Can anyone stop SK Telecom T1?
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The road to Worlds 2017 saw a lot of people build hype for teams to claim this year’s Summoner’s Cup. The Chinese teams were generally favored especially since the venue of Worlds 2017 is in China.
League of Legends has been under SK Telecom T1 rule for so long that fans pined for some other team to break the monotony of SKT winning world championships.
However, the messy quarterfinals series today between Royal Never Give Up and Fnatic may be indicative of a 4th SKT world championship. Never have I wanted to be proven wrong in my whole life.
Lackluster
Uzi‘s RNG inherited the role of China’s frontrunner at Worlds after EDward Gaming failed to make it out of the group stage. RNG managed to finish first in their group before getting matched up with Fnatic in the quarterfinals stage.
Royal Never Give Up won their match against Fnatic in a 3-1 victory, but it was unconvincing. The RNG that would have finally taken down SKT in the semis was clearly not the RNG we saw earlier today
Fnatic staved off RNG’s attempt at a clean sweep in game three with amazing late game team fights. The third game only came to a close at 54 minutes with a FNC siege after RNG was unable to close out the game 30 minutes prior.
FNC also made the Chinese team struggle in the fourth game, making them earn their spot in the quarterfinals. RNG eventually managed to win a final team fight but they only managed to scrape by. The game only ended due to a messy disengage attempt by Fnatic which left four of their members dead.
SKT found themselves in a similar hole yesterday against Misfits, but they closed out the final game 5 in convincing fashion. This RNG iteration might not have what it takes to defeat Faker.
Favorites Turned Casualties
Longzhu Gaming was another potential challenger to the SKT throne. The LCK team was touted as the strongest team coming into Worlds 2017 after their historic defeat of SKT in the 2017 LCK summer playoffs.
LZ dominated the group stage by being the only undefeated team after two weeks of play. They went on to the quarterfinals to face off against fellow-LCK team Samsung Galaxy.
PraY & GorillA left many of the LZ fans disappointed when they were swiftly eliminated by SSG in a brutal 0-3 shut down.
The biggest enemy of Longzhu proved to be their overall lack of international experience. PraY and GorillA may have competed in over three Worlds tournaments, but the rest of the team was comprised of mostly rookies.
Sadly, there will be no blue dragon themed world championship skins for next year.
A Glimmer of Hope
There remains a single beam of hope in the tournament. Samsung Galaxy may very well be the final chance of stopping another SKT world championship.
The often overshadowed Korean team went through Worlds 2016 as the underdogs yet they made it all the way to the finals. SSG continued to be underestimated as they stood beside the likes of SKT and the rising Longzhu.
Yet despite their 2nd seed finish during the group stage, they managed to obliterate Longzhu in the quarterfinals match.
SSG finished with a 3-0 record against the team that was expected to win the whole tournament. Crown and the rest of Samsung Galaxy have proven that they are a better team than they were in the previous year.
Considering they took SKT to five games in the 2016 Worlds final, there’s no telling what the outcome will be if these two teams faced off in the finals for a second consecutive year.
