The Taiwanese mid-laner, Maple, is retiring from professional League of Legends after a decade of career. He leaves a great legacy behind.
LoL Worlds 2024 was only a tiny drop in the ocean of Maple's amazing career in professional League of Legends. After a decade of honoring Taiwan and showing how to play Akali, Maple will retire. "He's a man who surprises and always strives for more", as we can read from PSG Talon on X. Today, professional League of Legends says goodbye, but leaves an incredible legacy.
A Taiwanese Legend
Huang "Maple" Yi-Tang was born in Taiwan in 1997. At only 17 years old, he joined Gamania Bears, a team from the League of Legends Master Series (LMS) that no longer exists - teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau played there. He participated for the first time in LoL Worlds in his debut year, making an amazing performance.
Only three months later, he transferred to Flash Wolves where he played for five years. LMS MVP x1 (Spring 2017), LMS Playoff MVP x1 (Spring 2016), and LMS All-Pro 1st Team x4 (Spring 2016, Summer 2017, Spring 2018, Summer 2018) - we won it all. He was a legend in the LMS. He was young, but he was good enough to catch the eye of the Chinese teams.
Even from a minor region, Maples always showed the strength of a great player. As a Reddit user wrote two months ago, "when he does retire it likely won't get too much attention due to him largely playing for a minor region. But Maple is a true legend of the League of Legends pro-scene. He deserves all the flowers".
"He made his first worlds back in 2013 on Gamma Bears and he's been an international mainstay ever since then, 11 years of exceptional work from him. From there to Flash Wolves, the Korean Killers in their era of dominance, to eventually PSG Talon which has had unprecedented levels of regional dominance, he's achieved so much", commented another user.
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From China to North America
We can say that he's a "mister worldwide" like Pitbull. Maple played in Sunning and LNG Esports for two years in China, making his first appearance in PSG Talon in 2020. He was short, but who thought he would imagine that we would come back and retire there? Orianna, Akali, Ahri, LeBlanc, Fizz, he played everything and he was an amazing player. "Maple means more for the Taiwanese League of Legends than any player means for their own region", a user commented.
Maple and PSG Talon until the end
In 2023, he came back to PSG Talon to play his last LoL Worlds. Maple's most recent record was being one of three players who participated in the 2013 Worlds, along with Impact and Faker. Now, Faker is the only active player. Top 5 at Worlds 2015, top 4 at MSI 2016 and 2018, and top 3 at MSI 2017 - he's been doing it all.
The mid-laner played 851 games, 556 were career victories. A League of Legends legacy with 3,343 kills, 1,548 deaths 4,807 assists, besides the 61 champions played.
He left the League, but Taiwan will never forget how much he brought to the region and the international universe. Thank you, Maple, for everything you brought to the game before retiring. You'll be missed.
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