, but it finally feels like a passing of the torch. Viper has already shown that he is one of the best in the bot lane i. After all, he is a former World Champion and LPL MVP, both accolades coming just a year ago.
Even more recently, the 22-year-old had a ton of standout performances on the Worlds stage. Viper had multiple games during the group stage with a double-digit KDA, including an insane 10-1-8 game on Sivir against Fnatic. Viper was a huge part of Edward Gaming taking a 2-0 lead in the quarterfinals against the eventual champs in DRX with a huge Aphelios game. Viper has the champ pool adaptive to any team comp and meta, and utilized five different AD carries throughout Worlds.
While there are certainly other AD carries out there now with better accolades, Viper has already accomplished so much as such a young player. The sky is truly the limit for him, and his new team should set him up for his biggest challenge yet. Viper returned to Hanwha Life Esports with two of the players that knocked him out of Worlds the year prior in Zeka and Kingen.
Honorable mentions:
- Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk
- DWG KIA’s Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu
- KOI’s Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos
- FlyQuest’s Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan
Support — T1’s Ryu “Keria” Min-seok
Speaking of potential, the final player to watch out for in 2023 is even younger then Viper. Keria, much like Faker, was one game away from becoming a World champion. Unlike Faker, Keria would’ve been one of the youngest to hoist the Summoners Cup at the age of 20. Despite being so young, Keria’s resume already features a ton of individual accolades. Keria has already made four LCK all-pro first teams, and even took home the 2022 LCK Spring Split MVP with T1.
Beyond his regional success individually, Keria really stepped itup on the international stage. The big question mark around T1 going into Worlds was the bottom lane, and Keria played a huge part in pushing his team to the finals. Keria played back-to-back phenomenal games to close JD Gaming out in the semifinals with a 4-5-39 scoreline on Nami and Renata. On top of that, Keria played ten unique champions throughout the run, with standout performances on polar opposite supports from Tahm Kench to Nami.
What really slots Keria’s spot in this list is his potential. There is so much more room for growth for a player who already came so close to a Worlds title. Now Keria will get another full spring and summer split to play with the same team from 2022. While there are a ton of support players out there with more hardware in their trophy cases, Keria is on the path to stock his up even more and should showcase why he’s the best in 2023.
Honorable mentions:
- DRX’s Cho “Beryl” Geon-hee
- JD Gaming’s Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng
- Edward Gaming’s Tian “Meiko” Ye
