This World Championship has been one of the most exciting tournaments in League of Legends history. You've had exciting games and matches starting from the Play-Ins and then a crazy amount of upsets in the Group Stages, which followed through into the Quarterfinals that saw no Korean team advance to the semifinals. You have 1 x NA LCS, 2 x EU LCS, and 1 x LPL teams represented in the semifinals. This is compared to 2 x LCK and 2 x LPL in 2017 and 2 x LCK, 1 x LPL, and 1 x EU LCS in 2016. The West is on the the come up while the East has struggled.
The first semifinals saw EU LCS' 3rd seed G2 Esports go up against LPL's 2nd seed Invictus Gaming. Both teams came off exciting 5 game series in the quarterfinals, where both teams took down tournament favourites in Royal Never Give Up and KT Rolster respectively. People questioned whether G2 would make it out of play-ins and now they are in the semifinals, whereas IG had the potential but no one knew if they would perform on the big stage. IG controlled this series from start to finish. In Game 1, they only gave up 4 kills and 1 tower. Constant roams and plays around the map saw the game finish under 30 minutes. Game 2 was much bloodier with G2 getting 11 kills, but it didn't result in much other success as only 1 tower was taken and the game finishing even faster than Game 1. G2 found early success in Game 3 but the mid-game was IG's as they controlled the dragons, taking 2 infernals. This translates into a baron which they rolled to the end of the game and series. IG cleanly sweep G2 in convincing fashion and secure their spot in the Worlds Finals.
The second semifinals saw NA LCS ' 3rd seed Cloud9 go up against EU LCS' 1st seed Fnatic. The classic NA vs EU clash saw both teams advance fairly easily through the quarterfinals against Afreeca Freecs and EDward Gaming respectively. Cloud9's run to Worlds Semifinals is as improbable as anyone could imagine as they were sitting in last place in the NA LCS Summer Split a few months ago and they have gone through every possible challenge to end up as NA's last hope. Fnatic, on the other hand, Game 1 started off perfect for Fnatic, getting off to a quick 7-0 lead before 15 minutes. They snowballed this lead into a 25 minute game and a 1-0 lead. Game 2 was much slower as it was only 1-1 at 15 minutes. Fnatic win a team fight 2-1 and immediately turn to baron. Their baron play was clean as they picked off the remaining Cloud9 members and secured baron. Cloud9 put up an admirable defense but it wasn't enough as Caps' Quadra Kill finished off the game. Game 3 was back and forth as both teams looked to gain advantages across the map. A mid game fight at 22 minutes saw Fnatic pick off Licorice in the bottom lane and then turn to win the team fight 4-0. After this point in the game, .Fnatic did not look back, winning team fight after team fight. 3 dragons and a baron at 32 minutes gave Fnatic the power to finish off the game and series 3-0. Fnatic setup a Group D rematch in the Worlds Finals against Invictus Gaming. These are arguably the two best teams in the entire tournament and it is interesting that they came from the same group. They have already played 3 games with Fnatic winning 2 out of the 3 games to secure 1st seed in the group, while IG took the 2nd seed. It should be an exciting match between these two up tempo teams.
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