JD Gaming have made a convincing name for themselves over the past year. The Chinese League of Legends team won the 2020 LPL Spring Split, had a good showing at the Mid-Season Cup, and reached the Summer Split finals back-to-back.
And now, this menace of a team which has dominated the LPL is looking to continue its reign of dominance going forward. Recently, JDG extended two player contracts originally set to expire in 2020, according to the Global Contract Database.
Jungler Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok and ADC Lee “LokeN” Dong-wook have extended their contracts for at least one more year, according to the a Weibo post, which highlighted a ceremony from JDG. The other core members were already signed until 2022.
JDG formed in May of 2017 when they acquired the roster and LPL spot of QG Reapers. The team’s first showing was at the 2017 Demacia Cup, where they placed ninth-12th after an 0-2 loss to LGD Gaming.
They kept improving over the years, reaching the LPL Regional Finals a couple of times but failing to win it to advance to the World Championship. This year, however, was different, with JDG performing like one of the best teams LPL has to offer. They won an LPL Champion title and qualified for Worlds. They have a clear goal following their LPL dominance, and that is this year’s World Championship title.
JD qualified for this year’s Worlds after a dominating victory against Top Esports. The series began with small hiccups for both teams. The gold kept fluctuating between the two teams with JD coming out ahead after a teamfight at around the 25-minute mark. They secured the Mountain Dragon Soul and then destroyed LGD in teamfights, finishing the game after another 10 minutes.
In the second game, Kanavi brought out a secret Evelynn last pick to counter LGD’s composition. While during the draft phase, the pick didn’t look very impressive, but all doubts were gone as soon as Kanavi started collecting kills around the map.
Following 24 minutes of being massacred by an invisible monster, LGD lost the second game. They picked up the slack in the third game, picking up steam in every lane. They put a huge priority on early dragons which paid off once they got the Ocean Dragon Soul. With this Soul, they were unstoppable and JDG crumbled, showing the first signs of weaknesses in the series.
Their rivals Top Esports signed their roster through 2021, so LPL fans will continue to see these two titans match each other in the region for at least two more splits. While JDG overcame TES in Spring, TES proved too strong in Summer. These teams have another opportunity to show which is the best LPL team by winning this year’s World Championship title.