Third Time's the Charm: JDG knight Finally Reaches International Success at MSI 2023
In the seventh season of his League of Legends esports career, Zhuo “knight” Ding has finally done it. The Chinese mid laner has reached new heights on JD Gaming in 2023, both in terms of level of play and competitive achievements.
Knight got his start in 2017 on Young Miracles in the LoL Secondary Pro League and made his LPL debut on Suning the following spring. The young mid laner was a bright spot on a struggling Suning, who finished 9-10 in the 2018 LPL Spring Split. However, knight found himself off the starting roster in the summer.
It was at Top Esports – known at the time as TopSports Gaming – where knight would begin to build his domestic legacy. TopSports was competitive throughout the 2019 LPL season – never placing lower than 4th in any domestic split or post-season. Unfortunately, a close loss to Invictus Gaming in the last match of the Regional Final barred knight and co from international competition.
While he may have missed a trip to Worlds 2019, knight’s performance put many a professional mid laner on notice. In the Summer Split, he led all LPL mid laners in kills, CS differential, CS per minute, damage per minute and percentage of the team’s damage, earning him his first bid as an All-Pro mid laner.
It wasn’t until the following year that knight would get his shot at international competition, and it’s hard to imagine a more impressive road than the one he took. After a heartbreaking, five-game loss in the finals of the 2020 LPL Spring Playoffs to JD Gaming, Top Esports dominated throughout the summer. A 13-3 record earned them 1st place in the Summer Split, with knight named All-Pro mid laner once again, and TES qualified for Worlds 2020 as China’s #1 seed after securing their first domestic championship.
TES came into Worlds 2020 as a favorite but ultimately settled for a top 4 finish after a surprising 3-1 loss to fellow LPL representative Suning in the semifinals. Some analysts noted that knight’s performance throughout the tournament was adequate, but a far cry from the level of dominance showcased in his domestic performances.
The LPL has the lowest Western viewership of any major region, and while analysts and superfans alike knew what knight was capable of in spite of his Worlds performance, his international debut did not make an impression the way Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok did on the global audience. If knight was able to match his domestic performance in 2020 at Worlds that season, it’s not unreasonable to say TES would have been the clear favorite to win the Summoner’s Cup.
After Worlds 2020, knight maintained his status as one of the best mid laners in China, setting the LPL record for solo kills in a split with 35 in Spring 2021, but he wouldn’t get another chance at international competition until the following year. TES dominated to a 14-2 record in the 2022 LPL Summer Split, and while they settled for silver in a five-game loss to JD Gaming in the finals, TES was once again considered a favorite to win Worlds 2022 as much as JDG was.
At Worlds 2021, Top Esports was held back by another below-standard performance from knight. In 2022, it was the opposite problem – knight was stellar, but the rest of Top Esports underperformed. A second round-robin surge in the Group Stage was not enough to put TES through to the Knockout Stage, resulting in them finishing outside of the top 8 despite initially being considered a tournament favorite.
The statistics, per Oracle’s Elixir, speak for themselves – knight led all mid laners in the Worlds 2022 group stage in KDA, gold differential at 10 minutes, and damage per minute. knight had turned in a performance on the international stage that stood as tall as his domestic feats, but his team barred him from a better placing, and his stellar individual play became a footnote on a disappointing end to the season for TES.
It’s been said that a change of scenery can do wonders, and that has been the story for knight in 2023. The mid laner joined JD Gaming ahead of the season along with legendary South Korean AD carry Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk and the results of the roster has been as good as expected on paper to begin the year. JD Gaming took 1st place in the 2023 LPL Spring Split and won the LPL Spring Playoffs without dropping a single series.
At the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational, everything came together as knight outclassed all other mid laners at the tournament. Unlike Worlds last year, his teammates on JD Gaming matched his level of performance and then some. Easily overtaking all opponents, JDG finished their incredible MSI 2023 run with a 3-1 victory over LPL #2 seed Bilibili Gaming in the first-ever all-China international final. It speaks volumes that, in a bot lane-centric meta that featured mostly utility-focused and tank mid lane champions, knight was named the finals MVP.
Oh, and he did it on his birthday, too.
“I also want to give credit to all of my JDG teammates,” knight said in his finals MVP interview at the conclusion of the tournament. “We have really worked so hard to get this win today.”’
The 2023 World Championship is still months away, and the meta will no doubt change before the next international tournament. But if MSI is any indication, China has reached a new level of regional force on the international stage. The LPL already had more MSI wins than any other region, and this year they were represented on both sides of the finals matchup.
South Korea has historically outperformed China on the Worlds stage, but if the regional gap displayed at MSI is any indication, this year could be the year that China establishes itself as the true top region of LoL Esports competition.
Esports/gaming journalist since 2016. He's covered live competitive gaming events from coast to coast in the United States and is based in the esports epicenter of Los Angeles, CA. Over the better part of the last decade, he has developed a unique voice in the LoL Esports space as a columnist, built relationships with premiere organizations, told captivating stories through interviews and features and authored industry-shaking reports all the while maintaining razor-sharp understanding of the game at its competitive peak. He has published exclusively with Inven Global for four years and has been freelancing/writing independently since parting with the publication. If you need someone to tell a story, let's chat.