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Legends blaze toward World finals
BY IAN VAN ORDEN
NEWS AND OPINION EDITOR
Hopes are shattered and dreams come to
fruition as the League o f Legends World
Championship continues. It has been over a
month since the first teams hit Summoner’s
Rift, and it has been a long road for the
remaining teams.
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As professional League stands as one o f the
most popular esports in the world, expectations
are always high for the teams that make it to
Worlds. The primary international tournament
held throughout the year, Worlds offers an
opportunity for teams to prove that they can
dominate outside of their home region, against
teams that may play substantially differently
than what they are used to.
Split into three distinct stages, Worlds began
on Sept 25 with the Play-In stage. New to the
2017 tournament, this stage offered additional
opportunities for teams from emerging regions.
As League esports is typically dominated
by five different regions, including North
America, Europe, Korea, China and Taiwan, it
has bpen difficult for smaller regions to break
into international tournaments. The Play-In
stage offered a chance for those regions to
compete on the world’s stage at the same level
as the larger regions.
With the exception o f the Korean teams,
whose previous international success granted
them the opportunity to avoid the Play-In, this
stage was made up of the third-place teams, or
third seeds, from the major regions, and the
first seeds from the smaller regions. These 12
teams were then split into groups of three, and
proceeded to play each team in their group
twice in a best-of-one format. This led into
the Play-In knockout stage, where the top two
teams in each group played against a member
from a different group for the privilege o f
moving to the group stage.
The Play-In stage proceded nearly exactly
how analysts predicted, with the only potential
upset in Group D, when 1907 Fenerbah?e
eSports, the Turkish representatives, emerged
as the group’s first seed over Hong Kong'
Attitude, the Taiwanese LMS’s third seed. The
Play-In knockouts were also completed without
any major upsets and the four remaining teams,
including NA’s Cloud 9 and EU ’s Fnatic,
moved onto the group stage.
Groups, which in previous years had been
the first stage o f Worlds, introduced the
major region’s first and second seeds. With
the addition o f the victors from the Play-
In stage, 16 teams, split into four groups of
four, clashed, fighting for the opportunity to
represent their regions in the final knockout
Photo provided by Riot Games
SK Telecom T1 clash with Royal Never Give Up as they push into their base in an attempt to close out game four of the
semifinals, tying the series 2-2. They would later come out victorious in game five, securing their spot in the finals.
stage. Moving back to the best-of-one format,
groups saw tragedy for North America, when
Team Solo Mid and Immortals, NA’s first
and second seeds, were both eliminated in
significant upsets. NA’s final hope, Cloud
9, pushed through, though, barely securing
their second place spot. NA wasn’t the only
region to suffer, though, as both the remaining
Taiwanese teams also faced elimination.
Europe fared much better during groups,
with only G2 Esports, Europe’s first seed,
failing to secure a place in knockouts. In a
w orld’s first, one o f the EU’s best-known
teams, Fnatic, managed to secure second
in their group after a 0-3 record during the
first week o f groups. Fnatic’s journey was
not an easy one, though, facing a three way
tie on their group’s final day of group stage
games against NA’s Immortals and Vietnam’s
GIGABYTE Marines. Despite their week
one performance, Fnatic accomplished the
impossible by winning all but their first game
in week two, proving they deserved their spot
in knockouts.
During a post-game interview, Fnatic’s
rookie mid-laner, Rasmus “Caps” Winther
spoke about the team’s incredible journey from
their failings in week one, to their ultimate
victory in week two. “It’s definitely still
sinking in. I really hope I can just finally,
finally calm down.”
After eight grueling days of games, the
eight remaining teams regrouped for the final
stage of Worlds, knockouts. Transitioning back
to best-of-fives, day one of knockouts, the
quarterfinals, saw the greatest upset of Worlds
thus far when Samsung Galaxy, Korea’s third
seed, smashed Korea’s first seed, Longzhu
Gaming, 3-0.
Unfortunately, the quarterfinals also saw the
end of both NA and EU’s run at Worlds. Cloud
9 fell to the Chinese Team WE in a close 3-2
match. Before game three of the series, a clip
of Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi, the team’s ADC,
or attack damage carry, described his hopes
for the series. “I hope I can make it passed
[quarterfinals] just to prove the point that I
am a very solid player.” Scuderi, who in the
past has been a consistent player but hadn’t
been a major playmaker on the team, had been
written off by most, with the majority of the
focus placed on Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, the
teams mid laner. Though the team did not come
out victorious, Sneaky as an individual player
shined bright during the best-of-five, setting a
new record for DPM, or damage-per-minute,
at worlds during game three.
Semifinals, which took place on Oct. 28
and 29, was a showdown between League’s
two most dominant regions, China and Korea.
During the first game, the three-time world
champions SK Telecom T1 from Korea was
pitted against China’s Royal Never Give Up.
Throughout the series, each team fought with
all of their might, RNG looking to take down
what many consider to be the world’s best
team. Almost every game was close, most
coming down to a single team fight, but SKT
proved their strength in the final game of the
series by demolishing RNG, ending the game
10 kills to one.
Follow ing SK T ’s victory, a second
showdown between the regions commenced
between China’s Team WE and Samsung
Galaxy. Though Team WE easily took game
one of the series, the Korean representatives
returned with a vengeance., blazing through the
next three games and securing their spot in the
finals. During a post-game interview, Jo “Core
JJ” Yong-in, Samsung Galaxy’s support and
the player of the series, spoke ¿bout the team’s
chances during the finals, where they will fight
SKT, the team that knocked them out of the
finals last year. “At least we became strong
enough that nobody will know until we collide
with SKT, which one will survive,” he said.
Now, only finals remain. One question is
left to be answered: Can Samsung Galaxy
overcome SK Telecom T1 ’s dynasty and walk
away with a victory?
FINALS WILL AIR ON NOVEMBER 4 AT MIDNIGHT. THE EVENT WILL BE STREAMED LIVE VIA TWITCH AND YOUTUBE.
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NOVEMBER 1, 2017