Longzhu was one of the favourites to win worlds, coming off the back of a 6-0 group stage and an LCK victory. Samsung had other ideas, however.
The first quarter-final was a potential match of the tournament as the LCK Summer champions took on the runners-up from last year’s Worlds. Longzhu struck first, with Bdd’s Syndra picking up a solo kill for first blood. He stuck around too long, however, and the game was quickly evened up by Ambition. Towers were traded too, and after the first team fight, it was LZ who a tiny lead, despite being behind in kills. Another team fight in the middle lane kept things in LZ’s favour, but not by much, as the gold lead was barely 1000 at the 25 minute mark. Yet another team fight in the middle lane finally turned the game in Samsung’s favour, eventually leading to a tower and a baron as well as the first real gold lead. An inhibitor followed, though LZ was able to force Samsung out of their base for a while, they had to concede a second baron. Elder drake was the final nail in the coffin for game one, however, giving Samsung the power they needed to finish off the enemy base.
Longzhu got first blood in the middle lane again in game two, this time for Ambition’s Jarvan in an easy gank. Samsung answered back with a four man collapse on the midlane, resulting in two kills. The pressure continued off the back off a Taliyah ult to bottom lane, allowing SSG to secure the first tower and a 1.5k lead. Samsung dictated the tempo, and despite giving up mountain drake, they replied with an ace, a fourth tower and 6k gold lead. The baron pit was owned by Samsung and after picking off a couple of kills in the middle lane they were able to take down the worm. The 12k gold lead was too much for LZ to fight against and the game was over in just under 30 minutes.
Staring down the barrel of a shock 0-3 defeat, Longzhu kept things tight in the opening 10 minutes. But Samsung still picked up first blood with a four-man roam, including a Shen ult, into Cuzz’s jungle. A huge skirmish in the bottom lane soon after somehow result in no kills, but Khan’s Trundle then picked up a solo kill to slow the bleeding. Nevertheless, SSG were ahead and another fight in the bottom lane led to first tower gold giving them a 3k advantage. Both teams exchanged tower kills until a fight broke out in middle lane. Samsung dominated, narrowly missing out on an ace, but picking up a baron kill and a seemingly insurmountable gold lead. Longzhu bought some time with some solid fighting, but it wasn’t enough. Samsung move onto the semi-finals.
