The exciting conclusion to a wild Worlds 2018
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The 2018 League of Legends World Championship has been nothing short of an amazing trip. The vast majority of the tournament predictions were effectively shattered from the main event group stage when tournament favorites and region standard bearers started falling left and right.
Exciting fights continued to break out on Summoner’s Rift until the final two teams remained standing at the top of the fallen competitors. EU’s Fnatic is set to take on China’s Invictus Gaming in the final best-of-five series that will determine which team will walk away with the coveted Summoner’s Cup. The grand finals matchup will take place in a grand stadium in Incheon, Korea on November 3, 2018.
Shadows of a Fallen Kingdom
Fnatic finally returns to the Grand Finals stage after their championship win in 2011, the game’s first ever world championship. The European offensive is led by the squad’s most veteran member, AD Carry Rekkles. Rekkles was part of the 2015 Fnatic squad that made it all the way to the Semifinals where they were halted by a rampaging KOO Tigers. Fnatic’s 2015 run was the closest chance they had of reclaiming the Summoner’s Cup. They have clawed every inch of the way towards the grand finals to earn their chance to become world champions once more.
The Semifinals matchup was an extremely one-sided affair for Fnatic as they barreled their way towards a 3-0 victory over North America’s Cloud9. A rivalry had built up between the two organizations from opposite ends of the League Championship Series (LCS) across various iterations of rosters from both teams. Fnatic halted NA’s first and best chance to make it to a Grand Finals as they booked their tickets for an express ride to Incheon.
Fnatic are not strangers with Invictus Gaming as both teams came from the same group in the group stage of the main event. Fnatic managed to pull off an amazing comeback in the group stage to halt a then-undefeated iG. The EU squad forced a tiebreaker for the group’s first seed, and then proceeded to defeat iG a second consecutive time, effectively condemning iG to a risky Quarterfinals matchup with KT Rolster. That was how their last encounter ended, now the table is reset but the animosity remains in the only important matchup of the tournament.
The True Underdogs
The League of Legends teams from the East have not been fairing well in the tournament both in-game and in the eyes of the excited fans. It’s hard to blame anyone from expecting less from the Eastern squads after they dropped one by one like flies across the stages of Worlds 2018. The attention was mostly shifted towards the amazing performances from the Western teams that managed to pull off upset victories over some of the touted strongest teams in the world.
Not much was expected from Invictus Gaming in particular as most of the attention was drawn towards China’s Royal Never Give Up and EDward Gaming, as well as the entire South Korean delegation. The one key difference between iG and the more popular Eastern teams is that Invictus Gaming is still standing tall with a legitimate chance of claiming the first world championship title for the Chinese region.
Invictus silenced the doubters when they took down the leading tournament performer, G2 Esports, who miraculously took down China’s top team, RNG, in a brutal Quarterfinals matchup. iG have proven that they should be on everyone’s radar as they booked their grand finals ticket in commanding fashion. Their top laner, TheShy, should be on everyone’s list after his amazing performance in the Semifinals that contributed greatly to his team’s success.
It all boils down in the final best-of-five series at Incheon, South Korea. No Korean team will grace the Worlds finals stage for the first time since 2013. Fnatic will take on Invictus Gaming in a finals matchup that will certainly spell out a new future League of Legends. Will the first world championship organization earn their second title or will China finally take home their first ever Summoner’s Cup and earn their revenge from the thrashing they received at Worlds 2017 in China?
