INVICTUS GAMING
Sitting on the opposing corner is Invictus Gaming, a Chinese team that has not won a domestic title in their 7-year history, who’s on the brink of capturing the one accolade that will offset all past failures they’ve experienced in the past.
Their ascent to being the two best current teams in the world has been nothing short of extraordinary. Aside from their passionate fans, no one could’ve foreseen this. On top of that, in the leadup of Worlds, the team that was expected to make huge noise out of China was not them. It was Royal Never Give Up. Powered by their best player in Uzi, analysts thought of them as an extremely dangerous side that can usurp Gen.G for the LoL crown. Compared to them, though, IG was a pebble.
Yes, IG was going to make their third Worlds appearance which is absolutely good for any other obscure team looking for success; but overall, not much was anticipated of them. Maybe a quarterfinals appearance could happen. Maybe. But other than that, nothing more.
With that said, IG began their journey in Group D. Like the other finalist, they got out of said group to reach the quarterfinals, which was by then the farthest they’ve ever gone in team history. The last time they were there (in 2012), they were upended by Moscow Five two games to none. Prior to their match against KT Rolster of Korea, fans expected for it to be completed in an hour with no sense of actual competitiveness between them. Many people picked the KT to advance to the semifinals and continue their bid in keeping the Summoner’s Cup in their native Korea.
Unfortunately for them, IG had other ideas. They piled on KT as they took the first two games of the series which meant that they needed to win one more to shockingly send their opponents home. All was sealed, but a last-ditch attack on IG’s nexus by KT, which happened at the same time of the former’s attempt to destroy their own home base, finished just in time to salvage their season and extend the series to another game.
With such a momentous play boosting their morale to astronomical levels, KT Rolster fiercely came back to even the series and bring it to a fifth and final game. It looked as if they were going to complete the reverse sweep. But IG ultimately was not swayed as they won it to advance to the semis.
In the semis, Invictus faced G2 Esports of Europe, where they unmercifully smashed them in three games. It was the inverse of the last match they played. G2 was simply outclassed as they couldn’t do anything about the IG machine. And thus, after all that, they made it to the Finals for the first time ever. Some players you should look out for in the finals are JackeyLove, a 17-year old rising star who’s only going to get better with each passing match, Rookie, a Mid Laner who’s largely seen by his peers as the MVP for this Worlds, and Duke, a former World Champion (with SKT in ’16) that can hold his own against any other team in his role as the Top Laner.
It’s such a shame for a competition that has brought so much chaos and tight contests to end, but alas it must. However, other than the Finals which will be done in front of thousands of fans in Incheon’s Munhak Stadium, notable events occurred that will undeniably send seismic waves to the competitive scene after all is said and done.
First off, Korea, the indisputable best region in the world in playing League of Legends, was left off the semifinals for the first time since 2011. It was established early on in the game’s competitive history that the Korean teams were so dominant compared to the rest of the world that they usually destroyed everyone in international fixtures until they had to face themselves in the Finals. Heck, they won 5 straight world championships, with the other 2 that they didn’t win coming from the first 2 years of the tourney’s existence (Fnatic & Taipei Assassins). Whether this event turns out to be a minor roadblock in Korea’s reign of dominance or not remains to be seen, but one can’t deny that their absence from the grand stage is still shocking even after a few weeks of its realization.
And also, the West stepped up big time. Europe finally returned to the finals after seven years while North America actually had a representative in the semifinals for the first time ever. This sends a clear message to anyone doubting the West’s strength compared to the East’s: they have closed the gap. For such a long time, the East has essentially ruled all of LoL, with Korea taking the helm as the number one region outright. Time has passed, and the rest of the world is catching up. Instead of playing like their Asian counterparts for the sake of avoiding to lose, teams from the Western regions are creating their own strategies that encompass a fearless attitude within themselves, regardless if they end up winning or losing, which will help in their confidence for future events. This approach is brilliantly summarized by YamatoCannon, a coach who gave out this speech to future European competitors after his Team Vitality was eliminated in the group stage.
At the end of the day, many people are calling this World Championship as the best one ever, and this is said without even including the result of the Finals. Epic upsets, close matches, heartbreaking losses, and historic milestones were all put in display for the world to see and it was awesome. Let’s hope for us fans to see it all happen one final time on November 3rd. May the best team win.
