Was This The Best League of Legends World Championships Ever?

The 2018 League of Legends World Championship has ended. Invictus Gaming have claimed the title of the best team in the world, a first for a Chinese team, and the world is left wondering exactly what happened to the expected South Korean dominance that has come to be the standard for League of Legends. Perhaps it’s these expectations that make this year’s tournament the best to watch in a long time.

What can be more exciting than seeing an underdog team take down the favored? This years World Championship has certainly given us plenty of upsets and surprising defeats, as the teams many predicted to win the tournament failed to adapt in time. When Cloud9, the last hope of North America, managed to defeat the sole remaining South Korean team at the World Championships, it heralded a changing of the guard for this year. South Korea has claimed the World Championship title since 2013, when SK Telecom T1, and Faker, made their debut on the worlds stage.

As the pack narrowed down and we were left with just two teams remaining, the fact that this tournament would be won by either Fnatic, the sole remaining Western team and representative of Europe, or Invictus Gaming, the last hope of China looking to prove they belong at the pinnacle of League of Legends, meant that this would be a tournament of firsts no matter what. We’d either see China win for the first time, or we’d see Europe win for the first time in a tournament that matters (Sorry EU fans, but season 1 doesn’t really count when only eight teams attended and none of them were from China or Korea).

Riot Games has repeatedly raised the bar in terms of spectacle, and the teams have honored that by raising the bar of competition in turn. Many may see this tournament as potentially being inferior due to the chaotic nature of the games, and the messy results, however they should instead be looking at the adaptability of the teams that did advance instead. Is a region really dominant if they can only succeed when the games are slow and drawn out?

Regardless of the nature of the games this tournament, one thing has become clear when looking at fan reactions. Next year is expected to be even bigger and better, and you can be sure that the teams from South Korea will be looking to correct the record and once again showcase their dominance at the game. After all, is anyone expecting Faker to not come back stronger than ever?