Royal Never Give Up has officially won their first major international tournament. RNG’s victory has been three years in the making. Since the organization premiered in 2015, they have had ups and downs, but their record has showed mostly ups. They have consistently dominated the LPL and even though they have never made it into the finals of Worlds, they have put forth an effort and talent that is daunting to all that face them. RNG defeated Korea’s Kingzone DragonX in a 3-1 series that also cemented ADC Uzi as the best in the world.

While RNG has had a short three years to their rise, Uzi’s has been much longer. He started playing professionally over 6 years ago, and while he has been consistently touted as one of the best in the world, he has often been overshadowed by other allstar ADCs. Though it was Bang and Wolf of SKT that knocked RNG out of Worlds in 2017, it was PraY and Gorilla of Kingzone that many were talking about.

Longzhu – now Kingzone – was the favored team to win Worlds. While many wanted to discuss Uzi and his stellar rise to prominence, he was instead side-lined for Korea’s LCK squads (as he often was). However, after a dominating performance against PraY and Gorilla, Uzi has proven once and for all that Korea is not the only region to create world class players and champions.

Before toppling Kingzone, RNG had to first put down Fnatic in highly anticipated matchup. The two teams have developed a relationship going back to when RNG knocked Fnatic out of Worlds in a 3-1 series, ending a winning streak that had gotten the entire EU hyped. Fnatic is a team that has consistently shown more heart than skill – which isn’t to say they aren’t skilled – but this also marks the second time that RNG has stopped their ambitions dead.

Fnatic put up a up a worthy fight, but ultimately, RNG was simply a team with better team mechanics. Uzi and Ming played perfectly in-sync, and all of RNG knew that if they could hold the front line, Uzi could destroy their opponents from the backline. Conversely, Fnatic constantly played as a team out of sorts. Rekkles played like he couldn’t trust his team to save him – and maybe he was right – and the entire team would often commit to a fight they should never have entered in the first place.

Despite Rekkles getting the only pentakill of MSI in Game 3 against RNG, Uzi ultimately put him down. This means there will be lots of teams looking for RNG’s head come Worlds. Kingzone will want to avenge their loss at MSI, Fnatic will want to finally overcome the juggernaut that always stonewalls them, and SKT – if we even see them return – will need to once more put down the LPL champions if they hope to take the World cup back for Korea.

One thing is certain, the LPL are no longer second string to any region. If RNG can continue to improve, they may be the new generations SKT as well, and soon Faker may dim from knowledge as Uzi usurps him.