This past weekend on November 3rd, a new League of Legends world champion got crowned at the Incheon Munhak Stadium in Incheon, South Korea in front of over 200 million viewers.
League of Legends Worlds 2018 came to a close after a month of build-up and action, Invictus Gaming taking home the spoils after multiple convincing performances through their time in the tournament. They started their run in the competition in Group D amongst FNATIC (whom they went on to face in the final), 100 Thieves and G-Rex, they topped the group with a 6-1 record which set them up nicely heading into the knockout stages of the tournament.
The knockout stage didn’t start smoothly for them, in the quarterfinals, they faced off against kt Rolster, a team that was favoured to reach the final and potentially win the tournament. Despite the odds not being in their favour, Invictus found themselves leading the best of five series 2-0 after two quick, convincing victories that both fell under the 30-minute mark.
Kt Rolster refused to go down without a fight as they climbed back into the series and tied things up at 2-2 heading into the last map. Now Invictus had their backs against a wall as they had to prevent every team’s worst fear, being reserve swept, and fight to remain in the tournament. After a thrilling 43 minute game, Invictus managed to knock out the #1 seeded Korean team, something that hadn’t been done since 2014 and advanced to the semifinals against G2 Esports.
Invictus went into the semi-finals as heavy favourites despite G2 Esports causing a huge upset themselves in quarters defeating Royal Never Give Up 3-2. It became apparent why Invictus were clear favourites as they steamrolled G2 3-0 and booked themselves a place in the grand final against FNATIC.
This series had been hyped up by fans and was highly anticipated, Europe had finally made it to final at Worlds and had provided huge confidence for the western scene. This confidence was soon to be shattered as Invictus picked FNATIC apart, finishing each game in 30 minutes or less, a new champion was crowned.
Congratulations to Invictus Gaming, their players, staff, and supporters. Another fantastic League of Legends Worlds has come to an end, and I’m sure NA and EU teams are preparing to steal the crown next year finally.
