For the third time in four years, SK Telecom T1 were crowned the winners at the League of Legends World Championship.
Along the way to the final round at the Staples Center in Los Angeles there were, however, upsets and surprises as the rest of the world gave notice that the gap between the top Korean sides and their challengers is not as great as it once was.
The biggest upsets at this year’s League of Legends World Championship focused primarily on the International Wildcard teams, a European dark horse and an upset in an inevitable defeat.
Wildcard Stunners in Group Stage
The biggest single game upset was, curiously, on the opening day as International Wildcard INTZ took down one of the tournament favourites, China’s Edward Gaming. Hailing from Brazil, no one expected much from INTZ although maybe fans should have considered the recent upset successes of South American teams as International Wildcards. After all, Pain Gaming got the better of CLG last year, with KaBuM! e-Sports defeating Alliance two seasons ago.
Focusing heavily on the top side of the map, INTZ snowballed the game by completely shutting out EDG’s Top laner Mouse and forcing EDG to play essentially 4v5. INTZ’s defeat of EDG was not only the biggest upset this year, but also the single largest upset in the history of the World Championship.
An upset with longer lasting affect occurred when the other International Wildcard Albus NoX Luna ended up getting out of Group A as the second place finishers. Albus NoX not only defeated the ROX Tigers (another tournament favourite), but also maintained their consistently high level of play by defeating North America’s second seed CLG twice and taking a game off Europe’s number one seed G2 Esports.
Showing the power of pocket picks coupled with calculated aggression, Albus NoX played around their star Mid laner Kira as they advanced further than any International Wildcard had done before them. Although they would inevitably fall in a three game sweep to Europe’s H2K in the quarterfinals, Albus NoX Luna showed that the gap between regions is slowly becoming narrower.
Europe’s second seed stun the Chinese
If the play of the International Wildcards was a huge surprise, then H2K’s emergence as the winners of Group C ranked up there as well. China’s Edward Gaming entered as favourites, with many expecting H2K and the LMS’s AHQ to battle it out for the second place. H2K would, however, have an incredible run during the second week of the Group Stage, winning all four games including a tiebreaker for first place against EDG. Primarily on the shoulders of AD Carry FORG1VEN, H2K would not only move on past the Group Stage, but they would also defeat surprise quarterfinalists Albus NoX Luna to make it all the way to the Semifinals. Even in defeat to Korea’s Samsung Galaxy, H2K’s run to a top four finish was worthy of note.
Samsung show strength in defeat
Samsung Galaxy were given little chance in the Finals, with many experts predicting a clean sweep for the reigning champions SK Telecom T1 due to their tougher road to the deciding clash. Instead Samsung surprisingly pushed SKT to five games in a performance that was a significant upset in its own right.
SKT had battled through the stacked roster of China’s Royal Never Give Up before defeating the other remaining pre-tournament favourite in Korea’s ROX Tigers to reach the final. Samsung had an easier playoff schedule meanwhile, only facing North America’s Cloud 9 and Europe’s H2K (although they did sweep both teams 3-0).
An inevitable sweep seemed on the cards when the defending champions took the first two games, including a long and drawn out Game 1. Many teams would have lost motivation, but Samsung made a series of it behind the incredible play of their Jungler Ambition. An intense back and forth 71-minute third game was ultimately won by Samsung to force Game 4 and an energized Samsung made it two in a row as they took another incredibly close game to force a deciding fifth clash. While they would eventually lose a heartbreakingly close affair, Samsung getting to five games against such a strong team was the final upset in a tournament that had more than its fair share.
The Koreans still dominate and may continue to do so, but the overall ability in China, Europe, North America and even the International Wildcards means that Korea has company in challenging for League of Legends supremacy.
