The surefire method of eliminating the gap
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The South Korean teams have long dominated the competitive League of Legends scene, serving as the ultimate paragons of the game. Teams from the other regions have mostly been playing catch up with the strategies mostly employed by teams from the once-touted strongest LoL region in the world. This has contributed to the one-sided domination of Korea in the past 5 years of the League of Legends World Championship.
The South Korean teams are always expected to come out on top of the international tournaments because of their mastery over the strategies born from their league. However, this year has provided a fresh new perspective to League of Legends. Teams have finally been bold enough to develop their own playstyles, strategies, and games, and have found the confidence to commit to their game plan in the face of the titans that dominate the game.
The result? The western offensive has been the strongest it has ever been in a League of Legends World Championship. There are multiple implications this shift in trend has for the current Worlds tournament, but the biggest thing we should all expect is that the next games will sure to be enjoyable up until a new champion lifts the Summoner’s Cup at the grand finale in Incheon, South Korea.
Overwhelming Vigor
Let’s take a look at Team Vitality‘s first match yesterday against Royal Never Give Up. The second seed EU squad had their work cut out for them as they went against the then undefeated Chinese team. VIT managed to lock in the Draven pick, a risky AD Carry, in the face of the greatest AD Carry in the game in any country. Vitality were not rewarded immediately with their bold play as they fell into an early 1-3 deficit.
Team Vitality slowly inched their way closer to RNG’s stats as they tried madly to trade for every kill and objective secured on the map. It was by no means a clean game, but Vitality stuck to their strategy and built their strength until they were able to take a momentous team fight near the 27 minute mark which led to a clean baron take.
RNG was nearly rendered powerless in the face of Vitality’s overwhelming siege push in the mid-lane where all but Uzi were taken down. Team Vitality once again proved the importance of sticking to your own strategy and strengths instead of emulating a perceived superior strategy developed by other countries. This win kicked off an amazing streak for the western teams in the touted group of death at Worlds 2018.
The Western Offensive
NA’s miracle third seed, Cloud9, had a few more miracles to give as they started playing out of their minds in the final day for their group. In a similar fashion as Vitality’s sticking to your guns style, C9 also defaulted to picks that they’re far more comfortable with as compared to going with the meta picks.
This meant picking the Hecarim top for Licorice, the first outing of the phantom centaur in the entire World Championship. This strategy soon paid dividends for the North American squad as they forced the defending world champions into a corner by playing to their strengths. C9 ultimately closed out their game against Gen.G, dooming the defending champions onto the path of elimination.
This year’s World Championship is the most exciting iteration of the grandest international League of Legends tournament. The best games that we have had the privilege to witness came from teams that trusted in their own strengths to execute their game, in their own way. The ethereal concept of the gap is almost non-existent as the unlikely teams continue to deal crushing blows to perceived frontrunners. No team is safe in Worlds 2018. Absolutely any one of the remaining 14 teams can make it all the way to the Summoner’s Cup.
