Samsung Blue rejoice after the win against Cloud 9. Photo: LoL eSports
After two 3-1's, Samsung Blue and Samsung White will meet each other in the playoffs, having eliminated the NA hopes in TSM and Cloud 9.
After barely missing the top spot in their group following a loss to SK Gaming, TSM were slated to play tournament favorites Samsung White in the first quarter final of LoL Worlds. Ranked #1 in the world, it didn't take long for the Koreans to showcase why they're picked by many experts to be the next world champions.
Samsung took two fairly easy games and went up by a pair against TSM - including one on the back of a poison comp with Singed and Twitch - and many predicted the series would end there. An outstandings performance by WildTurtle on a 8/1/4 Lucian in game three, however, allowed TSM to get one game back but the worst for them was just coming.
Everything aligned perfectly for White in game four, giving Twitch to Imp, Lee Sin to Dandy and Yasuo to Pawn. This set up became the doom for TSM as once again the Americans were bullied constantly, feeding the Yasuo and Twitch to scary proportions. A 14-minute fight during the dragon resulted in an ace for the Koreans along with a penta-kill for Imp. Following the crushing loss, TSM tried maneuver around the Koreans as much as possible and hopefully force a favorable base trade until Amazing was caught off guard and taken down, resulting in immediate elimination for the Americans.
The second quarter final started way better for the Western region as Cloud 9 and a star performance by Sneaky's Lucian carried the team into 1-0 lead against Samsung Blue. This gave foreign fans some hope but the Korean team was quick to choke it as Dade's Twisted Fate and Deft's Twitch ruled game two to tie the score.
Another equally one-sided face-off was played in game three, with Blue picking a long-ranged composition aroud Dade's Jayce and Deft's rockets on Corki. Supported by a flawless Spirit (7/0/9 on Lee Sin), the Korean carries evaporated anyone on sight, taking the 2-1 lead.
Game four started well for Samsung as well as they took an easy first blood against Balls' Rumble and maintained kill advantage for the majority of the game. As the gold difference grew more and more in Samsung's favor, dangerously approaching a 3-1 conclusion of the series, Cloud 9 were able to catch two Samsung players off guard in the late minutes of the game and pressure straight through mid, taking advantage of the long death timers. The Americans drilled all the way to the enemy nexus and managed to get it down to 25% - amidst the ecstatic shouts of the commentators - before the revived Samsung Blue wiped them out, putting an end to all Western hopes.
The two Samsung sister teams will now face each other on Saturday for the first spot in the grand final.
