What an incredible series of games! Unbelievable! I'm trying to think of a quarterfinals collection that was as strong top to bottom as this one was in terms of gameplay, drama, and excitement and I don't think there is one. All four series were excellent in their own ways. Before I share my predictions for semifinals let's take a closer look at what, exactly, made these matches as entertaining as they were.
Samsung defeat Longzhu Gaming 3 - 0
You know I could imagine a world where Samsung won this series but I don't think anybody thought it would go down in such decisive fashion. Was it nerves for the rookies on Longzhu? Veteran savvy on Samsung? Team continuity? I don't think it was any of these things. Korea has a history of being better prepared for 'best of' series' than anyone else so perhaps we were all a bit misguided in imagining, despite the poor stylistic matchup and domestic match history, that Samsung was "no match," as I put it, for Longzhu Gaming. Samsung showed up and had an excellent game plan to prey on Longzhu's tendencies combined with some major adjustments in their own play.
In all three games they ran a variant of what I've dubbed "Tristana compositions." The idea is you pack a ton of CC, usually single target, burst down the first target you see and Tristana gets to reset. For those that haven't played League or haven't recently, at higher levels, once a frontline "breaks" it's tough to win a fight and a champion like Tristana, who gets resets on her mobility spell, can effectively end the entire fight on one kill. So in "Tristana comps" there's no close fights where its two for three and everyone is battered and unable to take something afterwards. It's effectively over after that first kill happens. Samsung combined Malzahar and a CC suite of Rakan, Sejuani, and others, including Kennen, to severely punish Longzhu's use of bruisers and backline divers like Jax and Jarvan both in lane and in team fights.
SK Telecom defeat Misfits 3 - 2
So SKT came out and utterly stomped Misfits in game one and I think we all thought the same thing. "There's the SKT we know and love! Misfits coming back down to earth." And then they punched back with a fiesty victory in game two and we all thought the same thing again. "Beginners luck, it's their SuperBowl." Then they took another win in a slugfest in game three. Wait Misfits was UP TWO TO ONE AGAINST SKT!?! Eventually SKT came roaring back but it definitely wasn't a clean game four. Guess what folks, this Misfits team is just good. I was completely wrong about them. I had them pegged as one of the bottom three in the group stage. Maxlore has been playing at an unbelievable level this entire tournament and their teamplay is a joy to watch. They throw punches, they have different weapons in their arsenal, had great preparation and almost did the seemingly impossible. What's not to love about Misfits? They've got moxie! SKT still pulls rabbits out of hats to win games way too often but they're going to have to fix their early game problems to take on RNG,
Royal Never Give Up defeat Fnatic 3 - 1
The fairy tale came to an end for Fnatic but this was a hell of a series. The intensity level was through the roof and both teams played really well. To me this was simply a case of RNG having the better players and deeper strategic diversity. Is Soaz the best Western player of all time? He sure as hell shows up at worlds every time even if he has his moments during the rest of the season. He threw the team on his back for their game win in this series and certainly tried to in all of the losses as well. Absorbing ganks, winning two vs ones, creating map pressure, nailing massive ultimates. What more can you ask? Soaz actually deserved MVP of this series even though he was on the losing team like Lebron in the NBA finals a few years back.
World Elite defeat Cloud 9 3 - 2
What an absolute slugfest. This was a VERY CLOSE series that delivered on what everyone imagined would be the closesst AND THEN SOME. Unlike the other NA teams, Cloud 9 has nothing to be ashamed of here. They left it all out on The Rift showing a potent blend of champion selections, set plays, and team compositions. This was either teams game but sometimes two great teams meet and one happens to make one or two greater plays. By no means does that mean Cloud 9 played poorly. This was one of the best series for the entire calendar year both in excitement level and variety from game to game.
SEMIFINAL PREDICTIONS
SK Telecom vs Royal Never Give Up
I actually don't know who's going to take this game but I sure hope it delivers on what I'm lowkey hoping is the best series in the tournament. Most people would consider SKT the "best team in the world that's left" since Longzhu is out and I'm not going to sit here and deny that but I will say that in the form they just displayed against Misfits and the form that Samsung and RNG showed over their opponents, the general weaknesses this SKT lineup has shown over this season I want to say, loud and clear, that this SKT lineup is NOT EVEN CLOSE to the previous two or even three iterations. RNG are playing like a team possessed. Uzi is tired of being the bridesmaid and the hometown crowd are going to be nuts and SKT doesn't look as good as they usually do and... and... I just can't bring myself to vote against SKT.
Right? This is finally the scenario where there's "finally a worthy opponent that can beat them!" But in almost every situation besides summer finals, which you could argue didn't matter because they had clinched on circuit points anyway, SKT have always silenced the critics. They are the New England Patriots. They figure it out, adapt better than any team in history, and put their information to use more effectively than anybody. It's been an entire tournament and they've shown next to nothing in terms of strategic diversity while everyone else is putting it all out on the table.There is just no way they don't have an optimal gameplan cooked up with a week or preparation and many weeks of scrims and on stage observations. I want to believe RNG can destroy the Death Star and if any non-Korean team is going to do it on this stage it's them, but I just can't even with the weaknesses this lineup has shown.
PREDICTION: SK Telecom win 3 - 2
World Elite vs Samsung
I wanted to see these two matchup since the beginning of the tournament and I'm amped that we get to! All year long these teams played the same exact long-game style with similar players, similar positios, and similar struggles as well as triumphs. This is more or less an insanely high level mirror match. Hell, even both teams have stepped out of their comfort zone and thrived doing so as recently as last week playing very high tempo to near perfection against some of the strongest teams in the world as if they had it in their pocket all year long.
In all sincerity this is the best the China has looked since Season 3 and maybe even their best of all time as a region (finally!), and before this tournament started I had one of them having reasonable odds to make finals but I just think back to the same thing about SKT. Korean preparation. Also Samsung just wiped the floor with the best team on the planet playing a style they're not good at... That means something and that something to me is a victory leading to an all-Korean final again.
PREDICTION: Samsung win 3 - 2
These two semifinals should be close, intriguing, and ridiculously intense matchups. Realize that when I make these predictions it's with a closer look than just 3 - 2. These will be slugfests, battles of attrition, total war. Everyone is going to leave everything out there and, just like quarters, the final score will be the difference in number of incredible plays vs other incredible plays and who has more and at the right time. You're not going to see bad League here.
Here's hoping the best Worlds I've ever watched continues to deliver because the stage is certainly set to do just that!
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