NOTE: This is my translation of a piece originally written in Chinese. The original, written by 达文戏, can be found here. I do not own any of the pictures and graphics; credit for those go to their original owners. If you are the original owner of any of these graphics and want me to take them down, please contact me via Twitter @jiekeai. Please do not sue me lmao I am just a fan translator.
No one wants to be the one flashing forward to make the mistake in game 5. Jackey says I will flash forward, I will be the hero in this fight.
This is what Western shoutcaster Captain Flowers said in the quarterfinals of the 2018 LOL World Championship, in the last game between KT versus iG, when Flowers saw iG’s ADC pull off a flash on which the boy — knowingly or not — must have staked his entire career.
A breath held in the storm. A spreading of the wings. Feathers flying forward ninety thousand miles.
At that moment seventeen years of age, this was JackeyLove’s first time attending Worlds. From that moment on, he became a legend and finally made himself known to the West.
A young hero finding fame with a single battle and becoming known to all. This reinvented the world’s perception of this prodigy, and rewrote all of the LPL audience’s previous prejudices against him.
I. Hope.
Turning the time back to the start of the millennium, the year 2000, in its 11th month. Born on the same soil that birthed Entrance Exam Mock Tests and Huanggang Secret Papers, a baby cried out into the world for the first time.
Before 14, the boy’s experiences were much like that of any normal child in China. His main job was to go to school, take classes, study maths, memorize passages. In the rare moments he had off, he would play some games to relax.
He would find that while he did not have much talent when it came to studying, he was like a fish in water when it came to gaming.
Thus, in the summer of his 14th year, while other kids were enjoying summer, he finally convinced his parents to let him stream. From that moment on, this boy by the name of Yu Wen-bo took on a new identity as a streamer and became JackeyLove.
During a year of single-minded hard work, he steadily moved up on the China server displaying his mastery on champions such as Caitlyn, Lucian, and Vayne. Most of all, he was known for his godlike Draven. He was simply outstanding. In October 2015, he climbed to rank 1 on the China server.
In game, he was a natural. He became better and better incredibly quickly, and while he must have been surrounded by many distractions, he never lost focus. His fun and joyful way of playing the game on stream earned him a huge amount of fans. This is how he gained fame and became known as the “Water Army AD” after his nickname “Water Boy”.
At the start of 2016, his fans grew from 3,000 to 30,000, and many teams were expressing interest in having him join. After lots of deliberation, he decided on iG. In April of that year, he suddenly vanished from streaming. As fans waited for him to fulfill his promise of broadcasting two days later, they were instead greeted by the news that he had joined iG.
This, of course, surprised nobody. He was a young prodigy whose talent was obvious, and it was fitting that he chose to join this old and storied organization. It somehow made perfect cosmic sense.
Because of age restrictions, he could not participate in most competitions before 2018. The pain and bitterness he must’ve felt watching his teammates struggle and lose again and again while he was stuck playing the same old SoloQ games over and over — that will remain a secret that only the wind and the stars by the Huangpu River, overlooked by the iG headquarters, can know.
In the 2017 LPL Spring Split trailer, he expressed his emotions:
“Right now, I wish I could play. I can win.”
But in those two years the only thing he could participate in was the NEST Cup.
One year of hard work grinding SoloQ and practicing culminated in his performance in this annual cup. Even though he was a rookie, his performance did not pale in comparison to renowned LPL veterans like imp, Uzi, and Smlz.
His greatest moment in the 2017 NEST Cup was when, during groups, he obtained a quadrakill in a 2 vs 4 situation against Smlz himself using Smlz’s signature champion.
His performance in the 2016 and 2017 NEST Cups displayed to everyone that here was the shining light, the hope of iG.
Finally, in 2018, the now seventeen-year-old JackeyLove finally stepped onto the LPL stage that he had dreamed of for so long.
II. Growth.
Ready the weapons and the horses. Gather your spirits.
In the 2018 LPL spring split, iG achieved an incredible 18–1 record. Nevertheless, everyone still saw iG as the team being boosted by their top and mid. It seemed to most of the audience that iG’s games always ended before their new ADC could do anything.
But the truth is that JackeyLove’s performance was already very good. Despite being so hyped up, he never became arrogant. He was willing to fight and eager to win. Even when his older teammates were carrying, he could at least help by tanking tower during fights.
His stats, particularly his kills and percent damage dealt, were similar to Uzi’s. An analogy for this situation would be if Yao Ming achieved the same stats as Shaquille O’Neal his first year entering the NBA.
Is this hard? You decide for yourself. In his first season in the NBA, Yao Ming averaged 13.5 points per game and 8.2 rebounds. In the same season, Shaq averaged 27.5 points per game and 11.1 rebounds, almost twice Yao Ming’s stats.
As an LPL rookie, these results were amazing. But one mistake made against RNG in playoffs made them all irrelevant.
JackeyLove’s inexperience showed when he faced Uzi. When iG was ahead by 5k gold, his Caitlyn flashed into RNG’s team members past the tier 2 turret and died instantly. He also lost a 1v1 against Uzi in the jungle. All these mistakes ended up costing his team the game.
In game 5, the deciding game, he hesitated. He doubted himself for a moment.
This resulted in a butterfly effect: Ning was caught out, they lost Baron, and iG was eliminated in the semifinals of playoffs.
After they lost, Rookie uncharacteristically lost his composure and started crying in his seat.
That night, JackeyLove took to Weibo to post his apology.
But fans didn’t buy it. A terrible and cruel side of professional esports showed its face, and a whole host of curses and judgments fell upon him like a great tsunami.
“Is this the ADC that iG waited two long years for? Is this the supposed last puzzle piece that was going to help them win Worlds?”
Amidst an endless stream of hate, criticism, and mockery, this boy — who had previously been raised on others’ hope and approval — began a new journey. In the 2018 summer split, iG continued their pattern of dominance, going 18–1 again and proving to themselves and the rest of the league that a new challenger for the throne had risen.
JackeyLove’s performance throughout the split was inconsistent, but he never started playing overly safe or scared because of what had happened. He still retained the same eagerness to take action and fight. In this split, there is one stat that perfectly captures his playstyle:
His damage taken per minute increased to over 860. He was the only ADC in the top 20 of this stat. Everyone often says TheShy is easy to gank, but he was only #14 on this list, having taken about 730 damage per minute.
So what TheShy said about JackeyLove always tanking turrets was not completely a joke after all.
In the end, summer split did not become JackeyLove’s redemption arc. All went smoothly during the regular league round robin games, but during playoffs, he again paid the price for his inexperience.
The first game of playoff finals, he flashed in on Ashe to kill Uzi’s Kai’Sa only to be killed instead, losing any leads he earned. In the fifth and final game, his Varus was caught out alone and ended up losing them the series.
Because of the nature of the game and the nature of the role, ADCs generally choose not to use flash as an offensive tool. Without a doubt, flashing forward is a gamble that few would take. In the times that JackeyLove had chosen to take this risk, he had always bet wrongly.
From then on he became known as the ADC who always got caught out and died. Before Uzi, before RNG, it was as if he had been stripped of the golden halo of his prodigy days and forced to don the coat of commoners.
He had been on the cusp of esports glory twice now in his first year and fell painfully short both times. This — the pain and despair that accompanies failure, the cruelty that underlies the world of adults — is something every chaser of dreams must experience, and it was an unfortunate but necessary step in his growth to maturity.
III. Redemption.
Two playoff series played against RNG and two playoff series lost. Everyone lowered their expectations for JackeyLove. Going into Worlds, everyone believed that he was only at best a supporting character, just a baby with no experience.
When everyone saw that iG was up against LCK’s number 1 seed KT Rolster in quarters, no one believed that they could win.
We all know the story: iG with a 2–0 lead lost the third game of the series to KT in a thrilling base race that left KT’s nexus just two autoattacks away from falling. KT was then able to draw iG 2–2, leaving the last game to be a do-or-die match.
At the 32 minute mark, in a crucial teamfight in midlane, JackeyLove — with no ult up on his Xayah, with his entire career on the line — did something insane. He flashed in, and this time, he got the quadrakill.
And thus we got the quote at the beginning of this article.
What if he had flashed in and died? What if he had lost iG the game? What kind of judgment would he have faced then? It’s impossible to imagine.
In this one year alone, he had flashed forward twice and lost the series twice. And yet this did not stop him from making this decision.
Even when absolutely no one believes in you, you must believe in yourself. You must believe that you can bring yourself and your team to victory. This is how you become a legend.
From this point onwards, all of the former criticism turned into praises. The entire iG team seemed to have been reborn, shedding their old skin and bones to embark on a newly minted golden road. In the finals, they cleanly took their revenge against FNC, who had previously beaten them in groups.
It is worth mentioning that during Finals, JackeyLove’s 13-kill Kai’Sa tied the record for greatest number of kills in one game at Worlds.
From stepping onto that LPL stage as a rookie to gaining the respect of the global esports community — this took JackeyLove not even a year’s time. And when he turned 18 just 15 days after his last game at 2018 Worlds, the Summoner’s Cup became his most special birthday present.
IV. Change.
Coming back with impressive results and admirable glory, and with his future full of possibilities, Jackeylove went into the new year of 2019.
iG continued their dominance in the 2019 LPL spring split and finally lifted their first domestic trophy after winning playoffs.
During MSI in May, Jackeylove became the team’s rock and their most consistent player. He never wavered out of top 3 for kills per game or damage dealt per minute.
Due to various reasons, his performance was not as bright as that of his previous three splits in the LPL. iG clumsily and painfully clawed their way into playoffs, only to be eliminated by LNG in the first set.
Everyone began to have doubts again. This spring champion, this world champion — can they really make it to the international stage again?
But iG withstood the pressure and came in clutch during the regional finals to successfully become LPL’s third seed to Worlds. Jackeylove also obtained a crucial pentakill against JDG at that time to win the series, the first and so far only penta of his career.
From here on out the story is more familiar. As the team adjusted to member changes and other issues, Jackeylove’s performance remained steady.
In quarters against Korean side Griffin, Jackeylove’s Kai’Sa and TheShy’s Kayle pulled off one of the most memorable plays in the tournament as Kai’Sa ulted into the grouped up Griffin members while invulnerable from Kayle’s ult, pulling off several kills.
V. Off stage.
If his onstage playstyle is described as aggressive like fire, then his offstage personality is as warm and gentle as water.
The “love” in JackeyLove’s name seems to be a consistent footnote to the story that is his life — a love and compassion for others that is meaningful and persevering.
I still remember Kid’s last game with iG before retirement. That day, he expressed his wish for everyone to work hard and continue fighting in the future without him. JackeyLove responded, naturally and almost offhandedly: “Don’t tell us to fight without you. Let’s all do it together.”
It was difficult for me to imagine — to understand how these thoughtful and mature words could be coming from an eighteen-year-old, still practically a child.
When he met his seniors like Uzi or imp on SoloQ, he would voluntarily give up his ADC position to support them instead. When teammates would make mistakes and apologize in all chat, he would just say it’s okay, there’s no need.
A person who loves all is naturally loved by all. And for this reason, even those who are not fans of JackeyLove find it very difficult to hate him.
After Worlds ended, he still did not announce which team he was going to play for next year. A lot of people guessed that he was waiting for the highest bidder.
But look. He was a 15-year-old streamer who disappeared from stream at the peak of his popularity. He was a pro player who didn’t stream if he could help it. When other pros’ contracts expired they would at least post on Weibo asking for a job — would JackeyLove, who didn’t care about any of it and do anything of the sort, really care about money?
If it was you, would you be able to have this kind of self-control and self-assuredness? I wouldn’t. This is what I admire the most about him.
A 17-year-old world champion, an old soul in a young body, with not a hint of ego. He who earned his legions of fans from his abilities and skills, who is handsome but never messed around with any of his fans or act fake to earn love. From beginning to end, he always clearly knew who he was and what he should be doing.
He is a pure pro player.
Even if he didn’t go pro, I believe that this person, wherever he is and whatever he is doing, will always be able to carve out his own path in life, a piece of the sky just for himself.
A quote from the famous philosophical work Xiaoyaoyou that I think perfectly describes him goes like this:
Let praises from the outside world not incur more effort; let curses from the outside world not induce more despair. Distinguish between yourself and others, and distinguish between honor and shame.
Yu Wen-bo is that kind of person.
