LoL World Cup 2017 Grand Finals Recap

 

Loss is a part of the sport. Saturday, in the «Bird’s Nest» in Beijing in front of over 40,000 visitors, League of Legends superstar Lee «Faker» Sang-hyeok and his team SK Telecom T1 learned this the hard way. The three-time world champion missed the repeated title defense in a memorable final of this year’s World Cup against Samsung Galaxy.

Defending World Champions Not the Favorites

Each time they participated in a Worlds (2013, 2015, and 2016), SK Telecom T1 triumphed at the end. For the first time, the most successful organization in League of Legends was not a favorite in a Worlds final, as the way to it was surprisingly rocky.

 

Already in the summer, there were signs that it would not be easy. The South Koreans in the domestic league suffered a shocking defeat in the LCK final, where Longzhu Gaming won 1-3. Also at the World Cup, Faker and Co. and had to make a comeback in the quarter-final against the German team, PowerOfEvil. In the semifinals against the Chinese Royal Never Give Up, SKT T1 barely won 1-2.

Samsung, however, had clearly improved in the playoffs and eliminated Longzhu in the quarterfinals on their way to the title. In the rematch of last year’s final, the team from South Korea was dominant from the start.

Samsung Dominates from the Beginning

Although the first 38-minutes of the game is quite a long time, SK Telecom T1 failed to kill off even a single Samsung player. SKT Jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho kept his passive team in the game through a baron steal. However, this was the only highlight in Game 1 from the defending champion’s perspective.

SK Telecom T1 was more alert and showed the first signs of life early in the second game. However, the three-time world champion gave away the first advantage within a few minutes when the AD-Carry dived ruthlessly, used his flash, and lost his life.

Shortly thereafter, Samsung decided a big team fight for themselves, which paved the way for victory. Once again Kang «Ambition» Chan-yong and his teammates were able to win the game.

Even Blank Cannot Prevent Historical Bankruptcy

In the quarter and semi-final, the side of SK Telecom T1 exchanged their junglers when it looked bleak. Kang «Blank» Sun-gu replaced Peanut and got off to a good start. He enabled the team to get an early Baron Nashor and earn a big advantage.

But here, too, the problems of SK Telecom became clear. Despite the lead, the South Koreans failed to win team fights. Bae «Bang» Jun-sik, who had a raven-black day and was one of the biggest disappointments in the entire tournament, was taken out of the game early by Samsung in a team fight. As a result, the next Baron Nashor was gifted to Samsung.

With a controlled push, Samsung finished the game and thus the series, and were crowned the new World Champion in League of Legends.

 

Superstar Faker, who suffered a major defeat for the first time on this big stage, was devastated after the match. The past has showed, however, that the icon always comes back stronger after setbacks. Fans can look forward to a new best team in the world and an exciting League of Legends year in 2018.