Worlds 2017 Quarterfinal Review: Misfits Gaming vs. SK Telecom T1

27 minutes into Game 4, Misfits Gaming were about to do the unthinkable.

Up 2-1 and at match point, Misfits needed to win one last team fight to eliminate SK Telecom T1 from Worlds 2017. Misfits were up nearly four thousand gold. They had greater numbers after picking off an isolated Blank. Misfits stormed mid and began sieging the inhibitor turret. A successful fight would mean the nexus, and a place in the history books.

But SKT would not fold. Led by the Unkillable Demon King Faker, the two-time defending champs turned an unfavorable 4v5 into an Ace of Misfits, regaining the momentum for good. They would go on to win Game 4, evening the quarterfinal series at 2-2, before outlasting a drained European side in Game 5. SKT ultimately secured their predicted berth in the semifinals, but Misfits made them earn it.

Over five games, Misfits and SKT treated the enraptured Guangzhou crowd to a series that will go down as one of the best professional League of Legends has ever produced. Absolutely no one gave Misfits a chance to win even a single game against the LCK titans. How did they nearly win three?

If Game 1 was an indication of things to come, the experts were right to doubt Misfits. SKT looked unbeatable, capitalizing on Faker’s Galio mid to pressure sidelanes early and often. The tone was set once Faker hit Level 6 and dived Alphari’s Rumble with impunity for First Blood. Faker was everywhere in the early game, and his snowball drove SKT to a 10k gold lead after 20 minutes. Misfits couldn’t pick their way back into the game, with Faker’s counter-engage a constant threat. After a convincing 3-0 team fight win minutes later, SKT casually secured Baron, then Aced Misfits and broke their nexus.

But if SKT’s play had been the only reason Misfits got stomped in Game 1, the series wouldn’t have lasted five games. No, SKT’s win on the Rift was precipitated by a massive win in the draft. Their first victory came when—with Janna and Lulu banned—Misfits picked Taric and Jarvan IV in their first rotation. That seemingly innocuous choice by Misfits set up SKT’s entire draft, allowing flex picks like Galio, Trundle and Jayce to completely stupefy Misfits’ strategy. Giving up Galio was bad enough; but compounding that mistake with a potential flex Trundle made it worse.

Even at draft’s end, Misfits had no idea where kkOma would lane his champions until the pregame clock hit 20. Red side's counter pick advantage had been completely neutralized, and Misfits had done it to themselves. SKT were free to create side lane pressure with three pushing lanes assisted by the global presence of Galio. As far as God compositions go, Jayce/Sejuani/Galio/Caitlyn/Trundle is up there, especially when the Trundle support can’t be punished.

Misfits couldn’t afford to bury themselves in the draft again. And they didn’t, adapting to SKT’s top lane emphasis by doubling down on winning bot. In Game 2, it was Misfits’ turn to flex on SKT’s first rotation Taric pick. They drafted Karma, and then flexed her mid with a last pick Blitzcrank, keeping an Ardent Censer in the composition while cranking up bot lane aggression.

IgNar who—like most supports—had spent all of Summer Split succeeding on playmaking champions, went back to what worked before Worlds. Blitz looked half-decent against in a loss to Team SoloMid, but this time around? IgNar couldn’t miss a hook if he tried, landing key Rocket Grabs on each member of SKT at least once.

But IgNar took second billing to Hans sama’s coming-out party on Tristana, encapsulated by a beautiful kill on Bang during a dive bot. That outplay earned Misfits the all-important First Turret, releasing Hans and IgNar to siege other outer turrets across the map. Hans ended Game 2 8-0-3 with 100% Kill Participation and 42.2% of his team's damage.

Soon, SKT were on the backfoot and IgNar was landing gamebreaking hooks at will. His Flash-grab of Faker after the SKT mid thought he was safe after a risky package dash was incredible, eventually allowing Misfits to take Baron. It wouldn’t be the last time Faker got hooked. IgNar and Misfits stormed mid on a Baron Power Play and broke the nexus in one move, evening the series at 1-1.

If Misfits had doubled-down on winning bot lane in Game 2, then Game 3 saw them triple-down. IgNar drafted Leona with the Fervor of Battle mastery, throwing the early game into complete chaos. SKT didn’t know what to make of Leona. She isn’t played in the LCK at all, and was last seen in a major region when Hong Kong Attitude’s Kaiwing championed her last July in the LMS (he lost). That unfamiliarity showed, costing SKT a tremendously played Level 1 2v2 bot with IgNar drawing First Blood on Bang at full Fervor stacks. It reminded me of the way Immortals fell apart against Archie’s Urgot top; their ignorance of the matchup cost them dearly in lane.

IgNar’s Leona wasn’t the only curveball Misfits threw. Maxlore called for Ivern in the jungle, yet another way Misfits smuggled an Ardent Censer into their team despite thumbing their nose at the Censer support meta. Ivern’s bushes plus Tristana’s demolition speed made for a punishing siege composition that could also control objectives.

In the face of these off-meta picks, SKT fumbled through their own. Vayne, last seen in the hands of Royal’s Uzi in a win over 1907 Fenerbahçe, made an unexpected appearance bot for Bang. You could see the thinking: Vayne’s dashes can counter Leona’s Zenith Blade if timed right. But Bang never made an impact on a champion that does nothing from behind, and he was behind from Level 1.

Hans was 5-1-2 with 100% Kill Participation after 12 minutes, but the lead wasn't solidified until Misfits successfully took Baron. Doing so required a patient dance that always hinted at a take in order to gain a concession from SKT; a summoner here, an ultimate there. It was the kind of discipline you see from the best Eastern teams and rarely (if ever) in the West. Misfits' big prize was Huni’s teleport. Without that, SKT couldn’t split effectively with the constant threat of Baron. In the end, Misfits waited until SKT were out of position, then took Baron via blastcone entrance, sealing the objective with Ivern bushes and damage from Hans.

But Misfits couldn’t break open the base with Baron. A fantastic Seismic Shove from Faker caught out PowerOfEvil and eventually fizzled out the push. Misfits would need a second Nashor to win Game 3, and they got it when Maxlore out-smote Blank for a steal. With three SKT players dead after the ensuing fight, Misfits wasted no time breaking all three inhibitors en route to victory.

Then, Game 4 happened.

SKT made some adjustments, taking Hans’ Tristana for themselves but embracing Misfits’ tank support meta at the same time. Throwing it back to early Summer Split, IgNar’s Alistar faced Wolf’s Braum. The tank answer from SKT allowed the Koreans to stay even in the early game, though that was due to Faker’s stellar Ryze play as much as anything else. Still, Misfits managed the first Baron, but again couldn’t break the SKT base.

Later, the game (and the series) took a dramatic turn. After securing a pick on Blank, Misfits rushed mid aiming to smash the mid inhibitor, opening Baron priority. Believing they had superior team fighting with their numbers advantage, Misfits dove the mid inhibitor turret and tried to win a series-defining fight. They initiated on Huni’s Trundle, but a timely Glacial Fissure from Wolf’s Braum plus an Unbreakable that mitigated Hans’ damage to Bang decided the fight. It didn’t help that Misfits dove without a minion wave to absorb turret shots.

SKT exploded from there, Acing Misfits and breaking European hearts in one decisive play. Misfits tried twice to regain the initiative, but twice SKT saw the fight coming and positioned well. Bang’s Tristana out-ranged Hans’ Sivir at this point, allowing the SKT AD carry easier access to the Misfits frontline while keeping himself insulated from Sivir’s Ricochets.

It’s here that we must all tip our caps to Faker, the best player to ever play competitive League of Legends. His 6-1-6, 10.8 CSM, 75% KP Game 4 kept the gold differential even early and his team in the hunt. Yes, he did have an easier laning phase against PowerOfEvil’s Mejai Karma, but that doesn’t discount the vision, Realm Warp plays, and timely Rune Prisons that pulled SKT across the finish line late. Faker is the best in the world because of complete games like this one, utterly dominant and necessarily clutch.   

Game 5 was the denouement to the climax of Game 4, a plodding end to what was a fantastic series. Bang took Tristana again, and the turret-burning power of that pick paced the game in SKT’s favor. Even with a Shen for Alphari, Misfits lost control of the map once SKT began carefully picking advantageous fights, their engages planned in advance to account for a surprise Stand United teleport. All SKT wanted to do was get Huni online to split push; once they did, Misfits lacked tools to answer.

Once Misfits' nexus fell, SKT made their customary handshakes and winner’s bows. We’ll see them again soon enough. But it was Misfits the crowd demanded loudest, with chants of “M-S-F!” filling the Guangzhou Gymnasium. Numb in defeat, Misfits took a well-earned bow. Their two victories were the most any Western team had ever earned against the vaunted Korean juggernaut.

More promising than the wins was the way Misfits won, not by playing the Korean meta, but by forcing Korea to play theirs. It’s a futile gambit, attempting to beat Korean teams at their own game. If the West really wants to close the gap, they need to follow the example set by Misfits: Respect the meta, but apply your own twist that girds what you do best. For Misfits, they found a creative way to include the meta-defining Ardent Censer in their compositions while playing strong pocket picks. With deliberate strategy and excellent execution, they nearly slew a giant. 

Worlds 2017 Quarterfinals Review: Longzhu Gaming vs. Samsung Galaxy

Good night, sweet Pick ‘Ems.

The first quarterfinal of Worlds 2017 went as planned, a very one-sided 3-0 by a confident Korean squad that look like title contenders. Except it was Samsung Galaxy, not the heavily favored Longzhu Gaming, that earned a berth in the semifinals, smashing all expectations and turning Worlds on its head.

SSG set the tone in Game 1. The LCK third seed was supposed to be the patient, late game focused team in the matchup. Yet Ambition had his most active early game of the tournament, relieving the intense pressure from Bdd mid lane with a kill, and then outplaying Khan on a top dive for another kill. Keep in mind that this was the same jungler who, across six group stage games, was a combined 0-3-0 at 15 minutes. After the first two games against Longzhu, Ambition was 4-0-1.

SSG dictated the pace of the game, just not the tempo LZ clearly expected. Hoping to take advantage of SSG's early game negativity, LZ drafted Thresh (a great early roamer) to snowball Khan, despite that support's inability to build Ardent Censer. By picking Thresh, LZ gambled heavily on an early game punish. It didn't pay off.

Samsung’s early proactivity was unexpected, but not nearly as much as CuVee's Kennen to counter Khan’s last pick Jax, something CuVee has saved only for important Game 3s recently in LCK. Kennen's lane pressure (plus help from Ambition) kept Jax at bay early, but it was the presence of Crown’s Malzahar that stopped Khan's split push for good. For whatever reason, Khan refused to buy a Quicksilver Sash, hampering his ability to run a long lane alone when Crown and a friend could simply Nether Grasp him to death. The tax should have been paid by every Longzhu player (exempting Gorilla), yet only Pray bought one, leaving the rest of LZ vulnerable to Crown's suppression.

SSG switched things up and LZ couldn’t adjust on the fly. Well, maybe they could have, but Bdd completely lost his head after a brilliant early laning phase that erased Crown for First Blood. But a mistimed gank by Cuzz before Unleashed Power was back online saved Crown, opening the door a greedy kill attempt by Bdd. Sensing blood, Bdd stepped forward under turret only to be counter-engaged by Ambition, who had just come mid in response to Cuzz’s gank.

Inexperience and nerves from Longzhu's rookies was evident on stage and the execution suffered because of it. Bdd’s death undid all of his early work and gave Samsung early game momentum. It wasn’t the last issue from LCK MVP, who Flashed forward for a kill on Crown during a later 5v5 mid as his team was disengaging, killing himself to turn a 1-0 LZ fight into a 2-1 SSG fight (Pray died on the backend). Bdd later burned Unleashed Power on Ambition for no reason, losing the ulti for the main base defense. His 4 deaths in Game 1 alone were unusual for a player who had died 4 times throughout the entire group stage.

Cuzz had a few taget selection issues on his engages, most notably on Crown around the second Baron. Crown simply Flashed back into the choke point, preventing LZ from damaging him through the Jarvan IV Cataclysm and allowing the rest of SSG access to the backline. That broken fight opened a free Baron for SSG, and it wouldn't be their last.

Samsung proved their Game 1 victory win was no fluke with an incredible Game 2 stomp. It helped that they began by getting the draft right, especially concerning supports. SSG banned Janna straight out and sacrificed Lulu instead of taking Lulu themselves, drafting Taric instead. The Bravado healbot is a support better suited to this meta than Thresh, with his ability to counter engage well and use Ardent Censer effectively. Even better, his Baron sustain (sustained AoE heals with his passive) is best in the meta.

In response, Longzhu put Khan on Cho’Gath, completely abandoning their split push carry style and giving Khan a champ he had never played before on stage. Was this the same Longzhu we had watched all summer, suddenly bowing to meta pressure after weeks of making their own? It certainly didn’t look like them in the draft or on the Rift.

Again, SSG set the pace with their best Longzhu impression, crashing mid with an early three-man gank plus Shen to kill Bdd and Cuzz, gaining control of that lane. Then, they dived bot as four to wipe out Pray, Gorilla, and the outer turret for First Brick. SSG smartly kept Ruler and CoreJJ bot to keep the pressure on Pray’s farm instead of the expected immediate lane swap, a nice touch that kept Pray from quickly farming back into relevance.

At this point, CuVee’s Shen became a problem. LZ could never pick themselves back into the game because of Shen’s global presence; even when Ruler and Pray walked right into each other around a topside corner, SSG were able to save Ruler with Shen’s Stand United (plus a timely Cosmic Radiance from Taric)

From there, Crown was unstoppable, beating LZ and Bdd to death with Bdd’s own iconic Taliyah. Bdd had another game to forget, a 1-3-4 score line that actually flattered him. By contrast, Crown went on a rampage at 9-1-7 (100% KP), highlighted by a Quadra Kill around Mountain Drake that broke the game wide open. His damage and effective roams kept Longzhu on their backs until the nexus broke. After Ruler’s Quadra, all Samsung needed to do was control Baron. They did so carefully, respecting Longzhu’s ability to contest by pulling off the objective until they killed Cuzz and Pray. From there, it was a simple deathball push into the LZ nexus.

Game 3 was more of the same from Samsung, quieting all rumors of a reverse sweep with another electric performance. They improbably got their hands on Shen, Sejuani and Tristanna again, a mindboggling draft oversight by Longzhu, who banned out Lulu instead of Sejuani. How could this happen? They had just witnessed how little SSG prioritized Lulu (and how highly SSG prized Sejuani), why give SSG essentially the same composition they just tore you apart with?

Longzhu first-picked Taliyah to stabilize their tilted mid laner, then put Khan on Trundle in an effort to balance his split pushing ways and the team's tank needs. It only half-worked. In response, Samsung revealed another pocket pick: Crown’s Lissandra, the idea being she counters Bdd’s comfort Taliyah. While she couldn’t match Taliyah’s damage, Lissandra’s ability to absorb pressure in fights with Frozen Tomb allowed Ruler to out-duel Pray’s favored Varus.

SSG wanted to make plays in the bottom lane and did so, repeatedly pressuring bot and diving that lane. But Bdd never answered with his typically effective roams to the sidelanes, always a step late even with Taliyah’s Weavers Wall. CoreJJ’s Taric turned many close fights in SSG’s favor, and for the third straight game SSG got First Turret bot lane. Ambition had a quieter early game in terms of KDA (only one assist by 15 minutes), but he never let Cuzz or the LZ sidelaners get comfortable. But Ambition made the right plays when it counted late. After being caught out in the jungle, Ambition created space for his team to break the bot lane inhibitor by pulling all five Longzhu players with him topside on a merry chase. 

In a last gasp, Longzhu forced a fight around their Red buff and won it 2-0, but had no map control or objectives past a Cloud Drake they could take. SSG responded by pushing top in, then went back into the same choke point for a nearly identical fight, but this time the Cosmic Radiance timing was correct. Ruler got three resets for a Triple Kill, and SSG win the fight 4-0, taking the nexus seconds later.

Overall, it was an incredible showing from Samsung. They completely changed their style from groups and embarrassed the tournament favorites. Longzhu’s youth hampered their mid-jungle-top synergy, and at this stage it cost them dearly. It’s worth noting that, before the quarterfinals, Longzhu had only one best-of-five under their belt as a team: the LCK championship against SKT. Despite veteran leadership from Pray and GorillA, Longzhu couldn't adapt mid-series to SSG’s new, well-executed strategies, and now they'll watch the rest of Worlds at home. 

Worlds 2017: Group A Autopsy

Despite its primacy in the English alphabet, Group A finished its play last. Don't ask me why, something to do with scheduling I'd assume. SK Telecom T1 took the top seed as predicted, but it took one final match between SKT and Edward Gaming to determine the runner-up.

EDG may have been the second-strongest team in Group A, but their inability to adapt during Week 1 ultimately sank their quarterfinal hopes. Two soul-crushing throws against SKT didn’t help either. ahq e-Sports Club fought valiantly, taking unexpected wins off SKT and EDG, but the LMS side couldn’t find consistency in the mid lane to win when it counted.

Instead, it was Cloud9 who escaped from Group A with SKT, relying on a strong Week 1 showing and a workmanlike victory over AHQ in Week 2 to advance. While it was SKT’s win over EDG that officially saw them through, it was poetic that C9’s critical win came over AHQ, the team that eliminated them from Worlds 2015 in a Group B tiebreaker. Cloud9 are the only North American team to reach the bracket stage for the second year in a row, and the only NA team to escape groups since 2014.

How did NA’s third seed qualify from a group stacked with China’s top seed, the two-time defending champions, and what turned out to be the best squad from the LMS? Read on!

Edward Gaming Cannot Outrun Week 1

Good news for Chinese fans: Edward Gaming finally arrived at Worlds 2017! Problem was, they were one week too late.

All the crowd support in Wuhan—particularly for hometown hero Clearlove7—couldn’t buoy EDG to the next round. In some ways, their road was harder than the miracle trail Fnatic blazed in Group B. Unlike the Europeans, EDG were forced to win all three Week 2 games once AHQ upset SKT to start the day; two wins wouldn’t be enough to force a tiebreaker.

They almost pulled it off. EDG began by disposing of Cloud9 in much the same way Team WE buried Team SoloMid the day before. Watch out bot lane: Caitlyn’s back, and she’s going to take your turret and make late game team compositions cry. iBoy shouldered the burden of an iMan against C9, responsible for virtually all of EDG’s damage in a draft that featured Maokai, Jarvan IV and Galio as the frontline. Spoiled for initiation choice, EDG ran Cloud9 ragged across the map, engaging however they wanted and controlling every objective. C9 had a sniff of a comeback when they got to iBoy in a late 5v5 around their own top inhibitor, but the quick reactions from Meiko quickly closed the window. iBoy finished 8-1-9 and nearly 100CS over Sneaky.

After a 25-minute dismembering of AHQ that saw iBoy record a handful of multi-kills, EDG faced the final boss: SK Telecom T1. A win here would force a tiebreaker with Cloud9 for second that, with recent form taken into account, C9 had no chance of winning. After 11 minutes, that seemed to be where Group A was headed. Triggered by a ridiculously fast 6:20 First Turret take by iBoy bot, EDG demolished all of SKT’s outer turrets within minutes and had amassed a nearly 4k gold lead. All EDG needed to do was wave control until Baron spawned, then use their massive lead to take the objective, break the base, and end the game.

That didn’t happen. SKT successfully slowed EDG’s breakneck pace while bleeding turrets, staying within touching distance until EDG took the first Baron. A successful push bot by EDG broke the inhibitor, but it all went sideways once EDG forced a mid lane push as five. Like a repeating nightmare you can’t escape, EDG took a fight they shouldn’t have (Baron was nearly spawned and super minions were pushing into the SKT base) and got wiped off the Rift. iBoy, stunned and perhaps hoping to salvage something from this catastrophe, tried to solo-kill Faker after his tanks had died. It didn’t work.

SKT completed their Ace, took Baron, and won minutes later after Faker smote iBoy with a Shockwave-Command: Attack combo. EDG were done, and a heartbroken partisan crowd barely made a sound to salute the victorious Koreans when they made their customary post-game bow.

Had this version of EDG—the one with coordination and controlled aggression—showed up sooner, they would easily have qualified for quarterfinals. But the bullheadedness of Scout (seen briefly again versus SKT) and a lack of late game macro execution ultimately killed their chances back in Week 1. Cause of Death: Self-Immolation.

Cloud9 Save North America

By this point, Cloud9 had watched each of their fellow North American competitors succumb in the group stage, unable to earn the paltry number of wins needed to advance.

Immortals failed to win a game when one victory would have sent them through. Team SoloMid crashed out of Group D once they failed to defeat a winless Flash Wolves, then lost a tiebreaker to a team they’d already beaten. Only Cloud9, NA’s third seed and lone play-in participant, were left to save their region from ignominy.

Luckily for NA fans (and some analysts with ongoing hair-related bets), Cloud9 did enough on Sunday to qualify for quarters. Their dominating, payback win over AHQ and SKT’s comeback victory over EDG pulled them across the finish line on a day they looked third-best in Group A.

The win over AHQ illustrated the major reason Cloud9—not IMT or TSM—will continue competing. In a word: adaptation. The siege composition Cloud9 employed was similar in spirit the ones Team WE and EDG ran, the latter of which C9 had just seen up close. It was a major shift in style. Contractz—who had made his living on aggressive Warrior junglers like Rek’Sai, Ezreal, and Graves—was placed back on a traditional Cinderhulk tank. Jensen was given LeBlanc, a better turret bully than Ryze or Syndra (ditto for Impact’s Gnar). The composition worked wonders, catching AHQ completely off guard.

Cloud9 recognized that a continuation of their aggressive counter-jungling wasn’t yielding the rewards they wanted, and adapted accordingly. Instead of blindly surging forward with a weak strategy, they planned something new and fortunately had the players to execute it. Even in their two Week 2 losses, you couldn’t pick out one member that was unusually poor, losing as a team rather than because of a weak link. C9 gave away too much engage against EDG in the draft and couldn’t overcome it on the Rift. Against SKT, they couldn’t get the early lead needed for their composition to both win fights and keep Huni’s split pushing at bay.

I expect to see more siege style comps from C9 soon. It suits their uptempo pace of play despite the requirement of a tank jungler, allowing them to be aggressive without sacrificing the beef. Good luck Cloud9, NA’s hopes ride with you. Cause of Death: None, spared by God.

SK Telecom T1 Split Push to a Top Seed

Is it just me, or do the defending champs seem weak this year? Well, weaker, relatively speaking. Finishing 5-1 as Group A’s top seed isn’t something to belittle.

This is still God’s team, after all. Faker and kkOma continue to steer the SK Telecom T1 battleship through stormy seas, but Group A was an unusually choppy ride. SKT needed two comeback victories to overcome Edward Gaming, and lost to a bullying AHQ group that did not fear them. It was the first time SKT had lost a Week 2 match at Worlds.

But what about SKT seems off? Two items stick out. First, SKT suffer from the same early game passivity that has plagued Samsung Galaxy, and, to a far greater extent, Team SoloMid. SKT’s First Turret Percentage is 33.3—higher than only TSM and 1907 Fenerbahçe—and their -787 GD@15 puts them squarely in the bottom half of all 16 group teams.

The pair of games against EDG were glaring examples of passivity's cost. SKT twice dug themselves an early hole, down 4.7k and 3.3k at the 15-minute mark respectively. Yes, they eventually battled back by winning exactly the right fight, but in both cases EDG shouldn’t have given SKT the opportunity.

SKT want to transition into a 4-1 late game with Huni split pushing, much like how Samsung want CuVee on Trundle or Camille to spread the enemy thin. They slow-play the early game, allowing their top laner to get items. Once that’s accomplished, SKT and SSG will push for objectives as four while Huni/CuVee pressure a sidelane, forcing the enemy to choose between contesting the objective equally or potentially losing an inhibitor.

The second Cloud9 game was Exhibit A: Huni became an irresistible lethality split pusher who Impact couldn’t stop alone despite C9’s best aggressive early game efforts. C9’s commitment to stop the Elder take late in that game was exactly what SKT wanted. Once Impact teleported into the drake pit, Huni simply rode the pushing minions to the nexus and ended the match by himself. On the flip side, you can get games like SKT vs. AHQ, where Mountain didn't allow Huni any comfort in lane and rendered him useless as time ticked on.

SKT have rarely looked steady absorbing pressure in the early game, and their junglers have been a big reason why. This brings me to the second item I’ve noticed with SKT: Neither of their junglers have played well. Blank was just as ineffective in the early game as Peanut, an incredible statement considering they’re two of the best junglers in the world. Against AHQ, Peanut got bullied around the map by Mountain so badly kkOma subbed in Blank for the rest of groups. With 0% FB participation, there’s a clear sense the junglers aren't creating plays in the early game, merely reacting to pressure or preventing a lane from badly losing.

The tank meta is partly to blame. Peanut’s dynamic Lee Sin that did so much work at MSI has had little presence since the start of Summer Split. He struggled so significantly to adapt to the tank meta that Blank often saw more time in LCK play. SKT haven’t really found an answer in the jungle, but maintain such a high level of teamplay that their mistakes can be mitigated.

But all this being said, SKT aren’t a best-of-one team. They cemented their legend in the best-of-fives, where kkOma’s strengths as a strategist are most clearly displayed. We’re there now, but so is Longzhu, and the weaknesses SKT have shown so far won’t go unpunished against them. I suppose it’s healthy for the ecosystem that the same team doesn’t win Worlds year after year. Where’s the fun in that? Cause of Death: Gods don’t die.

AHQ: The Best of LMS

The LMS underperformed at Worlds this year, full stop. Hong Kong Attitude didn’t make it to groups, even with many analysts quietly predicting that they were the strongest of the region’s participants. Flash Wolves went 1-5 at the main event, their solitary win a bittersweet triumph over Team SoloMid after they’d already been eliminated.

You know who didn’t disappoint at Worlds 2017? ahq e-Sports Club. The LMS #2 seed finished 2-4 with wins over Edward Gaming and SK Telecom T1, feathers in the cap of a team no one expected much out of. The later victory was a joy to watch, as SKT finally paid the price for their passive early game by the unlikeliest of squads.

It started in the draft, where Westdoor challenged Faker by picking his own trademark Fizz blind. Faker called for Kassadin in response, a rematch of the Worlds 2015 quarterfinal elimination game. God got the better of The Door then, not so in 2017. It was Westdoor who got First Blood credit on Faker, mostly thanks to Mountain’s excellent Sejuani. Mountain was everywhere in the early going, invading Peanut with impunity and landing an excellent stun on Faker (layered with Westdoor’s Chum the Waters) for the assist.

While Faker got the better of Westdoor in the 1v1 battle, his team lost the war. Once AHQ took Baron off their early pressure, they broke bot inhibitor, allowing for a decisive late game 5v5 win around Elder to end the game with the wave already prepped and pushing.

But AHQ couldn’t consistently replicate this success, and part of the reason why was the switching of mid laners. Chawy might be the more mechanically-gifted mid, but he failed to show up during the first SKT game and got absolutely bodied by Jensen during the loss to Cloud9. The benching of Westdoor immediately after he beat Faker felt dissonant. Why not let one of them build a rhythm? AHQ had solid pieces but only occasionally put the puzzle together, and in a group this close that wasn’t nearly good enough.

I’m glad the LMS exists. It evens the playing field across Southeast Asia, allowing for smaller regions like Vietnam (within the GPL) to flourish without being suffocated by Flash Wolves and AHQ. We might not have been gifted Gigabyte Marines' performances without the LMS. But Flash Wolves and AHQ are the old guard, with rosters that have been playing together for years. They seem out of ideas. If the best days of the big dogs are behind them, when can we expect something new and exciting from the LMS? Cause of Death: Lethal schizophrenia.