Rookie LoL: Career, Champions and Worlds 2026

Rookie (Song Eui-jin, 송의진) is a South Korean mid laner who plays for Invictus Gaming in China’s LPL, and one of the most decorated players in LoL esports. He is known for control mages such as Orianna and Syndra, for winning Worlds 2018 with iG, and for a career that runs from KT Rolster Arrows in 2014 to his second stint at iG. For the rest of the LPL and the international scene, see our esports coverage.

Rookie is winning less in 2026 than in his first year back at iG. In 2025 he went 84–60 with a 58.3% win rate over a full LPL calendar; this season his record sits close to even and his KDA is lower. The results are the headline of the table, not his individual output.

His lane numbers have not slipped. He dies about as often as last year, his CS/min and damage/min are both higher, and he takes a slightly larger share of his team’s damage. What fell is his assists and kill participation, which points to a team that fights together less often and leans more on its mid laner to farm and deal damage on his own.

Read the 2026 line as a carry season on a team that has struggled to close games. With Worlds still to play, these numbers will move, and the table below refreshes after every match.

Syndra and Ryze are his most played champions this season, and neither has a winning record yet. Both are reliable control picks that fit almost any draft, which explains the volume better than the results do. The pool overall is about as wide as in 2025, when he played 21 champions.

The picks his results back up are Orianna and Aurora. Orianna has a clear winning record and his best KDA of any champion with a real sample, and Aurora has won almost every game he has played on it. If iG want a safe mid pick at Worlds, those two are the strongest case in the data.

The struggles sit on his damage picks. Viktor gives him his highest damage/min of the season but a losing record, and LeBlanc, one of his long-time signature champions, has also lost more than it has won. That matches the season stats: Rookie produces the damage, but the games are not converting.

Ahri and Galio sit at even records and fill specific jobs: Ahri for picks and roams, Galio for engage and map play next to a carry jungler or ADC. Anivia is a situational pick with a losing record, while Yone, Sylas, Twisted Fate, Cassiopeia and Locke have too few games to read anything into.

Across his career, Orianna and Syndra are the staples, with Azir, Ryze and Taliyah behind them; Azir has not appeared in his pro games since 9 September 2025.

His builds share one idea: get the items that keep him casting first, then adapt to the enemy draft. Crimson Lucidity shows up on all three of his top champions, and his rune pages lean on Sorcery with Manaflow Band and Scorch.

Blackfire Torch is close to fixed as his core item on Syndra, with Crimson Lucidity as his usual boots. After that he adapts, rotating Void Staff, Hextech Rocketbelt and Cryptbloom depending on the enemy team. Arcane Comet with an Inspiration secondary and Flash plus Teleport says he wants to poke from range in lane and still join side-lane plays.

Ryze is the champion where his build barely changes: Actualizer, Rod of Ages and Seraph’s Embrace form the core, with Zhonya’s Hourglass or Crimson Lucidity after. The rune page runs Sorcery with Manaflow Band, Celerity and Scorch plus an Inspiration secondary, and he takes Ghost instead of Teleport. That is a build for long games: survive lane, stack mana, then use Ghost to move through fights and between lanes once the core is done.

On Orianna, Hextech Rocketbelt is his most common item, which lets him walk forward and threaten a big ultimate rather than only zoning from the back line. The Precision secondary with Legend: Haste and Cut Down is the other tell: he expects long teamfights against durable frontlines, not a fast lane win.

His latest games come from the LPL 2026 Grand Finals against Anyone’s Legend on 12 September 2026 and the LPL 2026 Regional Finals against Top Esports and JD Gaming on 17 and 19 September 2026. Across those series he rotated through Aurora, Syndra, Ahri, Ryze, Galio, Viktor, Yone and LeBlanc, which shows how much of his pool iG trust him with under pressure.

Rookie started in Korea with KT Rolster Arrows, joining on 12 March 2014 and winning Champions 2014 Summer before leaving on 30 August 2014. He moved to China and joined Invictus Gaming on 16 January 2015, a first stint that lasted until 8 August 2021.

That first iG era defined his career. It brought two LPL titles in 2018, the Worlds 2018 title and 3rd–4th finishes at both MSI 2019 and Worlds 2019, the period that made him the face of the organization.

After leaving iG he played for Ninjas in Pyjamas.CN, the organization formerly known as Victory Five, from 10 January to 1 September 2022. He spent 2023 at Top Esports from January to August, then returned to Ninjas in Pyjamas.CN from 25 December 2023 to 30 August 2024.

He came back to iG on 16 December 2024. His first season of the second stint was a strong one by win rate, 2026 has been harder, and it still ends with iG at another World Championship.

Worlds 2018 is the result that defines Rookie: he won the World Championship with Invictus Gaming on 3 November 2018, in a year when iG also won LPL 2018 Spring, Rift Rivals 2018 and LPL 2018 Summer. Few seasons in LPL history are as complete.

His domestic record extends well beyond that year. LPL 2019 Spring Playoffs, LPL 2020 Spring and LPL 2022 Spring are all first-place finishes, and Champions 2014 Summer gives him a title in Korea as well as in China. The 3rd–4th finishes at MSI 2019 and Worlds 2019 show the 2018 peak was not a one-off.

Rookie is at Worlds 2026 with Invictus Gaming, which qualified as China #4. The team plays in the Main Event and opens in the Swiss stage on 23 October 2026, with the Knockouts to follow for the teams that advance. Follow every stage on the Worlds 2026 hub.