LoLeSports The Worlds Top 20 are pretty much all but confirmed and, excluding some kind of huge editorial mistake, their list as as follows:

1. Faker, Midlaner for SK Telecom T1

2. Imp, ADC for LGD

3. GODV, Midlaner for LGD

4. KaKAO, Jungler for Invictus Gaming

5. Rookie, Midlaner for Invictus Gaming

6. Pyl, Support for LGD

7. Deft, ADC for EDward Gaming

8. Yellowstar, Support for Fnatic

9. Clearlove, Jungler for EDward Gaming

10. PawN, Midlaner for EDward Gaming

11. MaRin, Toplaner for SK Telecom T1

12. Westdoor, Midlaner for ahq eSports

13. Ssumday, Toplaner for KT Rolster

14. Huni, Toplaner for Fnatic

15. Bjergsen, Midlaner for Team SoloMid

16. Ziv, Toplaner for ahq eSports

17. Aphromoo, Support for Counter Logic Gaming

18. Piccaboo, Support for KT Rolster

19. Bang, ADC for SK Telecom T1

20. Doublelift, ADC for Counter Logic Gaming

Im just going to say it; what a disgustingly biased, uneducated and personally infuriating list. To understand why the list is infuriating we first have to look at why I write content. If I took all the money Id make from my written pieces in eSports and then divivded it by all the hours Id spent actually writing (thats not even going to include the social networking and research that goes into every piece) then itd far below $1 an hour. In my real life I work a "well paid job" where I make upwards of $25 an hour (in before some 14 year old tells me thats nothing), Im extremely qualified and experienced in my field and will probably never struggle for work in my life. So tell me this, why would I spend a good chunk of my free time writing articles about eSports? I have no desire to work full time in eSports, so its not like I see this as some kind of extended job interview/internship.

When Richard Lewis outed me as AnnPragg the community made it extremely clear that they deeply despised me. Im blacklisted from most organisations and shunned by most prominent figures in eSports. My most recent article, 9 Overrated Players At Worlds, was by far my most popular piece since I became GoSickBoy yet what was the highest rated comment?

isnt this the guy who pretended to be a girl?

Yet Im still here with nothing even remotely close to a financial incentive, I do it for a bizarre love of eSports. I want to explain in detail why Dade is my favourite player ever on the hope that itll make someone else appreciate his brilliance. I want to bring the Wests attention to the injustices and poor situations some Korean Progamers experience, perhaps under the naive hope that itll raise awareness. I want to challenge mainstream medias sickeningly ignorant and tired portrayl of eSports, on the hope that maybe itll teach some other eSports fan that they dont have to be ashamed of their passion.

But above all, and when I think about the importance of nearly all written and video eSports content (that isnt the actual matches) as a whole, I want to make sure the narrative is correctly understood. Narratives are essential to eSports, its important that the context is made aware because acheivements without context are pointless. For example if I told you that two American brothers made a plane from scratch with virtually no education or training in engineering then Im sure youd be mildly impressed. But what if I added that those same brothers were called the Wright brothers and were responsible for the first ever practical fixed-wing aircraft? A lot more impressive Im sure.

Of course this is an extreme example, but we could also examine Cloud 9s 2015 gauntlet run to the World Championships. A super casual fan who literally only watches the NA LCS finals might not understand why the run was impressive. They might be operating under the belief that Cloud 9 were a longstanding North American powerhouse, that they were a two time LCS champion and four time LCS finalist. This fan would likely not be aware who Team Impulse, Team Gravity and Team Liquid and might believe that Cloud 9s back to back defeat of the three teams was the expected result. Doesnt this idea make your blood boil? When you think about the emotions you felt as Cloud 9 defeated Team Liquid imagine someone sitting next to you saying Calm down, this is the expected result isnt it? Imagine the heartbroken Team Liquid fan being told Yeah of course you could never beat Cloud 9, idiot., imagine the white hot rage thatd course through his veins.

Any fan who watched the majority of NA LCS Summer understood the importance, significance and unpredictability of that gauntlet run. Yet I believe that, in the run up to international competition, most fans dont understand the actual stories and narratives the Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese teams are carrying with them. In ignorance youre impressionable, if an official Riot Games site tells you, indirectly or not, that CLG are the overwhelming favourites over the KOO Tigers then youre likely to believe him. Human beings are already naturally biased towards individuals and teams they recognise (hence why LPL fans tend to overrate LPL teams, LCK fans overrate LCK teams etc), imagine the damage that can be done when youre going in completely blind.

A series of articles like this actually looks to undermine the very reason why I write articles. Not only does it distort the historical narrative but it also taints the viewing experience for any casual eSports fan. Overrating and hyping Western players and teams does nothing but either seed dissapointment when they do lose or ruin the significance of their upset win. If Western players lose as the favourites then their backlash on social media only increases, you only have to look at TSM at MSI as an example of this. LoLeSports rampant and never ending attempt to claim that the gap between top Asian teams and top Western teams is shrinking helps no one and hurts everyone.