And so there were two. After some amazing semifinal matches, two teams remain with one more BO5 series in their way from greatness. On one side, there are the kings of Europe, G2 Esports. On the other, the rulers of China in FunPlus Phoenix. At the end of it all, there will be a new champion, which team will win it all? Which team will fall short? Let’s take a look at how these teams got here and what’s ahead.
Courtesy of: LoL Esports Flickr
On their way to becoming the best in the world and winning the Mid-Season Invitationals, G2 had to get past SK Telecom T1. Now at Worlds 2019, they had to do it once again. With a fantastic 3-1 victory over SKT, G2 has shown that they’re resilient as the team had to fight back from behind every game. Now G2 is one series away from winning it all and being the undisputed best in the world for 2019. After one of the hardest roads to the finals, will G2 be able to take down their final obstacle in front of a home crowd? Or will they follow in the steps of Fnatic just the year before and fall just short?
Courtesy of: LoL Esports Flickr
After a China versus China matchup, FPX finds themselves even closer to winning it all and keeping the Summoner’s Cup with the LPL for another year. Leading the way is the amazing synergy between jungler Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang and mid laner Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang. For Doinb, winning the finals would mean a lot more. He would be following in the footsteps of Invictus Gaming’s mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin in redeeming his long career of coming up just short of glory. This time around, he won’t be pushing towards that goal alone. This time around, he’ll have his wife cheering him on. So will the married man meta prevail in League of Legends as well? Or will Doinb and FPX fall short and fall to G2?
At the end of the day, no matter which team wins it all, the scene will be vastly different. If FPX wins, it will solidify China as the dominant region heading into the tenth season of League of Legends and that season’s World Championships being held in China. If FPX could accomplish such a thing, the home region hype will be as high as it can ever be.
However if G2 wins it all, it will bring forth an era that is wide open. If G2 wins it all, the conversation will change from which region is the strongest, to which team is the strongest instead. A G2 win will also solidify equality in esports as a whole after Korea’s defeat in the Overwatch World Cup and Joona “Serral” Sotala’s overall dominance in Starcraft 2.
With a new age ahead of us, which team will win it all and determine the direction of the scene? Only time will tell.
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Featured image courtesy of LoL Esports.
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