Lauren spends most of her time useless in League of Legends, or equally as useless in Valorant. Do not ask her about Vampire: The Masquerade.
Printed: October 9, 2026
League of Legends Worlds is a giant deal for me. 12 months after yr I tune into each match from begin to end, watching as new titans rise, previous ones fall, and EMEA inevitably stumbles on the last hurdle. I crave the excessive highs and the low lows; the peaks and the troughs. However more often than not, I am simply excited to look at T1. They’re, in spite of everything, the premier esports crew.
Over the previous few years, nevertheless, I’ve discovered myself feeling just a little fatigued by Worlds; not by the match itself per say, however by the shortage of actual hype. Ever since Phoenix (and Take Over at a push), I have not actually gelled with the League of Legends Worlds anthems, or Riot’s strategy to their music movies. Star Walkin’, whereas a fantastic music, is not a LoL monitor; Gods was advantageous; Heavy is the Crown was advantageous; Sacrifice was actively weak. It appears like Worlds anthems have slowly grown much less attention-grabbing, that means the hype, in consequence, merely hasn’t been there.
True Injury had a comparatively simple job this yr: I do not suppose anybody’s arguing that Sacrifice is a tough act to comply with. Know My Title, whereas maybe just a little generic, is a reasonably good monitor – it stomps Heartsteel’s newest, and definitely feels extra anthemic than G.E.M’s anthem did. My situation with it’s that this does not actually really feel like True Injury’s ‘large comeback’ second. Why? Effectively, the video’s about Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok. And in addition T1. However primarily Faker.
Faker is a staple in League of Legends esports movies – it is smart, he is the most effective LoL participant ever. He is in Rise, Phoenix, Take Over; the listing goes on and on. In Heavy is the Crown, he is successfully the principle character, with considerably odd options from Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong. In Know My Title, he could as effectively be the one character – True Injury themselves are, by and enormous, nowhere to be discovered. As an alternative, Know My Title serves as Faker’s best hits; an animated tour of his storied historical past.
That is to not say that Faker does not deserve this degree of reward – he is received ten LCK trophies, two MSIs, and 6 Worlds, three of which have been again to again, with this yr being a possible fourth. However there are different League of Legends gamers. This yr noticed EMEA’s Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winter inducted into the Corridor of Legends. There’s the likes of Kang ‘TheShy’ Seung-lok, Park ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk – gamers which have etched themselves into LoL esports historical past. The place are they? Cameos at finest, excluded at worst.
What makes this much more complicated is that Worlds, this yr, takes place throughout New York, Texas, and Los Angeles. Subsequent yr, it is in Korea. Know My Title’s video does not look like it is set within the US – there is no Empire State Constructing, iconic NY skyline, or the lights at Santa Monica pier. There are not any rapid references to any LCS gamers – you would argue ‘that is as a result of they suck, haha.’ However, this yr, Worlds is within the US. The Korea focus feels odd, then; a celebration of Faker, T1, and their achievements would have made full sense for 2027, however this yr it simply feels off.
Maybe the saddest factor is that, between the Faker glory cuts and T1 celebrations, there’s little to no True Injury. They seem on billboards all through and that is it. Akali, Ekko, Qiyana, Senna, and Yasuo are backing singers when, in my thoughts, this was their large comeback. Heartsteel acquired their very own, devoted video; why have not True Injury?
Giants; POP/STARS; Mortal Reminder – all of those movies, whereas maybe ‘cringe’ by fashionable requirements, celebrated League of Legends champions and the music that they had been supposedly creating. They’d coronary heart and spirit; they felt League of Legends. Whereas Worlds Anthem movies have all the time targeted extra on the gamers, Phoenix, Star Walkin’ and Rise are all intelligent of their inclusion of League of Legends’ lore and world. Relegating True Injury to being dancing figures on billboards sort of feels prefer it misses the purpose of bringing them again within the first place. This is not a comeback: it is a glorified cameo.
Now do not get me flawed: I am nonetheless hyped for Worlds. I will watch the video games, scream ‘T1 preventing,’ and be amazed when Faker does Unkillable Demon King issues. Know My Title is not a nasty music; it is nonetheless hype, and I genuinely love seeing True Injury once more. It simply feels just like the flawed mixture for the flawed Worlds.
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