Thank you for reading Days Gone By! I’d like to thank everyone involved for all of their hard work and dedication in helping things go smoothly. This is a huge project made by many many hands and I appreciate everyone who helped make it a reality. Days Gone By is a love letter to the LTAN, made for fans by fans, combining the efforts of artists, designers, and writers to create a beautiful fan zine for everyone to enjoy.
We first thought about creating an LTAN (then LCS) yearbook in 2022 — it felt like a distant thought, something that would be fun but was out of our reach. Seeing the dream achieved now is nothing short of incredible, and I’m endlessly grateful for everyone who made it happen.
I want to thank Ruii, Rockets, and Elaine, the wonderful talented team of moderators who helped everything run smoothly, and I want to give an extra huge thank you to Ruii, whose experience and efforts were invaluable when it came to creating the zine. Days Gone By wouldn’t exist without everyone’s help and I can’t wait to see the reactions to all of our hard work.
Cheers,
delfino ^^
A Yone I met once in an ARAM two years ago told me, “LCS needs you [...] NA is dying.” While he may have been commenting on my insane Thresh gameplay, maybe he knew something about the future that I didn’t.
Creating in this space always feels like stepping into uncharted territory. Out of my six years of watching the LCS and LTAN, my absolute favorite thing about it has to be the community. There’s a spark here that’s truly something special, and it’s been an honor to help build it out. Large creative projects like this have little precendent in NA, and would have been considered impossible less than two years ago.
I want to give a huge thank you and shoutout to everyone that participated in this zine, from the littlest doodle to the fullest spread. It was amazing to see so many familiar faces from the LTART trading card project, but also so many new ones that have popped up since then. Thank you for being part of a community I am proud to call home. Fandom is the pulse of this region, and we definitely couldn’t have done this without you. This project has been so cool to see come together and I’m very excited to share it with everyone else.
With love, joy, and whimsy,
Ruii
Finally, the big project of the summer is revealed! I poured a lot of time, effort, and heart into this, as well as the other organizers and many contributors, and I hope that everyone enjoys the result of our collective work.
Again, it really makes me happy that there are now so many artists and writers eager to produce fanmade content of the league that I’ve been enjoying for many years. It was still a very ambitious project, but I heavily appreciate everyone who helped out in any way and provided encouragement. I’m confident saying there are now more fanartists for this league this year than ever before, and am grateful for the supportive community that has formed around it. Seeing everyone’s wips and progress come along over these months with lots of eagerness was very heartwarming and #inspiring.
To all who have an interest in creating fanart for the league but have hesitated out of perhaps shyness, please know the art community here will always be fully supportive and welcoming of new fanartists!! Don’t hesitate to share your art with the community, it is much appreciated and welcomed, by fans, pros, and other people in the scene alike.
Once again, thank you to everyone who joined and contributed in some way! My heart especially goes out to those who accepted when I asked. Lastly a big thank you to everyone who works hard in the scene to make the league fun to watch for us at home, this zine is very much for you too.
From the bottom of my heart,
Elaine
Thank you so much to everyone who helped make Days Gone By happen! Whether you’re a contributor, in the industry, or a fan, this project wouldn’t exist without you, and I’m so glad we were able to make it happen to help celebrate and commemorate the first ever year of the LTA North.
This was a super special year for me in particular, too; I went to my first live match, participated in my first big art collab with the LTART collab earlier this year, and now participating in my first ever zine~ I’m really happy to have something to remember the year by, and even happier that I was able to help create it with so many of my friends. The LoL Esports fans here in NA are nothing short of amazing, and I feel so lucky to be part of such a passionate, creative, and supportive community! Although the teams and players have changed a lot since I first started watching the LCS, I know that there will always be an amazing group of people keeping that passion alive through all the wins and losses. So thank you again for being a part of that!
rockets
(#C9WIN)
