Every year, the music video for the League of Legends World Championship Anthems and Songs contains a plethora of references and details, referencing moments in esports and the League of Legends universe. GODS by NewJeans is the 2023 League of Legends World Championship Anthem, telling the story of Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu, and the GODS music video is chock-full of callbacks to his esports career and the League of Legends ecosystem.

League of Legends GODS Details You Might Have Missed

Deft, for those unaware, started his professional League of Legends career in 2013 as part of MVP Blue. During last year's Worlds, he and the rest of DRX wrote an underdog story for themselves after entering as LCK's fourth seed, going through play-ins, and eventually lifting the trophy. Now, he competes under the banner of Dplus KIA.

Mapo High School

At the beginning of the video, Deft is shown in class with legendary midlaner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. While the two were not classmates, they did attend the same high school: Mapo High School in Seoul.

The framed text in the background says “School Motto: The most important thing is the unbreakable heart,” referencing Deft's “unbreaking heart” quote from an interview after winning the World Championship with DRX.

This is not the first time the quote made the rounds – it was also honored by the South Korean football team after a win versus Portugal.

Deft's Room

We get two angles of Deft's room early on in the video. The first angle shows us an Alpaca plushie on the bed, splash arts for Senna, Caitlyn, and Ezreal tacked onto the wall, and a Teemo hat and Rammus plushie on the cabinet.

The second look has a Red Bull can, posters for Jinx and Vi on the side, and a poster for the 2013 World Championship – one Deft did not attend as a contender. The League of Legends game on the monitor can also be seen using the old user interface.

The Arena is the Summoner's Cup

The arena that DRX rises up to is designed to mimic the new Summoner's Cup. During the fight against Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon's oversized Renekton and the final faceoff versus T1, the role icons can be seen in the tips of the pillars, much like the new Summoner's Cup.

Accurate Reactions

The moment that DRX won Worlds was accurately represented in the GODS music video, too. Deft was visible in the player cam and the group hug with his support Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee and another player was captured in full in the broadcast, albeit from a different angle.

Other LoL Pros

At the end of the music video, we can see a lot of players eyeing up the Worlds trophy. In order of appearance, they are:

  • FURIA botlaner Andrey “Ayu” Saraiva*
  • G2 Esports botlaner Steven “Hans Sama” Liv
  • Cloud9 jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang
  • Estral Esports jungler Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas*
  • JD Gaming toplaner Bai “369” Jiahao
  • Gen.G Esports midlaner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon
  • GAM Esports jungler Đỗ “Levi” Duy Khánh
  • DetonatioN FocusMe toplaner Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura, and
  • PSG Talon toplaner Huang “Azhi” Shang-chih

*These players and their teams did not qualify for Worlds 2023. During the months-long production of the GODS music video, some predictions of which teams and players were going to make it were made.

Watch Deft's story in the music video for GODS by NewJeans, the 2023 League of Legends World Championship Anthem.