The Story of Doinb - Part 2: The Reaper Reborn

During the 2016 Summer Split, despite being a level above his rivals, Doinb was not at all his team's focal point. Instead, he acted as Newbee Young's veteran backbone. Guiding all of his teammates inside the Rift had a downside, as it sometimes led into him fading into the background. Once he came back to the higher echelon of Chinese competition, however, that version of his play quickly disappeared, leaving room for the as yet unseen super-carry side of Doinb.

The Korean mid laner's squad, now once again under the QG Reapers banner after they split with Newbee, was a bit lopsided in-game, as not all of their players were held to the same standards. This, for better or worse, would end up having a profound effect on their playstyle. QG's bot lane duo of Wang "Alone" Zi-Jun and, primarily, Liu "Ali" Xu-Dong (since they changed supports several times throughout the split) was simply not good enough. Thus, the team usually opted to put their baskets in their top laner Kan "Kabe" Ho Man.

Kabe was a renowned player, capable of reliably handling the pressure that came with being given almost all the team's resources. Jungler Kim "Clid" Tae-min, whose name may now seem familiar to most fans, had no more than a single mission: ganking Kabe's lane as many times as he possibly could. It usually went well enough, as, throughout the early minutes of the game, the Hong Kong-native veteran managed to gather a meaningful advantage over his opponents.

The game, nonetheless, did not automatically end at that point, and that was, in fact, the Reapers' most significant problem. When it came to executing lane-swaps and more advanced macro-game movements, they tended to always make mistakes which ended up costing them the win. Without Doinb, the 2017 version of the QG Reapers would probably have been remembered as the team who could never close out games even if in a favorable situation.

Because of the Korean mid-laner, however, it instead ended up being regarded as the home of the 2017 regular season MVP. As mentioned, the Reapers focused on the top-lane, so you'd assume that Kabe was the player who got out of the laning phase with the most advantages to his name. Or was he? Well, Doinb was never too far behind. The Korean prodigy also managed to amass leads in the early game consistently and, most of the times, maintain them until the opponent's Nexus finally fell. The difference between them was simply the amount of attention they got from Clid.

Taking into account that QG was a team in which "jungler attention" basically stood for "number of ganks", Doinb got none of it. He was instead mostly left on his island, relegated to playing what were supposed to be support-like or late-game champions such as Karma or Viktor. Regardless, he still excelled among his teammates.

Unbelievably, every time QG won a map, Doinb most likely had something to do with it. Out of the 22 overall map wins that QG collected throughout the Spring Split, he was the MVP on 12 occasions. Curiously enough, he was not as brilliant when playing straight-up damage dealers such as LeBlanc, Corki, and Kled as he was when he played more utility-focused champions like the aforementioned Karma.

The old Qiao Gu mentality of playing the champion that best complemented his team instead of thinking about personal preferences seemed to still be somewhat present in 2017's Doinb. It was not a big deal, however, since he was now also able to carry with these seemingly selfless picks. As such, he was the rightful winner of the 2017 LPL Spring Split regular season MVP accolade.

Once Summer came along, he relentlessly continued to make a name among China's best. This time under the JD Gaming banner, as they had acquired the QG Reapers' roster, Doinb went on to complete one of the most dominant splits ever seen in the history of League of Legends. This statement would seem at odds with his team's results; however, as at the time, JD Gaming was certainly not a well-oiled machine.

Regardless, Doinb's performance was admirable. Despite playing for a roster in shambles, the Korean talent still closed out the season as the best mid-laner in the league as far as CS per minute and gold per minute went, while also placing second in the kill participation ranking. Furthermore, he expanded his champion pool beyond what anyone was expecting, turning champions such as Lucian mid into comfort picks of his own.

All of this individual prowess and glory, however, ended up not being useful for anything else other his personal branding. As much as Doinb tried to carry, QG Reapers (later JD Gaming), maintained the same core issues throughout the year, missing out on any chance of competing outside of China. In the Spring Split, a third place in group B granted them a spot in the playoffs. Reaching MSI, however, was not a realistic goal of any sort, as they were dismantled by I May in the first round.

In Summer, although Doinb's form was at an all-time peak, the team's general showing did nothing but deteriorate. With only six series wins to their name, the JD Gaming roster did not even make playoffs, ending the season in a fairly mediocre fifth place in group B, which included a total of six contenders.

2017 was the confirmation year for Doinb. He had demonstrated that he was not worthy of the LPL but one of the best mid laners in the whole world. Life, however, had not been fair to the Korean prodigy. Two years had already passed since he almost made a World Championship appearance with the original QG Reapers squad. Within that time, names like Lee "Faker" Seong-hyeok and Lee "Crown" Min-ho had appeared in all the front pages, but not his.

The only reason he was not up there with them, Doinb thought, was not having been able to find the appropriate formula. Thus, when he started looking for offers for 2018, he was not only seeking a decent paycheck but, also, a group of teammates he could be comfortable with. That, he believed, was the most important thing to help him finally escape the borders of China and make his name known all over the world. The only team that could offer such a promise ended up being the Rogue Warriors.