The quarterfinal round of the 2015 League of Legends World Championships are in the books, and everyone has come out of it a little bit different. Two Western teams remain in the running, looking to take the trophy back from the Asian dominate championship landscape, while one team shows no signs of slowing down their epic run at glory.
The West keeps the dream alive.
Earlier this month, I conjectured that the West was making their most compelling run for the World Championship trophy this year since the first big tournament five seasons ago. It wouldn’t have been smart to bet that two Western teams would be making a semifinals appearance, but here we are.
Fnatic had a dominant EU LCS season, but struggled in the first round of the Group Stage at Worlds. From then on, the European squad showed that sometimes the champion selection stage is just as vital as playing the game. Even after FNC put the paws on Group B in Week 2 to secure their quarterfinal berth in dominating fashion, no one really expected them to beat Edward Gaming, who had a great showing in the tournament thus far, besides their losses to tournament juggernaut SKT . Not only did FNC beat EDG, but they swept them. FNC is now the first team ever to make three World Championship semifinals, and their game with KOO isn’t exactly the one-sided affair we once thought it would be.
In a similar position is Origen. The brain child of FNC veteran and backdooring expert xPeke, Origen had only a year to get into championship shape, and they delivered. Peke led his team to second place in Group D behind KT Rolster, who didn’t make it past the Tigers. That European lane switching, teleporting style of gameplay is really causing a lot of problems for some of this Asian teams, forcing the best mismatches in a particular game early and often. Its an interesting ballet to watch, especially in their 3-1 win over the Flash Wolves.
It hasn’t just been Peke, though. There have been some incredible performances from the rookie talent. Especially in the AD Carry position, where Niels has been on an absolutely roll, especially when he can pick the ghastly assassin, Kalista. Origen became the new Western underdog story after Cloud 9’s dismal Week 2, but can then find enough magic to take SKT off of their game in the semis?
The SKT train is at home on the rails.
Clearly, the most dominate team in the games is SK Telecom. The Korean powerhouse not only holds the only undefeated record of the 16 teams involved, but are the only team to have won all of their games in a fashion so dominant that it’s almost strange to see at this high of a professional level.
It’s not as though SKT is completely unbeatable. They’ve come up short in the LCS Mid-Season Invitational and the first LCK Spring Playoffs this year. Even in their 3-0 sweep against AHQ, the last game looked very close as AHQ was making them work from the bad end of a gold deficit. The squad rallied late, though and they don’t stay far away from the top spot for long.
It’s easy to give all the glory to Faker, who’s famous for bullying mid-laners into early mistakes and setting the pace for the team in the younger minutes of a game. To sleep on the impact of Wolf or MaRin in the bottom and top lanes, respectively, is to miss the vital teamwork behind the SKT pain train. In their upcoming game with Origen, the numbers make it look like another sweep is imminent. sOAZ and mithy really don’t hold a candle to the Korean pair. sOAZ‘s Kill Death Assist ratio at a meager 2.54 next to MaRin‘s 5.19, and mithy‘s 2.97 makes Wolf‘s 13.75 look impossible. In this match, it may well come down to whomever can edge out the middle lane, which will see League veterans Peke and Faker duel for dominance. The numbers don’t favor Peke here, either, but he is a play maker, and with a team known for being heavy roamers and rather formless during the laning phase, maybe the element of surprise can be the enough to derail SKT.
Go home, Gragas. You’re drunk.
A crazy bug forced pro favorite pick Gragas to sit out of the remainder of the World Championships. During Game 2, FNC jungler Reignover realized something was preventing him from using Gragas‘s Barrel Toss effectively. What was thought to be a product of a rare case of intersecting circumstances was actually a far more prevalent bug that not only caused Gragas to be disabled, but for the game to be restarted. The bug also affected Lux and Ziggs, and even though they most likely wouldn’t be picked in the remaining pro games, they were also disabled.
Gragas is a very popular jungle pick for pro players. Especially in this years Worlds, where teams like FNC and Rolster have used him to great effect. It’s not like the game is short of powerful junglers, Rek’Sai has also been in high demand. But with one powerful jungler out of commission, it becomes that much easier to chose which jungler to ban. That said, the Tigers‘ jungler, Hojin, favors Elise, as does SKT‘s Bengi. The only teams that may miss Gragas are FNC and Origen, who’s junglers picked him more times than any other champ this month.
It’s time to buckle down and watch what might be the most intense round yet. Be sure to brush up on your lingo with this hand Field Guide. Drop by the League of Legends Wiki to keep current with tournament standings, and get hype with us on Twitter @CurseGamepedia.