Who picks Monkey King mid? The TI9 True Sight line

The TI9 grand final: OG vs. Team Liquid

The International 2019 took place in Shanghai, with the main event held August 20–25 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The crowdfunded prize pool reached a record $34,330,068. OG topped Group B with a 14–2 record, then beat Team Liquid 3–1 in the grand final, took home $15,620,181 and became the first team to win TI twice.

OG's midlaner was Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen; Team Liquid's was w33. Mid Monkey King had been associated with Topson since TI8: discussions of the pick on the Steam forums go back to 2018.

Templar Assassin vs. Monkey King in mid

As Respawn Media retells it, w33 was playing Templar Assassin (Russian players nickname her Lana or Templarka) and was sure he was winning the lane against Topson's Monkey King and that OG's pick was bad. As Respawn puts it, Topson played the hero at a “beyond godlike” level.

In the next game, w33 asked for Monkey King to be banned. Sources don't say which game of the final featured MK vs. Templar Assassin.

For w33, the TI9 final ended without a title: Team Liquid lost the series 1–3. In the same piece, Respawn writes that in the last game, when Liquid were ready to type GG, it was w33 who suggested they “try some more.”

True Sight and the birth of the line

The line went public thanks to True Sight, Valve's documentary on the TI9 final that includes team comms. The film was released for free on January 28, 2020, after a premiere at the Kino Babylon cinema in Berlin. Respawn Media covered the film's memes in pieces dated January 31 – February 1, 2020, w33's line among them.

The Russian version exists in several forms. One Respawn article has “Who even picks the monkey mid,” another has “Who (who) picks the monkey mid?” The English original from the film couldn't be found in the sources.

It was a player who said it, not a caster and not Topson himself. Viewers only heard it after the tournament, when the film came out. Besides this line, Respawn picked out other memes from True Sight: “Chadson” about Topson, “Ana, the silent killer” and “JerAx memes even in a TI final.”

The punchline: “Because it's Topson”

In Respawn's roundup, the question “Why do people keep picking mid MK?” gets a short answer: “Because it's Topson.” Respawn explains that Topson is no random pub player and that his Monkey King is dangerous against any pick.

The same roundup includes a joke exchange: “Why do people keep picking the Monkey mid?” and, a few moments later, “Dude, ban the Monkey.”

Topson in round glasses

In the catalog, the meme is illustrated with a photo: Topson in round glasses thoughtfully touches a finger to his temple, with the OG logo on his jersey.

Captions for a questionable pick

The line is used ironically when someone doubts an unconventional decision that later works out, including in draft discussions. These examples are made up for illustration:

“Who picks Monkey King mid? — The guy who ends up lifting the Aegis.” “Coworker: who writes a backend in that language? A month later: the service never goes down.” “A teammate types ‘gg, bad pick’ at minute three. Topson looks at him like this.”