League of Legends Worlds: Top five semifinal story lines
By s. samek
The League of Legends World Championship has completed three intense rounds of gameplay. We discuss some storylines to watch for during the semi-finals of Worlds.
The League of Legends World Championship has reached the semi-final round. We have four exciting teams to watch as they all are within striking distance of playing in the Worlds finals. The semi-finals have a set of five storylines for those teams that we will discuss in this piece.
1. Last hope for the west
Europe started the quarterfinals with all three teams from the region in contention for the title. Then Splyce and Fnatic each dropped a 3-1 series to an eastern team and ended their run at a title in the quarterfinals.
G2 advanced over Damwon Gaming 3-1, making them the last of the European teams left at Worlds. China still has both of its teams remaining in the bracket, while Korea has a lone representative out of the three teams the region sent to quarterfinals.
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With no North American teams playing in the bracket stage it’s up to G2 to carry the western regions to victory. With an MSI victory in 2019 already in hand, G2 has shown they can win at international competitions and isn’t a team to be slept on, even if the western regions get a bad rap against the eastern region teams. G2 does represent the strongest the west has to offer and can absolutely finish the tournament by having the trophy stay in Europe.
2. Well-established organizations stay on top
The quarterfinals had four teams reach them for the first time ever. After the quarterfinals played out only one of those newbie teams was left.
Three of the four semi-final teams are teams we have seen before in the semifinals of international tournaments just this year. G2, SKT and Invictus Gaming all made the semi-finals at 2019 MSI.
These teams have also gotten this far or better in prior runs at Worlds, including two champions in SKT and defending champion Invictus Gaming. FunPlus Phoenix is the new blood to the semi-finals and they are swimming into waters inhabited by big fish teams with experience at this level of international play. With a 75% chance a big-name team wins it, I would say this year is one where the historically good and well-established organizations flex their might.