It was the result that everyone expected. SK Telecom T1 have won the League of Legends World Championships for a second time. The only surprise was that they didn’t go undefeated throughout the tournament. KOO Tigers managed to take a game off them in the grand final, but in the end SKT overwhelmed their Korean brethren to emerge victorious.
Let’s take a look back at some of the best moments from the finals. Prepare to see a lot of SKT’s mid laner Faker. He is the best player in the world, after all.
The cavalry arrives: SKT v KOO Game 1
KOO played fairly well during the grand finals, particularly in the early game. In game one they had a slim lead after about 10 minutes, and they must’ve thought they’d be able to extend it here in the bot lane.
It looked like SKT had been caught out, and Kuro teleported down to help secure the kills against the two apparently defenseless SKT bot laners. However, within seconds, the entire SKT team showed up to defend their comrades, and SKT got three kills that would later help them secure the game.
Faker baits out two ultimates: SKT v KOO Game One
Towards the end of game one, SKT had a pretty commanding lead of about 11k gold. They had a firm grasp on the game, but Faker wasn’t going to get complacent.
It looked as though KOO’s Smeb and PraY had timed their ultimates well. Riven’s Wind Slash would take Faker low, and PraY’s Super Mega Death Rocket would finish him off. However, Faker uses Zhonya’s Hourglass (an item that grants you a few moments of complete protection) to perfection and avoids both abilities. SKT get the kill on Smeb just to rub salt in the wound.
A moment of madness: SKT v KOO Game Two
SKT’s early game troubles continued in game two. For a team that’s usually so calm and collected, and one that never seems to make the wrong call, this moment of madness cost them two kills.
Just minutes into the game, SKT caught out a couple of Tigers in KOO’s jungle, but it looked like they had got out to safety. For Bengi and MaRin though, the red mist descended and they each dove under KOO’s second tier turret. They did get a kill, but they both ended up losing their life for it.
Bengi walks into trouble: SKT v KOO Game Two
Both Bengi and MaRin did a lot of dying in game two, and it was actually a surprise that SKT got the victory in the end. Just moments after that risky dive above, both of them were in trouble again in the bot lane.
Three KOO Tigers dove MaRin and got the kill. Bengi foolishly decided to take on all three of them and simply walked up to his tower, hoping it would protect him. It definitely didn’t.
Faker’s had enough: SKT v KOO Game Two
When your team is losing their heads around you, sometimes you just need to take matters into your own hands. KOO was setting up yet another dive in the bot lane, but Faker somehow managed to stop it from halfway across the map.
As we’ve seen him do multiple times throughout the tournament, Faker took on his opponent in the mid lane one-on-one and came out on top. This pressure caused KOO to abandon their dive in the bot lane, and allowed SKT to slowly come back into the game.
KOO gets on their way with a delayed ace: SKT v KOO Game Three
After two defeats, everyone was thinking KOO would roll over and allow SKT to take the championship undefeated. However, they weren’t giving up that easy, and came out of the blocks at full pace yet again in game three.
KOO outplayed SKT in their own jungle, got a couple of kills, and then SKT just seemed to walk to their demise like lambs to the slaughter. All five members of SKT went down, and if it weren’t for the low death timers at the start of the game, this would’ve been an ace five minutes in.
Smeb takes on two players and the tower: SKT v KOO Game Three
KOO were playing well in game three, and it seemed like they were doing it without their star top laner Smeb. However, he hadn’t been sitting idle all game. He had been farming up, and suddenly showed his presence 35 minutes into the game.
Smeb, who has played Fiora masterfully throughout the entire tournament, took on MaRin and Bengi, as well as the inhibitor turret, and took them all down while SKT was knocking on the door of KOO’s base.
MaRin faces his toughest test yet: SKT v KOO Game Four
SKT’s top laner was lined up against one of the best players of the tournament in KOO’s Smeb, but his most nervous moment came at the start of game four when there weren’t even any Tigers around.
There was a Gromp though, and although he’s just a neutral minion who lives in the jungle, he packs quite a punch at level one. MaRin managed to take down this scary adversary, but he was only about half a second away from having egg all over his face.
#ThingsFakerDoes: SKT v KOO Game Four
Hashtags about “Things Faker Does” or “Just Faker Things” have been around for ages now, and each time we see him play he reminds us why.
All tournament long he has picked Ryze (the only player to do so), and not a single player had an answer to it. The sad thing for his opponents is that if they had banned Ryze, then he probably would've had something equally as deadly up his sleeve. SKT took a hold of game four and never let go, and how well he plays Ryze in this clip is just another example of things Faker does.
Faker rolls over the competition: Opening Ceremony
With his own face emblazoned across the LED stage below him, Faker took a run up and did a forward roll before taking his place alongside his SKT teammates. We’re used to him rolling over his opponents, but we didn’t think we’d see it happen in real life.
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