SKT T1 Faker and SK Telecom T1 advanced to the semifinals of the League of Legends Worlds Championship held in Guangzhou, China, after a thrilling best-of-five series against Europe’s Misfits Gaming.
SK Telecom T1 overcame a 2-1 deficit, winning the final two games to keep the defending champions’ hopes of a repeat alive. Misfits was not able to capitalize on their lead and quickly faltered in the hands of the Korean team.
Game 1
SKT T1 zoomed out of the gate in the first game of the quarterfinals, notching a 16-1 score. Faker’s Galio dominated in both ends of the rift, providing assists in the top lane while also saving his teammates with his taunt.
Huni’s Jayce was also a factor in their win as he had a stellar early game to stomp Misfits Alphari’s Rumble in the top lane. The match ended in only 25 minutes and SKT led by as much as 17k in gold.
Game 2
Misfits bounced back in the second game after a good performance from Ignar’s Blitzcrank to set up plays and ganks for Misfits. They managed to get an 11-4 score with Hans Sama recording an 8/0/3 with Tristana.
Misfits tried a different strategy in the second game with them putting pressure in the bot side. They were essentially camping the bot lane, hoping to get a kill with the Sejuani initation and the Blitzcrank hook follow-up. Misfits succeeded in their strategy as they were able to get a few kills in the early game.
The European Team pulled away even more in the 20th minute mark when Hans Sama managed to kill Faker after a Baron attempt. It all went downhill for SK Telecom T1 as Misfits Gaming managed to secure more towers, champion kills, and eventually their first win.
Game 3
Misfits Gaming pulled away in the third game as they went for a Leona support, completely moving away from the Ardent Censer support meta. Misfits Gaming also picked Ivern in the jungle, giving him the Ardent Censer in the process.
It was a fierce battle between SK Telecom T1 and Misfits Gaming, but Misfits were the better team as they finished the third game with a 21-11 score. Misfits Hans Sama was the player of the game with a Tristana score of 9/3/9.
Game 4
Game 4 saw another team not opting for the Ardent Censer. SK Telecom T1 picked Braum as their support to fight alongside Bang’s Tristana. Misfits countered back with Alistar, another tanky champion. It was a game that was going in favor for Misfits Gaming until the 27th minute mark, where they overextended in the mid lane turret inhibitor to give SKT a 5-0 cleanup.
Misfits was not able to get another kill for the remainder of the game as SKT T1 snowballed their way to Misfit’s base. SKT T1 eventually won the game to tie the series at 2-2.
Game 5
The deciding game was intense, as it extended to almost 40 minutes with only a 6-6 score at the end of the match. Both teams once again went for Ardent Censer-less team compositions with Thresh for Misfits and Tahm Kench for SKT T1.
The early game yet again favored of Misfits Gaming. PowerOfEvil dominated the early-mid game with a 4-0 kill/death record. However, in the 36th minute of the game, SKT T1 was able to secure a 4-0 near-wipe near the Dragon Pit. SKT T1 also captured an Elder Dragon.
SK Telecom T1 immediately went for the nexus while four of MSF’s players were dead. SKT T1 went on to win the final game to advance to the semifinals. SK Telecom T1 will face the winner of RNG and Fnatic in the semifinals.
Check out Samurai Gamers’ official Worlds coverage here.
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