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There are fewer situations in esports where more expectations are levied on one’s shoulders than when you’re Korea’s number seed at the League of Legends World Championship. The game’s traditionally strongest region often sends its top team internationally with the full expectation of coming home with the Summoner’s Cup in tow.
Historically, the top seed out of Korea has always been viewed as a (if not, the) tournament favorite at Worlds, and this year, the situation is no different. Gen.G, who won LCK Summer in historically dominant fashion, are a widespread choice to win it all.
At their center is Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon, four-time Worlds attendee and zero-time Worlds winner. What’s interesting about that last part, though, is each time the now-21-year-old comes to the tournament, it feels like he has a realistic shot at winning it all based on his raw talent alone.
This year, he may just have the strongest chance of his career.
Gen.G is Chovy’s fourth team in as many years. After revealing his talents to the international scene with Griffin in 2019, Chovy bounced from DRX to Hanwha Life Esports the last two seasons before finally finding his place as the premier chip on Gen.G. And while all three of his past teams each got bounced from Worlds in the quarterfinals, Chovy believes this is the year he can lead a team deep in the tournament.
“In the past, myself and my teammates didn’t have enough experience,” Chovy told Dot Esports. “Gen.G has a lot of experience and everyone is really talented. As long as we can fix the issues we’re facing right now, we’ll be able to get a great outcome.”
That last line of Chovy’s implies Gen.G has struggled at Worlds thus far, and as we sat down with the LCK champ, there was a sense of dissatisfaction in his eyes—despite the team’s winning record at the group stage.
“Heading into Worlds, we’re struggling because a lot of things are not working right now,” Chovy said of Gen.G. “For example, the way we play teamfights and the way we generally approach and play the game is not as good, and that’s why I think we’re not playing as well.”
If there is trouble in paradise, Gen.G has done a solid job of masking it on-stage.
The team is 2-1 after the first round robin of the group stage, and sits just one game behind Royal Never Give Up (who they lost to) for a share of first place in Group D.
That initial loss on day one (and their subsequent not-so-dominant performance against 100 Thieves in their next game) scrubbed Gen.G of their original title of “worldkillers” and may have given China’s JD Gaming sole possession of the “tournament favorite” moniker.
And Chovy agrees. According to him, the LPL looks stronger than the LCK so far, and JDG appears to be the “strongest among them.”
“Based on how all of the teams have played so far, I want to say LPL [is stronger], but we have so many games to play still, so we’ll have to wait and see,” Chovy said of the Chinese teams at Worlds.
Beyond secondhand observations, Chovy has a potential meeting with JDG circled on his calendar. Should the LCK and LPL champions meet at Worlds, it wouldn’t be until the bracket stage at the earliest. But, a potential matchup between eastern titans—and more importantly, his would-be lane opponent Zeng “Yagao” Qi—is intriguing.
“Yagao is the most impressive player so far in the mid lane because of the way he plays with the team,” Chovy said. “The way he makes the team play [around him] is so important.”
But although Yagao could make for a worthy opponent, Chinese mid laners have historically given Chovy fits.
Dating back to his first World Championship, Chovy holds a dreadful 2-8 record in individual games against Chinese teams, while being outdueled by names like Rookie, Knight, Cryin, and Xiaohu along the way. Despite his success against his LCK counterparts (especially this season) Chovy has never had much of an answer for the LPL.
On Sunday, Oct. 16, Gen.G and RNG will play the last scheduled match of the 2022 Worlds group stage. That match could have immense implications on the final standings of the group, and by proxy, the quarterfinals.
Before then, though, Chovy and Gen.G have some problems to solve. While other teams at Worlds are making it look easy, each of Gen.G’s games have been immensely competitive, especially in comparison to how easily they breezed through the LCK Summer Split.
At the conclusion of the first round robin, Gen.G rank fifth in total kills, fifth in objective control, and 10th at gold difference at 15 minutes, according to League stats site Oracle’s Elixir. Although they’ve scraped two wins together, Gen.G doesn’t look nearly as dominant in their wins as many of the other squads at Worlds thus far.
“I’m aware a lot of people are counting us as one of the favorites of this tournament, but our performance does not really show that high quality performance,” Chovy said. “Right now, I’m not evaluating our team as that high.”
Chovy and the rest of Gen.G will return to the Worlds stage on Sunday, Oct. 16 for all six of their second round robin games in Group D.
