SK Telecom T1 secure the elusive title of MSI champions against Counter Logic Gaming, completing their trophy collection.
In the first Riot sanctioned tournament to feature a North American team in the finals, a hungry giant looked to play spoiler for the NA champions. Besides, this is the only tournament that reigning world champions SK Telecom T1 have yet to win.
Much was on the line in this best of five. Many analysts and pundits may have predicted a 3-0 or 3-1 victory in favour of SKT, especially after that perfect game against Royal Never Give Up. As the announcer shouted the names of all the players on stage, the crowd roared with excitement. The players, however, showed stone cold faces. They knew that they had to put everything on the line right here. Blue side NA, Red side Korea for all of the games to come.
The pick and ban phase early on showed exactly what the teams did not want to deal with. On the side of Counter Logic Gaming, Alistar, Sivir, and Maokai were banned, while the Koreans returned fire with Aurelian Sol, Bard, and Ryze. A heavy target on Choi "HuHi" Jae-hyun looked to make sure he couldn't go off and enable the North American squad.
Standard picks went through in Game 1, including Poppy, Nidalee, Ekko, Lucian, and Soraka for North America. SKT answers with Trundle, Elise, Azir, Ezreal, and...wait...Nami? Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan decides to join in on the ranged support fun to the surprise of all in attendance.
Not even five minutes into the first game did we find CLG down three kills to one, hardly a strong start for the American dream. They brought it back thanks to turret leads and key picks using their strong macro skills, even managing to grab baron and take the fourth dragon away from the Korean team with a strong double TP play, but it was all in vain. SKT had their number, pressing home their early advantages en route to a victory.
Expecting changes in the picks and bans? Thinking maybe CLG will try to give Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaha a winning lane? Maybe SKT will try something new and crush? Nope. It's the exact same pick and ban phase from Game 1. Though both teams had not-so-great games at the start of the series, they showed "hey, this is what we want."
This is where CLG's game plan broke down. The games turned into a fiesta where SKT played with their food. The series spiraled into games where CLG led early, but SKT outplayed them later on to dominate. The individual skills of each CLG player were outmatched role for role by their Korean counterparts. The frequent attempts at creating flanks with teleports by CLG were peeled back without fail, and when SKT answered back, CLG couldn't do anything since they had depleted their resources trying to make a play. SKT waits until you are at your weakest and strike without fail. The team fights were executed more cleanly on the red side of the map. This level of play even led SKT to a dominant Game 3 victory, earning twenty kills to seven.
Darshan showed that he was not comfortable on Poppy and Ekko against top-tier talent, showing many questionable teleport cancels that were only abused by Lee "Duke" Ho-seong. Huhi could not keep up with the incredible pressure Faker put on the map, despite keeping up in the lane matchups every game. The bottom lane for CLG was almost non-existent during the entire series even though they were heralded as one of the best bot lanes at this tournament. They couldn't even keep up with the amount of soft CC and utility Wolf's Nami brought on to the fight.
So where was this SKT all along? Maybe they were waiting for the right moment to strike. Maybe everyone else at the tournament over-performed.
For now, the Korean champions will return home, bringing the trophy to where it rightfully belongs.
