Early joke comment aside, Congrats on the marriage. It's an odd feeling, seeing you grow as a content creator, and as a person. Wishing all the best for you.
i dont usually comment but holy fucking shit im so proud of you gbay.. from ''i want to fucking to kill myself''in that stream to ''i have to pay for my wedding'' good luck on your happy life my G. im so glad for you
I think Gbay massively underselled the 2016 worlds. Simply by not mentioning the fact that it produced the arguably single best bo5 of all times. ROX vs SKT. The mf counter pick, the Pray arrow, the Bengi first time nidalee in an elimination match due to a simple mistake of playing with Blank before and not banning her. 3 of the most memorable worlds moments coming out in one best of 5.
I 100% expected a call out for the best series worlds has ever seen... I remember seeing it live... I've never been as engaged in eastern league as that series. That said... 2022 finals was a crazy good banger too. No denying Gbay there. There's a reason why Riot made the world 2023 video the way they did...
Yea. I've been to many League events live including from season 2 finals to 2022 finals. If watching on stream was exciting, there are no words to describe how it was to be there live at Madison Square Garden. I remember where I was when MF was pick: I was returning to my seat and paused by a food line while picks and bans were shown on TV. I went up to random strangers asking WTF happened and if it was a mispick and getting the same confused reactions I had.
I fully agree! I can't believe 2016 worlds scored where it did. One of the most exciting bo5s I have ever watched, especially with the MF pick. I remember queueing up the next day and MF/Ashe were suddenly in every game.
2017 had its moments like FNC coming back from 0-4, Misfits taking SKT to 5 games with Blitzcrank and Fervor Leona, the games themselves weren't interesting but the tournament as a whole wasn't THAT bad imo
Yes and Ambition story(which was perfectly told in the following year World song) is very good. Samsung should still be considered an underdog at the time. For storyline it's a much better Worlds than 2013 and 2014. On the wildcard side GAM with the Levi Nocturne was a joy to watch.
Also it really wasn't as slow and passive and Gbay is making it out to be. It limited options - sure, that is always annoying more diversity is fun. But Censer was a ridiculous one item spike, since it really turned into an item for the ADC so they just got two items at that point and you could push the pace a LOT with that. I think the combination of SSG playing to neutralize SKT really hard and winning in the later game and it being the last worlds before the LPL fully caught up with the LCK (which came with a general shift towards aggression) makes people remember that worlds in a way that isn't really true.
I went and saw NA LCS finals in toronto in 2016 and it was honestly the best event ive ever been to in my life, actually experiencing live league of legends is a totally different experience the crowd was absolutely electric and everyone there was so nice and you always had something to talk about to anyone you talked to.
agreed; i got to see LCS finals in 2019 in St. Louis, and it was so much more hype in person. Hearing TSM chants and actually getting to participate in TSM chants were two completely different feelings (until they inevitably fizzled out after getting reverse swept). But still, very cool to say that i got to experience one of the best LCS finals live in person (besides maybe Season 5 summer finals), even though it wasn't necessarily the outcome i wanted!
Yeah I went to 2022 worlds groups in NYC. It was a depressing event as an NA fan, but it was still incredibly fun. I was honestly a bit worried that watching league live would be a bit underwhelming as we're all just watching a screen, but it's SO MUCH FUN reacting with everyone in realtime.
European fanboy here; I think that Worlds 2019 is heavily underrated! G2 as a team was somewhat unique, having a former mid-laner and team leader role swapping to ADC at this level of play, everybody being able to play crazy flex picks (Pyke top by wunder was gorgeous, Irelia/Akali flex all the time, Mages bot from time to time) and Europe possibly not only winning a world championship but G2 winning every other event that year (spring + summer split and MSI). While the finals still break my heart, everything that led up to that was super exciting-
Would be cool if you could do same thing with the MSI, there are alot of interesting story lines, EDG counterpicking Faker's undefeated LB and winning first ever MSI, Uzi and RNG winning first of their many MSI's and going for perfect run that year, TL upsetting IG and G2 upsetting SKT and winning whole thing and so on...
Gbay you've been my favorite League creator since forever. Please never stop doing what you love. We love you!! Can't wait for Worlds. I'm looking forward for your documentaries about the underdog teams this year.
I have fond memories of the Worlds 2015 Final. I live in Berlin, where it was held and so does the whole squad. One of my friends mom works in a mall that coincidentally also had one of the few ticket shops with a limited stock so we didn't even have to go through the whole process of trying to purchase tickets online. KOO was one of my favorite teams to watch throughout the whole tournament, especially since Peanut had become one of my favorite players and getting to experience SKT/T1 play was great aswell. It was such a great day and I look back to it every once in a while. Even if I don't play league actively anymore, It's been such a big part of my life. Oh and I'm also pretty proud of being part of the group that initiated the "KOO Tigers" chant trying to cheer them up after they lost. The whole stadium went along, which shows the immense support for the underdog in that situation
Congrats on the Marriage Gbay! Been watching you since I was a kid & can't wait for more videos from you! Dope tier list, can't believe you're still catching up with these after this much time
This made me want to go back and watch the Albus Nox Luna series again. That was the most exciting professional League of Legends arc I've ever witnessed.
100% agree. Worlds with the SKT x ROX and SKT x SSG should be on Tier S. It really felt like the best teams were playing among themselves and the great 5 games series made it all better
I still vote for 2019 being an S Tier worlds because 1, the west (EU) was actually competitive here. FNC and this G2 will probably be the only western team that don't lose to Chinese and Korean teams by default and sadly that is unlikely to happen again. 2, this worlds had the best champion diversity and teams actually had different playstyles with actual signature picks outside of meta.
I love Worlds season. The crowd getting hyped, the crazy pro plays. Even though I only play ARAM and rotating modes, Worlds for league gets me so hyped.
Worlds 2022 reignited my passion for league which seemed to have died with covid. Eventhough i havent played league again since then still, it just feels more exciting to watch it. Couldve been more perfect if faker, who ive followed since i started in 2013, didnt win, everything else about it was incredible. The storylines, the games, the hype, all made me felt what i felt when i was playing league at my peak.
@@YetiSpaghetti12bro has a reading compression comparable to a duck….lol just kidding, but if you read out the sentence he used comma to insinuate that faker in fact didnt win worlds 2022 but hey atleast he can now say that faker won this year😅
CANNOT WAIT until your documentary on 2022 worlds. Definitely the best. I even bought a DRX Zeka jersey after seeing his performance on Akali and Sylas. I played tons of league for the next few months after that worlds after not playing for a couple years. Watching that series live was one of the most entertaining sporting events I've ever watched.
Got to go to worlds 2022 groups and finals. NYC was so loud when NA was playing, even when we were losing. Not louder than when Gumayusi stole baron in the finals though. It was unbelievably deafening after that
The Spanish crowd in 2019, quarters and semis, was the best ever in LoL. Imagine G2, thats its even from Spain, winning Damwon and then SKT, road to the grand final.
2016 was my fav tbh. That run of Albus Nox Luna has never been seen in such a way. They werent just an underdog, they were THE underdog, and the players were incredibly likable.
last years world was different, i hadn’t even played in over a year yet watched almost every single one bc the story lines were just so amazing, SKT and DRX was just peak
The "open circuit with a bunch of different majors" was Season 2. Season 1 Championship was direct invite to qualifiers, and took place before like half of the 2011 events. That said, it should be a solid A-tier. It's the first time we ever saw international matches, ever. Which also came to define the entire way the game is played, since NA/EU/SEA played the game fundamentally different. And most of the teams were stacked with players who were community favorites. Rather than just faceless pros. Made it all feel much more 'personal'
@@dragonplayz6606 Well EU invented the laning setup we all use as standard. With ADC+Support Bot. Melee top and jg. And mage mid. NA didn't differently, mostly they'd do Solo ADC top, with a fighter+support/tank bot
The international in dota is the perfect example of why double elimination actually fosters more upsets, pretty much any team can become world class with the momentum of lower bracket runs. Just look at recent TI winners, not a single favourite among them
This year’s world should be in S tier imo. The new format is exciting and fun. A lot of upsets. T1 came in with a lot of doubts, almost lost to a NA team then started changing the meta and dominated all 4 teams of the rival region. Incredible story!
2022 was my fav worlds cause rooting for drx was just so fun but i think every eu fan has 2019 as S tier aswell that shit was just so crazy for us even if the finals did scar us
I think the season 5/ 2015 one is one of the more special ones to me. Because it was the one that had one of the last NA stories of a proper NA team before it felt like NA is just used for every other region to retire or get second chances in. The retirement of Dyrus from TSM. The story going into worlds, and then him having that heartbreaking speech. That will always hold a place in my mind even though it's so tragic.
Resency bias is big here. Outside of DRX wining, noting was that good. LPL didnt have a good showing, so it eliminated 4 of the 8 contenders, GenG colapsed as aways in international, so the DRX win over them wasnt that spetial, DWG where a mess and GenG beatthem convinsingly. RGE had 0 chance and got stomped. And in the bigest moment Zeus and Faker underperformed and where super bad. We didnt get even one bo5 that was between 2 teams that where playing one the same lv. 2021 worlds had 4 matches that went to 5 games and at no point you coud say which teams is better.
@@stefankatsarov5806T1 vs DRX literally went to 5 games most of which were nail biting and you simply downplay players as "bad" lmao. Even T1 vs JDG even if it ended 3-1 was so high level and worthy enough of finals already
@@stefankatsarov5806 DWG almost won in Game 5 and would have if Ruler didn't go crazy. 2021's quarters were awful quality-wise, RNG/EDG that was described by the LPL fans as the "real final" was complete garbage. I do rate 2021 highly tho, just not as highly as 2022
Hey Nathaniel! Congrats on the marriage! Been watching your content for a long long time and am glad to see how far you've come! I was in one of the first 100,000 followers you had. I've pretty much watched every series you've made (Road to Diamond, the short video essays, the Runescape videos, the list goes on). But I digress. This isn't about nostalgia lmao. Watching this list makes me sad I missed out on Worlds 2022. Looking forward to your documentary on it! One thing I'll add about 2015 Worlds. A lot of the initial games played out the same way in the beginning (All 5 blue team members go bot, all 5 red team members go top, push to take turr, normal lanes... You get it). This got pretty boring to watch initially. HOWEVER, 2015 Worlds has a special place in my heart still. It was the year Dyrus retired. His goodbye speech was so bittersweet that it still gets me a little teary eyed when I remember his passion and love for his fans, and the disappointment which was TSM in 2015. Plus, watching Faker play his iconic Ryze against Kuro's Kassadin. The memory of Kassadin Riftwalking into Ryze and then getting machine-gunned down in a second is so deeply ingrained in my brain that I don't think I'll ever forget. 2015 Worlds was the first Worlds I watched because I had joined the game only a few months before. It is very near and dear to my heart. I hope you get to see this, man!
What people forget about Worlds 2022 is how good the meta was. Sure, ADC was too strong in general, but big games were often decided by any other role. 2022 had the most variety in champion picks for a reason. It was so fucking great.
I feel like everyone's favourite Worlds will just be whichever one you were most engaged with League. If that was 2018 (like it was for me), that's probably the Worlds you look back on most fondly, even if it wasn't objectively the best.
It's easy for me.. 2018-2019 were the most exciting years as EU got farthest both those years in the international tournaments. I care about that a lot. That said, I can appreciate good league of legends and know the classics as I've seen almost everything every worlds (yes even season 1) unfold live. I was most commited to League in season 4 and I do love that worlds as well, but simply not as much as season 8 and 9 even though I was less commited. LEC and Worlds were crazy good that year, for me. I do agree with Gbay though that season 2 was remember most fondly of all... Especially because it was the very first official international event and it was such a fuckfest but everyone involved loved it. We got so scripted (pun intended) nowadays, pros are all social media trained, content is viewership driven. Maybe it's because the game was still fresh to everyone and it only makes sense for someone who started in 2015 to either get really engaged in 2016-17-18.
Not really. 2022 was the best worlds ever for me even tho I wasn't as engaged in the game as other years, but I have been engaged with league since season 6 anyways
Worlds 2019 will always stay the best for me. I will never forget the opening ceremony and the hype of the crowd I'm referring to the event and the hype I felt, not the games and the storylines. If you only look at the games and the emotions I felt for the players, its 2022 Also congratulations on the mariage !!
Brazil mentioned 3 times!!! you should really do a video about the 2016 INTZ, it has an amazing story and team was so legendary that untill today it is called the "exodia". The story had a sad ending, but still i think is really amazing and is a piece of the league lore that is really cool but still nobody outside brazil know much about it.
Context missing on the Ardent Censer meta is that for some reason pros refused to play it until literally worlds itself despite it being broken the entire year. Also I think the change was overstated as the reason for the item's dominance. It WAS a nerf - Ardent literally matched those values at LEVEL 5 AND LEVEL 6. It was the on-hit healing removal after that finally touched the item, but it took more nerfs after that to finally kill it.
I haven't played league in years and just happened to remember worlds 2022 was going on right before game 5 of the finals. I figured I would just put it on in the background since I had nothing better to do but holy shit that was the best game I have ever watched period.
I take issue with the representation of the Ardent Censer meta in 2017. Ardent Censer was not played for the entire year and enchanters were not picked in spite of its unrecognized strength. In the 4 major regions' summer playoffs, the top 3 presence supports were Thresh, Alistar, and Rakan. The region with the highest presence of enchanters was in LPL, with Lulu have around 35% presence during playoffs. The way you word it makes it sound as if Riot was willfully negligent of Ardent Censer's strength when in reality, pros just failed to realize how strong it was the entire year, and only got up to speed during worlds. This is a good case study on how pros are typically resistant to strategic change until they are aggressively challenged on it.
I was gonna comment asking desperately for a 2022 doc, but I got to the end of the video and I am so hyped now. So instead I will just say I cant already wait to see it and I generally love your content. Oh, and congratulations for the marriage.
I really loved the 2017 worlds as a misfits fan. I was sooo hyped since the underdogs made it out of groups and then took skt to 5 games, almost beating them. Their meta innovations were really fun to watch aswell with fervor of battle leona and so on. I get that the event as a whole was really underwhelming to most people but for me it probably was my 3rd favorite worlds overall
i Watch worlds since 2015, and in my opnion 2022 was the best worlds 100%, the history, the emotion and the matches were just insane, DRX made a miracle run after the unlucky games they had, like the inibitor losing them a game, it was so hard to watch, that made me root for them on the finals even though I'm being a faker fan, I couldn't sleep until the final was over
MAN DEFT WON A HARD MATCH ON HIS BIRTHDAY AND THEY GAVE HIM A CAKE IN THE END AND ALL, THIS WORLDS WAS JUST SO SCRIPTED AND PERFECT (and I'm a T1 fan, so imagine how frustrating was to me to lose in finals)
Definitely my favourite youtuber when I think about it, I actually get excited to watch your videos when they drop whereas mostly I just watch what's available. Been rewatching Road to Diamond series, and that was classic.
i really hate the notion that if it wasn't the underdog winning then it's boring because then that means that you are only looking at the story side of the competition and not the games themselves which is only half of the enjoyment that the esports have, and for me, it certainly is so exciting when an underdog upsets teams but only if not for the expense of the favored team which means they actually won with pure skill and hard work and not just the enemy underperforming which means they're win is actually justified, they're not just lucky frauds that got away with it and the games themselves were actually shit league of legends because that also throws away everything that has been building up to that moment, that is why for me, it is one of the most exciting when an underdog actually steps up and make the favorite truly sweat for it but in the end, it is the favorites proving that they ARE the best not just with talent but also hard work, no bs and that is something to be truly celebrated, and it probably also means that the underdog is just not yet ready which is why they were the underdog to begin with but it could also be that they were setting up for something GREATER, and this is why when ssg lost to skt in 2016 but continued to push on with their CLIMB to RISE and grow to actually be one of the best teams and finally won fair and square against the same opponent, as a fan it truly was one of the best feeling to have in a lifetime.
I completely agree. 2016 is one of the best Worlds ever because of the quality of the games and SKT winning doesn't discount that. It added to their aura with them becoming the first back to back world champions, which only made 2017 better when SSG finally ended their dynasty. Underdogs don't always have to win for amazing games and an amazing storyline.
I kind of disagree with the follow individual teams, not regions point, because worlds is exactly about regions. Just like you mentioned, I agree it's sad that we don't see more inter-regional play anymore with regular seasons instead of tournaments. But that also means when the only international tournaments happen, more than 10 regions are invited, but it still feels like only 2 regions are competing, it's less exciting.
i ges it comes from a guy who si A from NA and B whatches league. No teams other that from China and Korea do anything so he is on the idea that he shoud just suport diferent teams from there.
2014 is a solid A tier. A lot of great story lines and the games were way more interesting that Gbay is giving them credit for. Very entertaining event.
Started playing league in 2020-21 but I didn't keep up with pro scene till around late 2021 to 2022. It was mostly because Worlds was in a different time zone and I recently graduated. Worlds 2022 is definitely my favorite since it was the first worlds I mostly kept up with and I researched into all the storylines and it made an entertaining finals of the series. Can't wait for the documentary
While I agree with loving underdog stories, you should look at The International upsets. Teams have won as huge underdogs, and it's so much more satisfying seeing their incredible lower bracket runs or unexpected yet dominant upper bracket take-overs!
Ok, I am actually miffed at this. Is the 2017 Worlds bad due to the meta? Yes. Are there matches that were amazing despite that? ABSOLUTELY, THERE WAS EVEN A SERIES OF THEM, NAMELY MSF VS SKT, MY FAVOURITE WORLDS SERIES OF ALL TIME. In a sea of Ardent Meta, we had a five match series that focused around Leona and Blitzcrank when the rookie year EU players went up against the defending champions and put the Koreans on the back foot.
Haven’t played league at all in like 10 years but still super hyped for worlds ^_^ especially the opening EU vs NA match in play ins. Go GG Edit replied to wrong comment but too lazy to change it
Losing to Taiwan he said... this is flash wolves we're talking about not "just Taiwan" that team that roster if it would've had a coach like Kkoma to give them the coordination and map play they needed could've won that worlds they demonstrated how good they were again a year later by beating T1 which was insane and I already liked flash wolves from the year prior but them beating T1 is what made me love that team. Flash wolves is a heavilly underrated and overlooked team that had players that were equal to the skill level of uzi,faker,bang etc... This is also once again backed up by the fact that most those flash wolves players are still active in the scene and still perform individually good af even if they don't have the team around them to make them succeed even more.
I like how you mentioned ardent meta for 2017 but didn’t mention that in 2018 trackers knife got removed so Korea had to adapt with less vision , leading to more aggressive play styles from other regions like china
28:20 the foreshadowing is real :) 2022 Worlds is EASILY the best Worlds tournament of all time. The underdog story, the bracket, the Bo5s... It has literally everything you could want from a competitive tournament. Only way I can envision 2022 being topped is either a wildcard or Western region finally overcoming their struggles and winning with homegrown talent.
This had been on my backlog for a while, and boy oh boy did the memories surge when I saw Karsa, Maple and SwordArt under the FlashWolves banner. It was just for a few seconds, too. Those sure were the days.
Gbay that morning: Ah yes the middle of the forest would be a great place to film a league video! Very cool video tho, and I wish u guys all the best and a great Wedding!
I only stared watching LOL esports last year, so 2022 was my first Worlds. I had such a blast watching the storylines (and learning the game 😅), that I’m glad it ranks so highly in your estimation, and that I’ll get to revisit it with your insights before too long
I already knew before watching that 2022 Worlds would be S++++ tier and I really can't argue against it. It is probably the peak of league Esports narrative
May God bless on you and your soon to be wife marriage, sir. Gbay. This video really gave me a headshake - rattle on that brain of mine to remember what happened on previous seasons' World's; really felt sad that I never paid attention in season 2 World's as that was supposed to be my first World's. Anyway, wishing you luck on your wedding and soon to be marital life in prayer.
still miss the times where worlds was about having teams all around the world to play against each other, not its just kinda KR v CH while the other teams get eliminated in play in or groups
Great video to revisit all the memories of group stage matches and bracket matches that are engraved on my brain. With that I also went through the worlds songs and I think some worlds would move a tier just because their song is soo good.
Pretty big mistake on the 2017 one: Ardent Censer was OP all year but no one played it until a few teams in postseason. It was also nerfed right before Worlds, not buffed. I agree that wasn't a great meta, but your facts were wrong.
GBay: makes worlds tier list to get us hyped about worlds Reality: makes worlds tier list to get us hyped about THE DRX DOCUMENTSRY WHOOOOOOOO LETS FKING GOOOOOOOO
No way you didn't have 2016 S tier. ROX vs SKT is widely considered the greatest series in LoL history. This was a clash of giants, and cemented Faker as the GOAT. Underdog stories are fine, but having the absolute best duke it out is better in my opinion.
