2018 League of Legends World Championship Recap
In 2018, we saw a very different LoL Worlds result than what we quickly became accustomed to from past seasons and how they ended. Last season, Korea didn’t have a team place higher than Afreeca Freecs and KT Rolster. Both teams dropped out during the quarterfinals. Another team who performed below average was Gen.G (formerly known as Samsung Galaxy) the former world champions finished in 13th.
Thanks to the meta being geared more towards aggression due to in-game changes to vision and less tanks being viable, this also helped the region who have been historically the most aggressive, China. After groups, all Chinese teams reached top 8 with tournament favourites Royal Never Give Up amongst them, who have come off their first international title win at the Mid Season Invitational.
But they were stopped in their tracks with one of the biggest upsets we’ve seen at Worlds with the 3rd seed EU team G2 taking out RNG after a close back and forth 5 game series ultimately knocking out RNG resulting in a 3-2. The only Chinese team left standing was the Chinese 3rd seed, Invictus Gaming who were also touted as a top team despite finishing 2nd in their group under Fnatic.
Their road after groups included LCK 1st seed KT Rolster who looked very dominant, only dropping a single game to Invictus Gaming in their group. Invictus was able to squeak out a 3-2 series which could’ve gone either way and it was considered whoever won this series would most likely take the tournament. And they did. Afterwards Invictus took on G2 and after a 3-0, they entered the finals to face Fnatic. Despite Fnatic being possibly one of the best Western teams sent to the tournament it was another 3-0 from IG who looked untouchable thanks to great performances across the map, but the most notable players were their Top laner TheShy and Mid laner Rookie.
Before when these teams fought in groups it it looked like Fnatic was able to crack the armor due to superior Jungle play from Broxah. But the finals was a different story. Invictus Gaming’s Jungler Ning was able to step up along with his strong solo lanes to strangle out Fnatic with only the first game looking to be remotely close and ended without any contest from Fnatic. Eyes are still on Invictus’s TheShy and Rookie as they continue to look in worlds form during 2019 region play and are looking to return this to the finals again this year and defend their crown.
2018 LoL worlds was possibly the best western performance we’ve seen in recent years with a semi final consisting of both Cloud 9 after a 3-0 series against Afreeca Freecs and Fnatic the EU 1st seed beating out the Chinese 2nd seed Invictus Gaming meaning for the first time since season 1 we had a western team in the finals.
Past champions
Fnatic
The early years saw the west being a legitimate threat as the competitive side of the game was not nearly as popular in most Asian countries. This was the humble beginnings for what would become not only an iconic team in Fnatic but as well as an iconic esport LoL, which still plays a huge part in the realm of competitive video games to this day. Fnatic claimed the first championship after defeating fellow European team, Against All Authority 2-1, back when it was only a Bo3 format.
Taipei Assassins
The following year, Asia caught up as the Taiwanese team Taipei Assassins took the 2012 League of Legends World Championship after defeating the Korean team Azubu Frost 3-1, paving the way for Taiwan to be a feared darkhorse region for years to come.
SKT
Now we move on to the unquestionably most dominant team to ever play the game at LoL worlds. SK Telecom T1, also known as SKT claimed 3 LoL World championships with season 3 being their first conquest.
Their opposition in Royal Club, now known as Royal Never Give Up, heralded as the aggressive squad hailing from China and was considered to be the only team to challenge SKT. The finals ended 3-0 and this dominance started a legacy of Korea consistently producing LoL World champions from here on out, with their calculated and slow macro style.
They went on to also win back to back titles in both season 5 and season 6. The team that won back to back titles was composed of the same squad which makes it all the more impressive. They only switched out their Top laner MaRin for Duke. Needless to say, this cemented Faker as being possibly the best player to ever play the game, after proving dominance in and out of lanes and evidently receiving the a ton of respect from other professional lol gamers.
Samsung White
The 2014 LoL World Championship saw an all Asian final four. Two teams from China and two from Korea found themselves in either semi-final. The two Korean teams being sister teams Samsung White and Samsung Blue and Chinese teams being Star Horn Royal Club, known now as Royal Never Give Up and the other team being Oh My God. The surge of dominant Korean teams continued as Samsung White Edged out Star Horn Royal Club 3-1 earning their name on the summoner’s cup and being crowned champs of the 2014 League of Legends World Championship.
Season 7 saw the return of Samsung taking the crown over SKT under a new team as the sister teams had to disband under riots ruling. The team made quite the journey as they only made worlds through the Korean Regional qualifier making them the 3rd seed from Korea. SKT looked fairly dominant once again, only to fall short in the finals at a 3-0 causing SKT to make a shake up as Samsung went on to be heralded as the undisputed champs of the 2017 League of Legends Worlds.
