The most anticipated 2019 League of Legends World Championship matchup
Faker and Caps Image via lolesports
In a post-game interview with SK Telecom T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok after a blowout win against Fnatic, one of the strongest European teams, in the group stages of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, the iconic midlaner, who honestly needs no more introduction, uttered four short, yet eerily ambiguous, words to grant Jeesun Park’s request for a message to his European followers.
“Hello EU fans, I’m back,” Faker said with a sinister smile.
The Unkillable Demon King, his three-time world champion squad, and the general “South Korean style” of League of Legends had a bit of a rough patch when they missed the most important League of Legends tournament last year. Though the region was still able to send out beacons of hope to attend in their stead, the defending champion, Gen.G, Afreeca Freecs, and KT Rolster still failed to make it past the quarterfinals, ultimately paving way for the rise of European and Chinese teams.
Even though SKT, Griffin, and DAMWON Gaming came out on top of their respective groups in the ongoing Worlds, the current competitive season has yet to serve as Korea’s redemption from a disappointing year. Faker had a chance to utter his threatening message five months ago, if not for the Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard-empowered G2 Esports edging his team out in the semifinals of the Mid-Season Invitational, and eventually claiming Europe’s first international championship title since Fnatic’s Worlds 2011 victory.
G2’s reign didn’t end in Taipei. The Samurais proceeded to claim all championship titles of each tournament they played this year, except, of course, for this year’s Worlds. While they have yet to claim the Summoner’s Cup in front of their home crowd, Luka “Perkz” Percović seemed to be very sure that the team who will be hoisting it won’t be coming from the League of Legends Champions Korea either—a statement that could be interpreted as the Croatian native’s version of Faker’s ‘I’m back’ threat.
It’s actually kinda sad knowing LCK can’t get to the final anymore
— Luka (@Perkz) October 26, 2019
After the group stages, G2 found themselves potentially facing two LCK powerhouses on their way to their very first world championship—DAMWON Gaming, whom they already disposed off in a quick 3-1 series, and SKT. G2’s acquisition of former Fnatic midlaner, Caps, after last year’s world championship, as well as Perkz’ role transition have greatly contributed to the franchise’s success this year. Even though they have trounced SKT in the MSI 2019, it’s still Faker and the three-time Summoner’s Cup holder we’re talking about, and as Caps assured, they have improved a lot since then.
“It’s going to be a very interesting series. Obviously, Faker’s my favorite Mid laner of all time, and obviously, SKT has improved a lot since MSI. I’m excited to see how much we also improved, and am hoping for a narrow victory over SKT, as I know that series will be a close one,” Caps, who was also dubbed as ‘Baby Faker’ for his potential and mechanical skills as a midlaner stated in an interview after their win against DAMWON Gaming, securing the much-anticipated rematch against SKT.
What Caps was pertaining to could be SKT’s change in their coaching staff, or how some of their members are playing in the Worlds for the first time, or their overall approach at the game, ultimately abandoning, or redefining, the slow, macro-intensive style of play that South Korea has been famous for. Whichever that is, the Danish superstar is right when he said that a lot has changed for their next opponent, but whether their matchup will be a close one should still be debatable.
While everyone, including Perkz, who thought that Faker should be scared because Claps will be coming for him, awaits the showdown between the east and the west’s best midlaners, the series that is expected to break viewership record potentially lies on Perkz himself, and his unorthodox AD Carry champion pool. Barring his sheer talent and in-game IQ, Perkz, when compared to a veteran marksman like Park “Teddy” Jin-seong, may be put at a disadvantage, only because of his lack of experience in the role. Even with this fact considered, however, most people still regard him as one of the greatest players in the role today.
As for the lone LCK representative left, SKT’s winning condition relies on their in-game execution. Their fancy for early game antics recently, if pulled off unsuccessfully could bury them so deep into a disadvantage that not even Faker’s over 100 international game victories could salvage.But it’s Faker still, when he said that he’s extra-motivated to practice because he would hate losing to G2 for the second-straight time, we can only expect him to mean it.
Bottomline, whichever team between G2 and SKT join LPL’s Funplus Phoenix in the grand finals, as cliché as it may sound, witnessing the best of both worlds pull off the best action the Summoner’s Rift has to offer makes fans all over the world the winner.
The best-of-five semifinals showdown between G2 Esports and SK Telecom T1 will take place at 19:00 SGT.
