The last European representative of the League of Legends World Cup was eliminated yesterday in the quarter-finals against defending champions and big favorites DAMWON KIA.
This weekend, all eyes of European LoL fans were on MAD Lions, the only one of the three teams that competed in the world group stage. The prognoses were anything but favorable: DAMWON KIA has so far shown no weakness to reach the quarter-finals without defeat. The defending champion and two-time champion of the Korean League (LCK) performed very well both individually and collectively.
An unrepresentative score
These predictions were not wrong. DK won the quarter-finals against MAD Lions 3-0, but the result is not self-evident: in some games, especially the last, both teams took control before turning to the LCK representative. Above all, MAD Lions showed better control over the early game in this match, especially with good actions from toplaner poverty and Kaiser support. But in midgame and teamfight the team couldn’t keep up with the South Korean players.
In the third part, DK felt confident enough to take experimental picks with a botlane formed from Pyke and Ziggs for BeryL and Ghost. MAD Lions dominated the early game of the game but lost their lead in skirmishes that saw ShowMaker’s Pyke and Azir unexpectedly ambush them. DK won this game and the quarter-finals 3-0 in the end.
The MAD Lions failed to make it to the top 4 in the world, but they nonetheless ended their best season since their inception with the two European League (LEC) splits won during the year. For its part, DAMWON Kia will face the other Korean favorites: T1, in the semi-finals this Sunday, October 31st, at 1pm. For many, this game will be a grand final upfront as these are the two teams that performed the best in the tournament.
MAD Lions support Kaiser said in particular at the post-game conference that “the winner of this game will be the one who wins the world championship”. “I think there is a 70 percent chance DAMWON KIA will win the game, but T1 can beat it.”
