With another exciting Worlds concluding, it’s time to start reflecting on the year and all the events that took place. The best place to start is going to be Worlds itself. With the shocking results starting from group stages all the way until the finals, this year’s World Championships could’ve easily had very different results. So let’s look back at some events that would have completely changed the results of Worlds 2018.
Courtesy of: LoL Esports Flickr
The finals of Fnatic and Invictus Gaming was a rematch of the first and second seed from group D. As we now know, Fnatic were able to take away the first seed after a stellar second half of group stage. But what if Invictus Gaming were able to hold onto their first seed?
While Invictus Gaming would’ve still made the finals as they would’ve had an easier bracket, it’s actually the other side of the bracket that makes this interesting. As we now know, the biggest challenge for Invictus Gaming on their way to winning the whole tournament was a tense 3-2 victory over KT Rolster in the quarterfinals. If KT Rolster were to play against Fnatic, it’s likely that the matchup in the finals would’ve been between Invictus Gaming and KT Rolster.
In a situation in which KT Rolster made the finals and had more games to fully adapt to the changing meta, there’s a chance we could be talking about KT Rolster Winning Worlds at this very moment. Even then, however, the favorites would’ve likely still been Invictus Gaming in that case as their solo laners were simply playing at an amazing level.
Courtesy of: LoL Esports Flickr
The biggest upset of the whole tournament took place in the quarterfinals when the European third seed G2 Esports took out Royal Never Give Up 3-2. With it, Invictus Gaming had an easy road to the finals as they cleaned up G2 with a clean 3-0. While Invictus Gaming looked unstoppable at that point, it’s interesting to think about how Royal Never Give Up could’ve handled Invictus Gaming in a meta that favored Invictus Gaming instead.
Although they were the favorites going into the tournament, their inability to adapt to a changing meta ultimately lost them the tournament. Even though the meta favored Invictus Gaming, they seemingly had a mental block against Royal Never Give Up. Despite this, Invictus Gaming would’ve likely still beat Royal Never Give Up in the semifinals. While this doesn’t affect the results of the tournament that much, it does add a lot more prestige to Invictus Gaming’s victory. If Royal Never Give Up made the semifinals, Invictus Gaming’s run to the Summoner’s Cup would’ve easily been the best run in history.
Courtesy of: Yong Woo ‘kenzi’ Kim Flickr
One of the most disappointing performances at Worlds this year was from the Korean third seed Gen.G. What makes it more disappointing is that they took out Griffin on their way to qualifying for Worlds. Considering the group Gen.G was in, the inclusion of Griffin instead would’ve made it one of the most exciting group stages in history, provided Griffin were able to properly adapt to the meta.
If Griffin were able to properly adapt to the meta, fans could’ve been treated to some amazing matchups. Matches like Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong going up against Hung “Karsa” Hau-Hsuan in the jungle and Park “Viper” Do-hyeon against Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao would’ve been amazing. Along with a solo lane focused meta, which allows Choi “Sword” Sung-won and Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon to carry the game, this would’ve been a very exciting game at Worlds.
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Featured image courtesy of LoL Esports Flickr.
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