The LPL's Best of the Year is revealed, with Tarzan becoming the region's hero, creating an international upset as a dark horse.

Greetings to all LPL fans and League of Legends summoners, welcome to Tianxia Game Report.

The yearly LPL All-Star event has started, and this year’s edition has hit a historic low in enthusiasm, attracting barely any attention. The LPL’s prolonged lack of success has led audiences to lose interest in such tournaments.

Nonetheless, the distribution of some awards at the ceremony continues to capture the audience’s attention.

LPL’s Best of the Year: Tarzan emerges as the region’s hero.

The most anticipated awards at the All-Star ceremony each year are the Best Lineup and Best Player. These often spark controversies, which generally generate discussion and engagement—something the organizers welcome. However, this year’s Best Lineup generated little dispute, with seemingly clear choices for each position.

In the top lane, Saint successfully secured the award. Indeed, only Saint truly deserved it this year. Bin’s performance declined significantly compared to last year, and his world championship mistakes were too glaring to earn him the honor. 369 also lacked notable achievements or standout performances.

For the jungle role, only Tarzan was worthy of selection. As the best Korean import in the LPL, he also won Best Player of the Year. Tarzan became the region’s hero during the LPL’s dark era, achieving remarkable results from an underestimated position.

Mid lane was the sole position with some debate. Knight was chosen, though many fans felt Shanks deserved it more. Considering Knight’s strong league performance, his FMVP title, and decent showing at Worlds, his selection as Best Mid was more justified.

With the strength of a dark horse, he created an international miracle.

In the bot lane, JKL was successfully selected. Honestly, this year’s LPL bot lane was quite disappointing overall. GALA underperformed, Elk’s form noticeably declined, and Hope was a weak point for AL. Compared to them, JKL appeared to be the most reliable player.

Like the jungle, the support position was uncontested. Kael secured the award thanks to his consistent performance throughout the year and his legendary showing at Worlds.

During his acceptance speech, Kael was so nervous his hands trembled. He expressed gratitude to the fans in Chinese. The audience holds AL’s Korean duo in very high regard, almost without criticism. Having these two Korean imports during the LPL’s dark times is truly a blessing for the region.

Throughout the entire year’s competitions, AL was the only LPL team to defeat a Korean team in BO5 matches, even nearly defeating T1 on the world stage. T1, of course, achieved a historic three-peat championship. AL’s near-citizen-level roster created a remarkable international achievement for the LPL.

Although AL ultimately fell short, from the region’s perspective, the real failure lies with higher-profile teams and players who did not deliver.

Overreliance on Korean imports is the LPL region’s sorrow.

AL’s success this year was a slap in the face to many teams, especially BLG, which boasts the strongest LPL roster. After narrowly missing the championship last year, BLG was eliminated in the round of sixteen this year with players in significant decline. BLG’s failure largely symbolizes the LPL region’s failure.

In this environment, the LPL’s continued heavy dependence on Korean imports is, in my opinion, a tragedy. Particularly, Tarzan’s professional spirit and attitude are severely lacking among many domestic players and teams in the LPL. AL’s team-wide dedication is something other teams clearly lack.

Currently, the LPL region includes many top players and talented newcomers who should perform better but have collectively underperformed. This collective underachievement is the fundamental reason why the LPL’s top-tier strength shatters under pressure.

The LPL’s year-end transfer period was actually quite decent, and some teams remain promising. However, if they fail to fix their professional attitudes, continuing will only lead to repeating past failures and remaining unable to overcome Korean teams.