JD Gaming Preview – Worlds 2023

JD Gaming Preview showcases the team that has dominated the LPL since last Summer and won this year’s MSI – and might get their first Worlds title as well.

The 16 teams of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage are ready for the biggest rumble of the year! The Swiss Stage begins on the 19^th of October and will last until the end of the month, after which we’ll know what teams have qualified for the Playoffs. One of the teams that the community expect to make it through is JD Gaming, the number 1 seed of the LPL and the winners of this year’s MSI – but will 369 and his teammates be able to pull through?

JD Gaming Preview

JD Gaming Team History

JDG joined the LPL in 2017 after buying the LPL spot of QG Reapers. They didn’t have a good showing in their debut event, the 2017 Demacia Cup, where they finished in the top 12. The team’s first success was in the 2018 Summer LPL Split, where they came in 3^rd, then also got a bronze medal in the Playoffs.

While JD Gaming was a team that had some standout seasons, such as their 2^nd place 2019 Spring Playoffs or their win 2020 Spring Playoffs, they didn’t partake in many international events. Their first Worlds appearance was in 2020 after finishing second in the LPL Summer Playoffs, where they lasted until the quarterfinals.

JDG had a lackluster year in 2021, but found success last year, after signing 369 and Kanavi to play alongside Yagao, Hope and Missing. They needed to ramp up in Spring, but by the 2020 LPL Summer Playoffs, they became the best team in the Chinese league. Many expected them to take it all at Worlds, but T1 stopped them in the semifinals.

In 2023, JD Gaming stepped their game up after signing knight and the current best player in the world, Ruler. They dominated the 2023 LPL, getting 1^st places in both playoffs, and achieving their first true international success after beating Bilibili Gaming in the Mid-Season Invitational Finals. Now all that remains is taking home the Summoner’s Cup, and JDG has a good shot at making their dreams reality.

JD Gaming Roster

• Bai “369” Jia-Hao
• Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok
• Zhuo “knight” Ding
• Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk
• Lou “MISSING” Yun-Feng

JD Gaming Playstyle

JDG is one of the most dominant teams in the world, aiming for the so-called golden road: winning both their domestic splits, the MSI and the World Championship in one year. The team has multiple stand-out players that can generate leads, then fight in the midgame to close out games fast. They won the last 3 LPL seasons, truly dominating the Chinese scene.

Their early game is still dominant, but they slowed down a bit compared to the Spring LPL Season, where they fought every chance they had. They still have great numbers and get a big gold lead, just not as big as they did. They usually don’t pay too much attention to the first objectives in the game, focusing on laning and getting leads through harassment and farming – and most importantly, Turret plates. They also acquire a lot of kills without dying too much, raking in the gold from that source as well.

They turn up their gold generation between 15 and 20 minutes, trying to deepen the advantage they gained during the laning phase – managing to double it on many occasions. They also make great use of the Barons, which they use to further their leads. They also pay special attention to their item spikes and sometimes even modify their builds if a component (like Stopwatch) is more useful for a coming fight than the item that would make the most sense in the long run. This means they ramp up fighting as the game goes on, but they don’t like to drag out their games, having an 28:48 average win time in the LPL Summer Season.

All of their players are standouts, but there’s two members that must be mentioned: knight and Kanavi. Kanavi played 16 unique champions in the Summer Split and he performed well on all of them in at least one game, while knight is a teamfighting monster, having the best Teamfight K/D in the LPL. Each player has a pick that is high priority: Ornn for 369, Sejuani for Kanavi, Xayah for Ruler, Ahri for knight and Rakan for MISSING.

Overall, JD Gaming has one of the best chances to win the 2023 League of Legends World Championship if we’re just going off stats. They had huge successes this year already, proving themselves time and time again. Now all that remains is the biggest achievement that a League of Legends player can achieve: taking the Summoner’s Cup home.