The LCS is home to some of the best players we’ve seen in the history of League of Legends, whether people like it or not. What makes the LCS so special is that it doesn’t matter what region you come from, the LCS will always have a place for you as time and time again we’ve seen players from Korea, Europe, and even minor regions, venture into the North American league and find success.
There is a huge misconception about the LCS surrounding foreign players. People believe that players transfer into the LCS just to have an easy time and stomp the competition, but that’s not how it really goes. In fact, many times we’ve seen foreign players try their luck and completely fail on the LCS stage. But some other times, players embark into the LCS to not only prove themselves but to completely dominate the competition and become some of the best players we’ve seen in the history of the league.
Today we’ll go over those players, those players that didn’t care about what people would think about them transferring over to the LCS. Those players that against all the lol odds, turned out to be the ones who gave hope to the LCS fans. Those players that have made the LCS a much better place for all the rookies and players that are looking to make a career in the North American League of Legends scene.
Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg – Denmark
There is no other way to start this list than with the very first imported player we had in the LCS. Bjergsen joined the LCS back in late 2013 when TSM saw something special in the 17-year-old Danish mid laner that was for Ninjas in Pyjamas in the EU LCS, and little did we know, that this would change the LCS forever. Søren took the LCS by storm, although TSM didn’t win their first split playing with him, Bjergsen was the absolute best mid laner we had seen in the LCS at the time.
TSM fans didn’t lose hope in the Danish mid laner, it was quite the opposite, Bjergsen became one of the most-loved players in the LCS, and Bjergsen paid back the love with results. Quickly TSM began to claim title after title, from 2014 to 2017, TSM won 5 titles and Bjergsen was the only one that remained throughout all those splits.
Søren might be Danish, but he is one of the few players who started his career in the LCS, not the other way around. The LCS fans will forever be grateful for what Bjergsen has done in the league as he paved the way for all the imports that would come in the following years.
Yiliang “Peter” “Doublelift” Peng – United States
8x LCS Champion, 5x LCS All-Star, 5x LCS All-Pro 1st-Team, uncountable MVP awards, Doublelift retired as the winningest player we’ve had in the LCS. Doublelift has won a myriad of titles on three different teams, something that we’ve never seen before in this league.
He started his LCS career on Counter Logic Gaming, but after winning his first title with them, he transferred to TSM, the nemesis of CLG. Thus commenced one of the best storylines we will ever see in competitive League of Legends. After Doublelift joined TSM, everybody expected them to roll over the competition, but CLG actually managed to take them down in the finals once again. But this didn’t stop Doublelift, it actually fueled his competitive drive, and went on to win 6 out of the next 8 titles.
Doublelift will go down the history books as one of the best players we’ve ever seen in the LCS. Because not only did he prove to be the best North American ADC in the league, but he did it after life tried to take him down multiple times and not give up. Many lol betting experts will keep on wondering if Doublelift retired at the right time, but that’s impossible to know. We can only be grateful for what Peter did for the scene and for all the upcoming North American players that are inspired by his success.
Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in – South Korea
With one of the most interesting careers in the history of competitive League of Legends, CoreJJ has demonstrated that you don’t have to be North American to show real love towards the LCS community. CoreJJ started his professional career as an ADC in Korea back in 2013, but in 2015 he decided to join Dignitas, and he couldn’t have expected what was coming next for him. Throughout 2015, CoreJJ would be playing in the bot lane next to KiWiKiD, one of the most “memey” players in the LCS, and to nobody’s surprise, they didn’t find much success.
After his short stint on the LCS, CoreJJ decided to return back home and played for Samsung Galaxy, where he would transition into the support role. One split later, CoreJJ reached the 2016 Worlds grand finals where he would end up being 1 game away from claiming the title. This only gave him more motivation to compete and after 1 year of hard work, CoreJJ did it, he managed to take down the Korean colossus and claimed the 2017 Worlds title.
CoreJJ continued his LCK journey for a couple of years, then he returned to the place he grew up in. The LCS would be home for CoreJJ once again, but this time, it would be extremely different. CoreJJ and Doublelift would become the best bot lane we have ever seen in the history of the LCS and claimed titles back-to-back.
The Korean support started to have a lot of involvement with the community, he forms part of the LCS player association and has been a huge voice for player development in the NA scene. Now CoreJJ is one of the most beloved players in the league and the LCS fans will forever appreciate what he has done for the league’s development.
Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Puchero – Philippines
The Filipino jungler is one of the most underrated players we’ve ever had in LCS history. Xmithie won 6 LCS titles, 3x LCS All-Pro 1st-Team, and multiple MVPs throughout his career in different teams. Jake Puchero is one of the most misunderstood players in the league, but if we see the way he played and conducted himself, it kind of makes sense and many lol gambling experts agree with this. Xmithie always played in a very supportive way and was often scrutinized for his lack of mechanical expertise.
But what Xmithie lacked in mechanical prowess, he compensated with amazing teamwork. Xmithie was well-known for mostly playing around his mid laners and that’s what made him such a good jungler in the league. The LCS isn’t necessarily known for having the best mid laners in the world, so having Xmithie in your team made your mid laner look like a god.
Pobelter and Huhi know what I’m talking about, they were never considered really good mid laners, but they played extremely well next to Xmithie, and that gave them a lot of confidence to take over the lane. And even though he had one of the best performances we’ve ever seen come out of an NA player on the international stage, Xmithie will go down as one of the most misrepresented players in the LCS, and only he and his teammates will know how important he was for the teams he played in.
Honorable Mentions
- Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black
- Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
- Jeong “Impact” Eon-young
- Robert “Blaber” Huang
We’ve had so many good players in the league that it’s impossible to go over every single one of them. The LCS is home to some of the most interesting and often misunderstood careers of the whole League of Legends competitive scene, and that’s what makes this league so exciting to watch. The LCS is often criticized for its lack of international titles and “seriousness”, but it’s only after you take a deep dive into all the stories of these players that you can realize how important the LCS has been for League of Legends.
After many years of stagnation, the North American scene is starting to see a lot of improvement regarding player development. Teams are starting to focus more on scouting new talent and developing those players into future stars. The LCS already had its first 17-year-old player win the championship in 2022 and everything indicates that it won’t be the last time we see this happen, and it’s only thanks to all the players we’ve mentioned in this list that it’s possible.
Often hated, the LCS will keep its doors open without question for whoever is trying to start or continue his professional League of Legends career. The LCS fans can keep their hopes up for what’s coming in the future, the league is far from being over and as the years pass we’ll keep seeing many stars just like these keep popping, and who knows, maybe at some point the LCS will not only import players but also export them to other leagues.
