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Korean pop stars about to get absolutely rolled in League of Legends

// by Roy Graham
@grayhaem
Korean pop stars about to get absolutely rolled in League of Legends

It’s been a dominant week for South Korea in the world of esports. At BlizzCon, contenders from the region walked away with the Starcraft II World Championship, the Overwatch World Cup and the Heroes of the Storm Fall Championship. But if there’s one area in the world of professional gaming where Koreans are vulnerable, it may well be their citizens who are not professional gamers. Like, I don’t know—their musical icons, maybe?

Last week, South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment announced that they’re putting together a series of League of Legends exhibition matches in an event titled “2016 S.M. Super Celeb League.” Participating in these games will be K-Pop boy band icons Heechul, of Super Junior, and Baekhyun of EXO, who will captain opposing teams of ordinary fan players. They will also play together against an as-of-yet unannounced pro Chinese team, which is, if you ask me, bad news for the musical talent. This is like celebrity boxing between a cooking celebrity and an actual boxer.

They’ll have some prodigious help, though: filling out their roster will be DanDy, the one-time jungler for Samsung Galaxy White, MaRin, SKT’s former top lane, and Easyhoon, SKT’s old mid-laner before the era of Faker. Those are three world champions that will try their hardest to carry the pop stars to victory. But the remaining positions for Heechul and Baekhyun are support and ADC, and that means they’re on their own for the laning phase.

Let’s carry out a thought experiment. You’re a Chinese professional jungler who plays at least eight hours a day, probably more. Which lane do you try to gank: the former Faker, a championship top lane, or two very handsome boys who sing good?

Then again, with the actual opposing team still unannounced, maybe I’m setting myself up to look bad here. Anything’s possible—after all, it wouldn’t be the first time a musician pulled off a literally unthinkable upset over a pro player.

To find out how wrong I am, you can watch the broadcast on Douyu, starting on November 11th and going until December 23rd.

Roy Graham
Roy Graham is the editor of the Meta. His writing has appeared on the internet and in print. He is often asked to keep his voice down.
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