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Events & Standings
8 thoughts going into Semifinals
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New year, new teams… sort of? For the second consecutive year, the #1 seeds from the LCK, LPL, and LEC have all made it to the Semifinals. The three way joust for the top of the League of Legends Worlds feels just as contested this year, and it’ll once again begin with the LCK vs. the LEC. Will G2 or DWG fulfill the last hopes of their regions? Here’s 8 thoughts going into Semifinals!
**1. Run it back**
This year’s Semifinals is essentially an exact mirror of last year’s in that it features the LPL #1 seed against the LPL #3 seed on one side and the LEC #1 seed against the LCK #1 seed on the other. These three regions have irrefutably proven that they are the best in the world, which means this coming clash is more about jostling for positioning at the top. It’s like one of those fantasy videos that wonders if a bear or a lion or a tiger would win in a fight. I wonder if there’s one person out there who has literally been in a coma for the last three years and is just waking up right now -- if that’s you, and for whatever reason you are reading my article first thing to get caught up the LoL world, I want you to know that I am not trolling when I tell you that the LCK is the underdog here. No matter how good they looked or what our preconceived notions of Damwon Gaming are, fact of the matter is Korea has been knocked out before the Worlds finals in back-to-back years now. Fact of the matter is most of this Damwon squad got trounced by G2 last year, and fact of the matter is that G2 just completely demolished Gen.G in a series most people expected to be competitive. I realize it’s just one set, but if I’m a fan of the LCK, then I am absolutely sweating right now and wondering if this young Damwon squad is capable of rising to the occasion, and then I am wondering if they *do* rise to the occasion, is that actually enough?
**2. Everybody clap your hands**
[To the tune of cha cha slide] Claps, claps, claps, claps. Caps put on a masterful performance against Gen.G to further cement his status as the single best player Europe has ever produced, and the accolades he is piling up are overshadowed only by his teammates who have simply managed to be around for longer. In terms of density of achievements, he is matched today only by JackeyLove and historically by Faker. This is, in case you were wondering, extremely good company. When it’s all said and done he’ll go down as one of the greatest to ever play this game. His games on Sylas in particular demonstrated not just the mechanical skill that has been touted by his peers but his game sense and ability to snowball his advantage across multiple lanes (which to be fair have also been touted by his peers). The remaining mid laners -- Knight and ShowMaker especially -- are terrific in their own right, but Caps has proven time and again that he belongs on the highest of stages. G2 is not just the Caps show, though -- Mikyx and Wunder are also enjoying dominant runs right now. The coming clash against DWG should be an electric display of individual skill, and I’m excited to see if Caps can replicate or even build upon what we saw from him in the Quarterfinals. The only thing he hasn’t managed to win is Worlds itself, but that will change if he is able to maintain his current form.
**3. The “Underdog”**
Pull aside any casual viewer and ask them to name an LCK player, and almost all of them would be able to say Faker. DRX has Deft and even Chovy that people may recognize, and GEN has Ruler. Ask them to name a single Damwon player, and I imagine you’d often hear crickets. Ask a regular viewer of the LCK, though, and you’d hear a song of praise. DWG is the last hope for Korea and now they stand only two matches away from forever etching their names into League of Legends itself -- win and win again and they will be heroes to Korea. They’ll receive skins to immortalize the achievement, and, perhaps, it can be the start to a longer dynasty. Lose, though, and they’ll be just another footnote in the long catalog of success that is G2 Esports. After blitzing through the Group Stage and then DRX in the Quarterfinals, they appear to pass every eye test you could hope for. Their individual mechanics seem untouchable and their ability to work the map is stifling. Unlike GEN, Damwon isn’t going to walk up mid and pray that G2 will fight them on even terms. They’ll play side lanes, and they’ll play in the jungle, and they’ll force you into them -- it’s going to be a much different Bo5 for both of these teams. From a narrative standpoint, they are the underdog, but it’s an underdog in the sense that a shounen manga’s main character is an underdog -- if you are an LCK fan, do you really expect them to lose? There is an air to them that is much different than the rest of the LCK, but, well, even heroes lose these days.
**4. No mistakes allowed**
Flashback to a couple days ago. Fnatic takes a 2-0 lead over you, Top Esports, and with JDG already eliminated, you are staring at the prospect of the LPL’s sole hope being a 3rd seed that has never won a single thing. You are staring at the prospect of one of the greatest upsets in League of Legends history. What kind of nerves are you feeling? All it takes is a single Level 1 cheese to go against you. Maybe you mess up a Flash and die. Maybe you lose an 80/20 Baron smite that is in your favor. A stray Ezreal ult. An enemy escaping with 7 HP. There are an infinite number of ways to lose a League of Legends game at the highest level, or if not outright lose then create a chain reaction of events that’ll lead you to a significant disadvantage. And yet TES avoided all of those pitfalls. That’s what it means to successfully complete a reverse sweep. You can make mistakes, but they cannot be fatal. TES turned to what they know best, which is sticking Karsa on a jungler that can enable his lanes early -- the Lee Sin types of the world -- even in a meta that seems to favor more carry-oriented junglers. Their win was buoyed greatly by the performance of Knight, who finally lived up to the hype of being the best overall player in the world. TES will need a repeat performance from him if they hope to stand up to Suning, who looked dominant against JDG. Even though TES crushed SN in the LPL Summer Playoffs, the meta has shifted greatly, and the carry-oriented play may favor SofM and Suning more here. It feels a bit like TES is a little outdated style-wise, but they may still have enough brute force to guide them to the Finals.
**5. LPL Autumn**
With TES advancing, we are guaranteed at least one LPL team in the Finals for the 3rd year in a row, and if they manage to win it’d be the 3rd different LPL team to do so. This in a year where they sent four new representatives should make it clear that no other region in the world is even close to the LPL when it comes to depth of skill. For the cycle of a champion there to be about a year means the upcoming talent is rotating in extremely quickly to pressure out the veterans. Recently, TheShy talked about how this coming year might be the last one for him and Rookie, which is a wild thing to consider when they are only a year removed from a Semifinals run and two years removed from one of the most dominant Worlds runs in history. I hope this fact isn’t lost on the LPL players -- JackeyLove especially saw firsthand how hard it is to keep a team intact let alone perched at the top of the world. What success you may find now is not guaranteed to be sustainable, and the LPL is a symbol for that very thing.
**6. Top die**
One thing that has been a pleasure to see at Worlds this year (and every year) is top lane. In League of Legends, top lane is where masochists play -- they don’t necessarily *love* to be ignored but they have grown accustomed to it. In fact, in the LCS, we haven’t looked at top lane in so long that I honestly couldn’t even tell you if teams are employing a top laner. Maybe they just send four players onto the Rift. Maybe the top laner is there trying to ping for help (their comms have, of course, been muted already). So seeing the remaining teams all be willing to play towards their top side as a carry threat is truly a refreshing experience -- it really reminds you that League of Legends is a 5v5 game and not “ignore top and hope they’re still relevant later lol.” Bin, 369, Wunder, and Nuguri have all had massive games this Worlds whether they’re on a tank or a carry, or on an early game champion or a late game one. Even though other roles may be receiving more attention, top lane could be the x factor in the coming series. You can be sure these teams won’t be asking their top laners to *only* play weak side, which should make for some explosive early fights. Surely LCS teams will finally learn to prioritize the top side of the map after this year.
**7. Who to root and why:**
**- Top:** they are the LPL’s super team and were the favorite to win the whole thing before Worlds started. Knight has been touted as the “next Faker,” though I am sure you’ve heard that one before. Root for them if you are a fan of high octane League of Legends full of good individual mechanics. They’ve been called the team with the best players even if they are not always the best team overall.
**- Suning:** SofM is the first Vietnamese player to make it this far, which is especially important in a year where the Vietnamese teams could not attend due to Covid-19 restrictions. Huanfeng is a literal rags to riches [story][1]. There is a lot of individual heart in this team, who rallied together to make a strong push in the summer.
**- Flash Wolves:** Karsa is on TES. SwordArt is on SN. One will make finals at the expense of the other. It’s playing out like a Greek tragedy.
**- G2 Esports:** A straight up Worlds win for the LEC would be a poetic 10th anniversary for Lolesports with Europe having won the first ever title and then getting closer and closer the last few years. You’d almost certainly crown Caps the best player in the world if they can finish out this run.
**- Damwon:** As Korea’s last hope, they can perhaps restore glory to a region that had grown so accustomed to winning that we once had three consecutive LCK vs. LCK finals. This is a team full of lesser known entities, but winning here would be the definitive signal that we are seeing a shifting of the guards into a new era for Korean League of Legends.
**8. Play your game**
CaptainFlowers once said, “Play. Your. Game!” This is a sentiment that has been echoed time and again, and time and again it seems like teams forget this. That’s why I liked seeing TES just turn to the likes of Lee Sin when they had their backs pinned against the wall. It doesn’t really matter if the meta is optimal for x or y if you don’t have the players or the aptitude to play x or y. You should always play what gives you the best chance of winning, and sometimes that’s not the same thing as what’s optimal. This is a lesson people forget in Solo Queue all the time as well. I am fully aware that Zed and Talon have great Solo Queue win rates, but I am also fully aware that *my* Zed and Talon do not. Are pros different than me? Of course. Could they practice and become better at certain champions or styles? Sure. But improving at those styles doesn’t suddenly make them better than something else you’ve already perfected. And the further along we get into the tournament, the more unlikely it is that teams will pivot from a certain way to play the game. These are the four best teams in the world this year, and they’ve gotten here by being themselves. It is three #1 seeds from the three strongest regions in the world, and they are joined by a dark horse that has clicked in the right meta at the right time with the right narrative backing them. There are no bootcamps to save any of them. No intervention. No quick trip home. They are what they are, and we’re about to find out who exactly that’s enough for.
[1]: https://medium.com/@crylast/the-boy-arrived-at-the-seaside-66ddcd497f7c
