The longest game in LoL esports history

The oddest detail: Wraith did not realise he could upgrade his support item, because a teammate was playing Ornn. He finally did it around the 91-minute mark. It ended on a pick. Jin Air caught Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok out of position with 30 seconds left on his respawn timer, walked into the SKT base and finished it. Jin Air took the series 2-1.

The record it broke

The previous mark belonged to ahq e-Sports Club and Hong Kong Attitude, who played for 91 minutes and 21 seconds in 2013 — Riot's own figure for that game is 91:23, and the gap between the two has never been resolved publicly. Either way it stood for close to five years.

Korean marathons dominate the rest of the list. CJ Entus were involved in a 1 hour, 19 minute and 45 second playoff game in 2015, a product of the slow, methodical macro style that defined the LCK in that era. Outside Korea, the closest a World Championship has come is Fnatic against OMG in 2014, which ran to nearly 72 minutes.

Why it will not be beaten soon

A professional game today runs 30 to 35 minutes, and often ends closer to 25 when one side takes an early lead.

The gap between that and 94 minutes is a design decision rather than a change in taste. Riot have spent years pulling the pacing forward: minion waves arrive sooner, epic monster timers have been reworked, and the Rift Herald now comes as a charge a team has to spend. Each of those changes removes a reason to stall.

Asked by RFT.GG in a Rapid-Fire Question whether the game could get faster still or had reached its limit, Riot's Phroxzon answered: "Yes."

SKT and Jin Air's record is a monument to a version of League of Legends that Riot has deliberately engineered out of existence, and by their own account the work is not finished.