Yesterday, the world of international League of Legends competition was turned on its head when Team Liquid crushed the World Champions Invictus Gaming. So, when it came to Saturday’s semifinal between G2 Esports and SK Telecom T1, fans everywhere believed the slightly impossible could happen, and it did.
If you read our preview of this Semifinal matchup, one of the biggest question marks heading into their war with G2 Esports in Taipei was the SK Telecom mid-laner Faker. Which version of the hall-of-fame player would show up on stage? Luckily for SKT fans, the Faker that has been a terrifying opponent for close to a decade is the one that arrived at the arena on Saturday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
The series went to five games, but watching back, you’ll see that it was really only Game 1 that G2 Esports couldn’t have taken. The other loss on G2’s record in the Semifinals could have fallen in their favor on multiple occasions.
After dropping Game 1, the collective EU fanbase inhaled and held it all the way until the moment G2 destroyed SKT’s nexus in Game 2. The samurai of G2 Esports would then run it down in Game 3, handing SK Telecom match-point.
The hot-and-cold G2 Esports would eventually grab some momentum after coming back in Game 4, and the snowball of Game 5 was started early. Especially on G2 Wunder’s Pyke top pick, which crushed the roaming game, and gave SKT such a headache for 20-minutes and more.
Everything that happened this weekend would have made a betting person a whole ton of money. Friday’s Semis result already set this MSI on the path for the complete unknown. Now, with EU advancing to the Finals, where they will play North America, in a far more important head-to-head than Rift Rivals.
“Where were you when the West rose up to conquer Champions?” - Riot Quickshot, Caster
For the first time in League of Legends history, NA will play EU in the finals of an international tournament. In retrospect, what did the two Semifinals best-of-fives tells us about what we can expect in the MSI finals? The easiest thing to take from the round is that Team Liquid might have the edge. Crazy right?
G2 Esports played extremely well against SKT, in three and a half games out of five. Team Liquid, on the other hand, played all-out in every single game in their victory. Heading into the finals on a crazy victory against SKT does put them on a solid roll going into Sunday. Their inconsistency may not bode well if Team Liquid doesn’t let up at all. North America rushing to the finals through the dust of the fallen World Champions has got to give them a whole lot of confidence. Any time an inch of doubt creeps in Team Liquid can just remind themselves that “we beat Invictus Gaming, we can beat anyone.”
The Finals between G2 Esports and Team Liquid will take place on Sunday, May 19th, at will start at 12:00 AM Pacific Time.
