Quarterfinals of the 2018 League of Legends World Championship

Last weekend the history was made. 8 best teams in the world met on the Field of Justice to demonstrate their courage and power in the quarterfinals of the 2018 League of Legends World Championship. To find their way to semifinals Kt Rolster, Invictus Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, G2 Esports, Cloud 9, Afreeca Freecs, Fnatic and Edward Gaming were in Busan to make one more step to the glory.

Kt Rolster vs Invictus Gaming

The LCK Summer Finals champions, world’s favourites and the first seed of Group C, Kt Rolster came to these series with thoughts about the next stage. No one believed that this team will not make to the semis. Their opponent, IG (second seed of the Group D) had to justify their incredible willingness to victory once again during this battle.
The first game started with a double kill on the bot lane in favour of the kt’s jungler - Score, which led to a nice and steady gold and objective superiority. Everything has changed in the fight near Herald of the Rift. While Score was taking the Eye, his team lost two towers and a double kill, given to IG’s top laner - TheShy. Kt couldn’t handle the snowballing from the IG and lost the Game One with a score 4:17 and 13 thousand gold deficit.
During the second game, IG did not give even a small opportunity to kt, grabbing the victory and destroying the enemy team with more than 14 k gold difference.

The third game was a last chance for the kt Rolster to keep their spot in the semis, and they used it. More than 40 minutes of the back to back fights for the lead, kt’s team and IG’s toplaner staged an outstanding and breathtaking base race. TheShy was late just for a split of a second and couldn’t destroy the enemy’s Nexus first, thereby giving kt a hope for a win in the series.
Full of ambitions, inspired after a previous victory kt, came in the Game 4 and showed that they still own the Rift. Calculated fights, macro gaming and outscaling allowed kt to tie up the series and get to the last match.
Game 5 was crucial for both teams and only Invictus Gaming managed the stress and pressure. They took over the lead in the early game and didn’t let kt to win over. The game and the series ended up with a victory of the IG team, giving them a lucky ticket to semifinals.

Royal Never Give Up vs G2 Esports

The best team in the World - Royal Never Give Up - with the best ADC in the world - Uzi, met European third seed in the quarterfinals. Fans did not expect anything extraordinary from this battle, but it was a day when history was creating.

The first game went pretty obvious for RNG, an unkillable Sion from Xiaohu, tons of damage from Karsa’s Taliyah and unstoppable Uzi’s Lucian, nothing could stop RNG and the destroyed G2.
As the actions went on, Game 2 brought us an amazing performance of the European squad. With a  massive focus on the bot lane, they let Hjarnan get a huge lead, allowing other lanes to get the needed advantage and to defeat the Chinese team.  
On a Game 3, RNG did strike back. It only took 25 minutes for them to achieve a map and objective dominance and to crush down G2.
Next game was crucial for G2, they did not have a chance to lose, as it would mean their loss in the series and the end of their RISE. It was hard to handle the pressure but they did it, they came to the match prepared and calm. And they literally demolished RNG completely. With a final score 15:1 G2 captured the victory, RNG just had nothing in their hands to fight back, except for the hope they would be able to do something in the last game.
Game 5 was critical and decisive for both teams. None of them wanted to stop their way just in the quarterfinals. But, as soon as G2’s Perkz picked Le Blanc - the match was over. He was a man of the day for G2 esports, ending up the game with an 11/0/4 personal score and over 33 thousand damage. His main goal was to wipe out enemies carries from the map and he did it perfectly. The whole team’s appearance was astonishing and memorable.

At the end of the day, Worlds community was shocked by the G2 Esports outstanding performance. All this year this team had to face a lot of critics and hates, but it didn’t obstruct their way to the semis, where they will have to fight against IG.

Cloud 9 vs Afreeca Freecs

From the moment of the draft, Cloud9 was pretty happy and confident about this matchup against Afreeca Freecs. Eventually, it did actually end up in the favour of the North American underdogs. Despite the fact that C9 went out from the Group Stage as a second seed, they were strong enough to grab 3:0 victory in the series over Koreans.

Game 1 was all about the macro gaming, objectives and solo outplays. Jensen on Le Blanc, Sneaky on Lucian and Svenskeren on Xin Zhao did not leave a chance to Koreans to even get to the point and ended up in a hard favour of Cloud 9. 

The second match was going pretty toe-to-toe till one mid-late game team fight, where Svenskeren on Graves carried all his team to the Game 3.

Last game was the last hit to continue the series. Unfortunately for all Korean fans during a super unlucky baron fight, where C9 stole it in a 2v5 outplay. It gave an extensive lead for Americans and they used it to win the series eventually and knocking out the last Korean team out of the tournament.

Fnatic vs Edward Gaming

The last but not least match was between European Champions Fnatic and LPL team Edward Gaming. It all started with a complete dominance of EDG on the Summoners Rift. They controlled FNC’s solo laners not allowing them to get an advantage and took a 4:20 victory score in Game 1.

Just like a slap, first game brought FNC back to the life. Game 2 was an opportunity for FNC’s jungler - Broxah to shine. He gave a hand to every single lane and allowed his teammates to overstep the disappointment of the first game. It all led to a pretty fast win as EDG couldn’t oppose a super fed Caps Irelia and Reckless’ Sivir.

Game 3 started with a Yasuo pick for Caps, which didn’t really work for Fnatics as he gave the first blood to EDG Scout’s Syndra. Even tho the beginning was not that promising, FNC managed the pressure and let Reckless to carry the whole game. The victory of the third game went to European LCS champions.

Last game, Game 4, wasn’t full of team fights or objective battles. Instead of this, both tried to get as many advantages as possible. When the match reached the middle point, FNC had a slightly better position, with few kills, dragons and Rift Herald in the pocket. The dead even game ended up when Fnatics managed to kill 4 out of 5 members of EDG and finish the game. FNC completed their quarterfinals with a final score 3:1 and will continue in the semis against Cloud9.