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For the first time in the history of League of Legends, Chovy and Knight are finally meeting in Best of Five series. The Financial City Performing Arts Center in Chengdu, China, is the stage that will host this legendary duel. Eight other players will share the spotlight and the rift, but the mid-lane matchup is the one history will remember. This is no final, there is no title on the line here. But this is the first time that the two midlane masters of modern League of Legends meet, and we know how crucial first impressions are. This rivalry has been growing in the background, hidden in plain sight for years now. No blood has been shed, no blows have been traded. Tomorrow, it all changes. Chovy versus Knight, the battle of the chosen ones.  

Chovy, The Messiah

  Chovy has been hailed as one of the best mid laners in the game since 2019, when he rose to prominence alongside as a key part in the legendary, yet also tragic, Griffin roster. The messiah of his church, Chovy has long been the chosen one who hasn’t quite cemented himself as the GOAT in the eyes of many. A filled trophy cabinet, but painfully devoid of international titles, has been the only “but” in his career.  

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  He’s attended five regional finals since joining GEN, and has won the last four in a row, a feat no other player achieved. Is he the Kwisatz Haderach of LoL Esports? The one who’ll break the LCK’s losing streak at MSI, or will the cup stay in China once again, where it has belonged for the past three years?  

The Golden Knight

    His opponent, the reigning MSI king lies in wait. Knight, The Golden Left Hand, has been walking a similar path to the messiah, albeit on the much less appreciated world of the LPL. While the Church of Chovy was being founded, with whispers of the “100 KDA” and the endless farming of minions spreading throughout the regions, Knight was preparing his own ascendance. In the Summer of 2019, he joined Top Esports, where he’d make a name for himself. Despite being surrounded by the most stacked era of LPL midlaners: DoinB, Xiaohu, Scout, Rookie (as was pointed out to me by one of the most underappreciated casters in LoL Esports, LPL Expert Nymaera), Knight managed to win the title of LPL Regular Season MVP.  

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  Nymaera, LPL caster, was quick to point this out to me when I reached out for comment, mentioning that Knight wasn't the undisputed best then, but being in the conversation and getting MVP of the league when his role was so stacked showed how special the Golden Left Hand really was. Less than a year after joining the roster, he’d be attending his first test-drive of an international tournament: Mid Season Cup. The online cup that replaced MSI during COVID was the first time Knight won a big tournament, and he did so by taking down some of the most respected mid laners of all time: BDD, Doinb, Showmaker and Faker. Almost exactly a year after joining TES, The Golden Left Hand was lifting his first LPL trophy, and cementing his place as the best midlaner in the region.  

As It Was Written

    Meanwhile, in the Korean peninsula, Chovy was getting all the praise, but none of the trophies. The messiah was still in the earlier parts of the prophecy. Unlike Knight, Chovy left his initial team quickly, and wouldn’t find his place until much more recently. The DRX roster wasn’t as promising as TES’, but they had potential. Alas, potential isn’t enough to lift trophies, and Chovy didn’t hold one in his two hands until Summer of 2022, almost exactly three years after Knight’s first triumph. Where their two prophecies coincided was overseas. Both of them became seen as the two best midlaners in the world after Showmaker’s decline post-2021. The shadow of Faker loomed as intimidating as ever, but anyone who actually followed the two Asian major regions knew that there were two new kings in town.  

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  Their trajectory as star midlaners brought them together for the first time in a tournament in 2020, at Worlds in China. Yet, no matter how close circumstance brought them, destiny kept their roads separated. Knight had already achieved regional success by then, but international victories would elude both of these midlane prodigies for years to come. Coincidentally, they’d elude each other until now, despite being present in the same international tournaments four different times (five, with MSI 2024).  

A Clash For The Ages

    Chovy achieved domestic dominance in Summer of 2022, when he began his insane streak of victories. Knight followed suit, returning to his winning ways in Spring of 2023. A month later, he would be lifting his first and only international title at MSI 2023, the first edition of the tournament with the revamped format and, more importantly, with two teams coming from each region. Despite their respective teams, GEN and JDG, being the two biggest favourites to win the tournament, Chovy faltered and failed to meet his destined foe. It wasn’t time, yet.  

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  A year since, and after a disappointing Worlds 2023 for both, the prophesized enemies finally meet. The threads of fate kept them apart for long enough, and the time has come to weave the meeting of the legends into an unforgettable tapestry. The Messiah, followed by the renowned Church of Chovy, is looking for his first international victory. A victory tomorrow would take him to his first final at an international event, and on Knight’s home-soil, no less. The Golden Left Hand of God, the defending MSI champion, wants to prove, beyond a doubt, that he is the best midlaner in League of Legends right now. We've been robbed of this legendary matchup for years now, and we might not get it any time soon. Watch closely, and savour it. Rare are the times when two masters of their craft reach their peak at the exact same time.  

The Prophecy

  I've been re-reading Dune, after having watched the two Villeneuve adaptations, and I can't help but shake the parallels between Chovy/Knight and Paul/Feyd-Rautha. The first Dune novel shows us the parallels of two possible chosen ones in the prophecy: Paul Atreides and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. At the end of the book, one goes on to rule a planet, the other lies on the floor, defeated in a duel to the death.  

Image via Riot Games

  Don't let the constant underappreciation of the LPL cloud your judgement. The chosen ones of League of Legends today are Chovy and Knight, not Chovy and Faker. This is the clash of the two men that will leave their mark in League of Legends for years to come, but only one of them will leave this battle victorious. Will the church be forced to worship a new messiah after this series is done, or will the golden left hand crack under the weight of pressure?

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