Invictus Gaming is victorious
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS COME TO CLOSE
BY IAN VAN ORDEN
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
.
A n o th e r W o rld C h a m p io n s h ip
h as com e to a clo se , and another
champion has raised the Summoner’ s
Cup in victory. This year, C h in ese
re p re se n ta tiv e In v ic tu s G a m in g
p roved too stro n g fo r w e ste rn
h o p e fu ls , c la im in g v icto ry in a
crushing final match against European
representatives Fnatic.
This year’ s League of Legends World
Cham pionship saw upset after upset-,
setting up one o f the most exciting
knockout stages since the earliest days
o f professional League of Legends.
Com ing out o f a turbulent group
stage, the first major phase o f the
World’ s tournament, two tournament
fayorites rem ained. Kt Roister, the
first seed froth Korea, was thought
to be one of the strongest contenders
coming out of groups with a 5-1 record.
Despite this and Korda’ s historical
d o m in a n ce th r o u g h o u t W o rld ’ s^
history, Invictus Gam ing was able to
defeat them in a bloody 3-2 victory.
The oth er tou rn am en t fa v o rite ,
Chinese powerhouse Royal Never Give
Up featuring the star talent o f Jian
‘Uzi’ Zi-H ao, was widely considered to
be one o f the best League of Legends
players in the w orld. Despite th is,
they fared little b e tte r in th e ir
quarterfinals match versus European
rep resen tatives G2 E spo rts. Once
again fighting through five full gam es,.
they were able to dethrone Royal.
Never Give Up in a shocking upset.
“ I fin ally reached'to se m ifin a ls,”
said Kim ‘W adid’ B ae-in, G2 Esports
support, in a-post-gam e interview.
“ I’ m not sure is it true, like, is it real
actually? We did i t ; I ’ m so happy.”
In an equally shocking gam e, the
sole re m a in in g N orth A m e rica n
representatives in the quarterfinals,
Cloud9, were able to defeat the final
Korean representatives Afreeca Ereecs
3-0. This marked the first time since
2013, the first year Korea was invited
to participate in the tournament, that
a Korean team would not reach the
sem ifinals.
The match would also mark the first
time a North Am erican team would
reach the sem ifinals since 2011. The
win was a continuation of Cloud9’ s
incredible rise to dom inance which
b egan m o n th s before during the
summer split of the NA LGS.
In the fin a l b est o f five o f the
W o rld ’ s q u a rterfin a ls/sE u rop ean
representative Fnatic defeated Edward
G a m in g , an o th e r C h in e se tea m ,
3-1; This marked an unprecedented
time for the W orld’ s Cham pionship.
H is to ric a lly , w estern team s had
struggled to find success at W orld’ s,
unable to gain ground on their Asian
Riot-Games
■Bit
Championship* Despite the region’s dominance at other international events,
this year marked the first time a Chinese team was able to take the Cup home.
Clackamas Print
■ :
Riot Garnes
counterparts. This year, how ever,
would see only a single Asian team ,
Invictus Gaming, reach the semifinals
w ith the other three spots fille d h y
western teams.
The first-sem ifinal match featured
Invictus Gam ing against G2 Esports.
T h o u g h th e y fo u g h t v a lia n tly
again st th eir C h in ese op po nen ts,
G2 Esports would; fa ll to In victu s
Gaming 3-0, locking in the first finals
representative and keeping C h in a’ s
hope of a W orld s victory alive.
The second match saw the showdown
of two of the w est’ s most prominent
tea m s. F n a tic , one o f League o f
Legends oldest professional team s
as well as season one’ s World’ s victor,
was pitted against Cloud9. .
“ This is the best opportunity that
NA has ever had and maybe will ever The win was particularly meaningful
h a v e ,” said Eric ‘ Licorice’ R itch ie, for mid-laner Song ‘Rookie’ Eui-jin,
Cloud9’ s top laner. “ If there’ s ever the veteran player of Invictus Gaming,
a year fo j NA to make fin als it’ s this who had previously struggled to find
success on the international stage.
o n e .”
Though Cloud9 had previously shown
an unheard-of strength, considering, opponents. Kang ‘TheShy’ Seung-lok
the youth of their roster, tjiey were and jun gler Gao ‘ N in g ’ Z h e n -N in g
unable to find footing against Fnatic. were the standouts, though attack
Though know n for, th e solo lane damage carry Yu ‘JackeyLove’ Wen-Bo
stre n g th o f R itch ie and N icolaj zalso performed admirably.
Sm ashin g Fnatic in a 3-0 series,
‘Jensen’ Jensen, they were no match
for their Fn atic counterparts, w ith the Chinese team more than proved
especially strong perform ances from them selves w orthy of raisin g the
F n atic m id lan er R asm us ‘ C a p s ’ Sum m oner Cup, m arking the first
W inther and Mads ‘ Broxah’ Brock- time a Chinese team would have that
honor.
Pedersen securing them a 3-0 win.
Speaking through a translator in a
W ith the two final teams ready to
face o ff, only one last set o f three postgame interview, Zhen-N ing said,
gam es was le ft to determ ine who “ He’ s super happy about the fact that
he actually proved him self, that h e ’ s
would walk away with the prize;
T he m o m e n t w as e s p e c ia lly the best jungler in the world. He was
im p o rta n t fo r In v ic tu s G a m in g . an AD Carry player and then switched
Though they represented China as to the jungle position and was always
the region’ s second seed and featuring trying to prove [himself], but with this
the talents of mid-laner Song ‘Rookie’ trophy right now, it is a statem en t.”
For those returning home in defeat,
E u i-jin , who many considered to b e
the best mid-laner in the world, many the only th in g left to do is to look
believed that their weaknesses as a towards next year. The stakes will bd*
team would prove too great to earn especially high for North Am erican
them a World’s title. Though they had team s, as, w ith Invictus G a m in g ’ s
grown enormously even throughout victory this year$ North Am erica is
the tournament itself, Fnatic was still the only-m ajor region left that ha^
not claim ed a W orld’ s victory.
seen as the favorite.
Will 2019 be the year the summoner’s
These doubts were quickly put to
rest. T hroughout the best o f fiv e , cup fin a lly fin d s a hem e in N orth
Invictus Gam ing tore through their America? Only time will tell.
th e d a c k a m a s p rin t.c o m
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November 7, 2018