In case you missed it, Samsung Galaxy made World Championship history as they qualify for the Finals and set for a rematch of the 2016 World Championship against SK Telecom T1.
The Korean third seed, Samsung Galaxy had a rocky Group Stage after losing handily twice against Royal Never Give Up. Despite the shaky start, Samsung Galaxy found their groove in the Quarterfinals where they faced the number one Korean seed, Longzhu Gaming. The latter had been expected to challenge SK Telecom T1 for the title this year. However, Samsung Galaxy took care of business in three quick games.
The Chinese third seed, Team WE on the other hand had survived the Play-In Stage and the Group Stage before facing fellow Play-In Stage team, Cloud9 in the Quarterfinals. After a close series, Team WE found themselves on top as they continued on to the Semifinals.
The Koreans continued their impressive performance in the Knockout Stage after closing out the series in four games and taking down the final hope of China.
GAME 1
The Koreans decided to surprise everyone with a Kennen pick for their top laner, Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin after several bans were focused in the top lane. While the Chinese were able to get the combo of Xayah and Rakan for their bottom duo, Jin “Mystic” Sung-jun and Nam “Ben” Dong Hyun.
First blood was secured by Mystic onto the jungler of SSG, Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong after an aggressive red buff invade at 1 minute from the Korean squad went wrong. The next kill happened at 12 minutes after Su “Xiye” Han-Wei helped out Ke “957” Changyu to get a kill on CuVee. This gave WE enough of a gold lead and the confidence to continue to pressure SSG.
WE secured the Baron at 22:30 and further extended their gold lead to over 8000. They used this to tear apart the base of SSG and after an Ace in the base of the Korean team, the Chinese took down the Nexus for the 1-nil lead in the seriesIn case you missed it, Samsung Galaxy made World Championship history as they qualify for the Finals and set for a rematch of the 2016 World Championship against SK Telecom T1.
GAME 2
The Chinese team get the Jarvan IV + Galio combo for Xiang “Condi” Ren-Jie and xiye. While the Korean team were able to get Janna and Gragas for their support and jungler Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in and Ambition. Two champions that have amazing disengage to counter the WE combo.
Like Game 1, the first blood came early but this time it was Ambition predicting the pathing of Condi in his jungle. Both teams exchanged blows throughout the early to mid game proving to be already a different game from the first game.
A team fight gone wrong for WE at 24 minutes in the game gave SSG 4 four kills and Baron. SSG used this to push down the mid lane, get three kills, and tear down the Nexus of WE in 28 minutes to tie the series.
GAME 3
WE adjusted their draft in Game 3 by taking out CuVee’s Gnar and Lee “Crown” Min-ho’s Malzahar. A relatively regular draft followed this. The Chinese team decided to go for a late game scaling composition while Korean squad decided to go for early pressure and a mid game power spike.
This game started slower although, SSG’s bottom lane had a bigger advantage over the bottom duo of WE. First blood was taken at 21 minutes after a four-man SSG dove xiye under his turret. This and a couple of tower takes from SSG gave them a strong lead in the early game.
Both teams met in the top river and it was SSG that came out on top as they took down three from WE and lose only CoreJJ in the process. This crucial team fight gave the Koreans the Baron which allowed them to take out the remaining turrets. This wasn’t the first Baron for SSG in Game 3 as they took it again at 30 after taking out two members of WE in the mid lane.
The second Baron allowed the Koreans to take the Nexus and take the game to match point after 37 minutes in the game.
GAME 4
With their backs against the wall, WE decided to pick Kennen for 957 and Kog’Maw for Mystic. While SSG was able to pick Gnar yet again for CuVee and Lee Sin for Ambition.
SSG was able to secure first blood onto xiye with CoreJJ and Ambition helping out Crown. WE refused to go down without a fight as they thwarted a supposed 3v2 gank on 957 in the top lane and converted in to a 3 for 0 in the top lane. They continued to find their picks and took objectives and kills for themselves.
SSG took the Baron in 25 minutes which they used to push out the tier two turrets and mid tier three and inhibitor. With the Koreans in the base and their base in shambles, the Chinese team had to find a team fight and that’s exactly what they did in 31 minutes in the game. Despite the Jarvan IV + Galio + Kennen combo from WE, SSG was able to deal enough damage to the front lines and clear out the back line leaving only Ben alive.
This fight sealed the fate of both teams as they took down the Nexus in a third and final time.
Photos courtesy of lolesports
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