Memes of the year: Top 10 UK LoL esports memes of 2016

memes year 1

Yes, this post is almost two months late. But the important thing is it’s here now.
We look back on some of the weirdest, funniest and downright bizarre social media memes, pictures and videos from the UK League of Legends esports scene in 2016.
 

10. Larssen the God

While Renegades Banditos (now Misfits) will be remembered for winning the ESL UK Prem back in spring 2016, it was actually ManaLight who beat them to finish top of the league before the LAN playoffs.
Mid-laner Larssen put in a top performance, helping ManaLight defeat the Banditos in the group stages.
There’s just something about this picture – we couldn’t not include it.

 

9. Player therapy

This meme cropped up and was reused a few times throughout the year.
Its former Choke Gaming coach taking on the role of therapist for ADC player Joekerism. There are so many caption possibilities here…

 

8. Because I’m worth it

A lot of UK scene talent have a good head of hair (excluding me, of course).
And they aren’t afraid of flaunting it.

 

7. Fans for the memories

Oh crap. Excel Esports’ Ryan “Barnetto” Barnett had a mare with his fan during an Esports News UK xL video interview with MnM’s Rob Allen.

This of course spawned some memes…

 

6. Gross misconduct

The biggest this story of April 2016 in the UK League of Legends community was arguably Twitch banning popular streamer Gross Gore, after allegations he made against Riot caster Krepo.
The internet reacted the only way it knows how – with stupid pictures and memes. Like these:

5. The last roster (lock)

Just before the ESL UK LoL Prem summer 2016 split got underway, a few players changed teams at the last minute, including Nutri, who left xL for Last Remedy.
Cue the memes.

 

4. Twitch is not an analytical forum

This was one of the key lessons UK LoL esports learnt in October, from a rant by former TSM League of Legends coach Jarge.
He got into a Twitter argument with exceL eSports’ coach Furndog around whether it’s okay to flame players on Twitch. Furndog (now at G2) said it wasn’t and Jarge (now at Team Liquid) said it was. The reason?

You can guess what happened next…

 
 

3. A 50/50 chance

If you don’t follow the UK League of Legends scene you probably won’t get this one, but it was the most recurring meme of 2016 for me.
Ahead of a TCA eSports match against favourites MnM last year, TCA’s Marek “Contact Zero” Walker said that TCA had a 50/50 chance of winning.
He then got ridiculed for his statement, and the rest is history: the 50/50 TCA thing became a regular meme. And Marek happily embraced it.

2. The Mr Potato Head Massacre

jordan-potato-head
That guy Jordan is back at it again. In March 2016, Choke Gaming’s then coach Jordan Walsh (pictured, sort of) criticised MnM’s old League of Legends team, who were currently fifth in the ESL UK Premiership with six points.
One of the things he said was: “They’ve got the top-laner gashandslash who is pretty f*cking boosted. I don’t know what you want me to say – the guy’s pretty sh*t.”
MnM top-laner gashandslash didn’t take kindly to the comments – he responded with a unique retort:

And thus a strange meme was born.
To this day we’re still not sure who paid for all those Twitter bots, or where they came from.

 

1. The Last meme

When Riot’s English community specialist Ben “Draggles” Forbes left the Riot Dublin office for the Los Angeles office, he  went out with one last UK scene meme.
The source of the meme? Tundra joining Last Remedy as coach halfway through the split, clashing with co-founder Grant “Greivance” Rousseau and Greivance ultimately quitting the org.
The picture contains Grant, Tundra, Nutri, former LoL player and now Overwatch pro numlocked (as stage security) and me (as Jeremy Kyle). Thanks a bloody lot Draggles! No, seriously – you made light of such intense drama, and for that we salute you.

 

Other weird stuff

These aren’t memes, but they made us smile anyway.
 
‘Twas the night before esports – December 2015
Caster Aaron “Medic” Chamberlain (known as ‘Sona’ back then) wrote this lovely little poem the night before the 2015 Season 2 ESL UK LoL Prem finals.

 
Hmmm – February 2016
This is still my most popular tweet of all time. No, I’m not sure why either.

 
Joe “Taric” Fenny?
The resemblance is real. I mean, c’mon, they’re both hunks.

 
From the UK Prem to the LCS
Former team manager Alicus reacts…

 
UK Lan starter pack
It’s not specifically LoL-related but worth including nonetheless:

 
Aw poor old Joe
Twitter has not been kind to him. First the below, then getting catfished

 
When Toaster played in the LCS

 
The Biggsy & Baggsy show
We’ll leave you with a video. Again it’s not LoL-related but this one concerns a UK CSGO org.
Poor old Caz Esports. Turner Broadcasting CSGO Eleague host and esports journalist Richard Lewis really laid into them after Caz let go of their CSGO roster.

 
Did we miss any big memes? Have a go at us in the comments below or @ us on Twitter. You can see all of our memey UK esports content here.

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