Photo: Adela Sznajder / ESL
The experts who predicted the most logical outcome - an all-Korean grand final at IEM Katowice - are now surprised to say the least, as a face-off between World Elite and TSM is about to close the World Championship.
With Korea being historically the best League of Legends region, no one could blame the analysts and journalists chanting with confidence that IEM Katowice would end with GE Tigers beating CJ Entus in the finals. The Tigers have been on top of their game and are still undefeated domestically, flying on the impressive 10-0. CJ Entus, on the other hand, are currently the third best team in LCK statistically, so a bet on having those two teams in the closing match would be a safe one.
Only, that's not going to happen. Tomorrow, it will be World Elite going against Team Solomid, leaving the Koreans watching from the bench.
This will be a rematch from Group B after TSM beat the Chinese to start their run in Katowice. The Americans also upset the CJ quintent, making it as first out of the groups, eliciting the immortal "USA USA USA" from the community. World Elite soon followed them as they, too, brought a beating to CJ Entus, and prepared themselves to face the heaviest of favorites in the semi finals.
The series started as everyone expected - GE Tigers took the lead, despite losing the kill race at the start of the game. Then, with the coming of game two, the unthinkable happened. Being otherwise criticized a lot for their lackluster team fighting - a flaw that's left them tied for last in the Chinese LPL with 1-6-8 score - World Elite somehow clicked together. Once again, they owned the early game but also somehow excelled in team fights, ambushing GE in the dragon pit (game two) or reacting perfectly to a jump-on themselves (game three). Put on the defensive in both of the last games, the Koreans would eventually be ousted from the tournament, making for one of the biggest upsets in game's history.
