The second semi-final of the LoL Worlds 2018 has been decided. With Fnatic, a team from Europe advances to the final. This is the first time since 2011 that an EU team is in the finals of the League of Legends World Championship.
Update 28.10: The second semi-final of the LoL Worlds 2018 was played this morning, on 28.10, between Fnatic from Europe and the US team Cloud 9. It was a clear matter from the first minutes on.
This is how the 2nd semi-final of the LoL Worlds 2018 went: Fnatic completely dismantled Cloud 9, giving the Americans no chance.
Due to the current meta, the team that gains an early lead often wins in League of Legends. This is called “snowballing” or an avalanche effect, where a small advantage keeps growing. The games between Fnatic and Cloud 9 seemed to be one-sided.
Fnatic won the encounter with Cloud 9 clearly with 3-0.
That’s why this is a surprise: In this match, the favorite, Fnatic, won. Overall, the tournament course of the LoL Worlds 2018 is highly unusual. It was already considered a sensation that 3 “non-Asia” teams were in the semi-finals.
After the elimination of 5 teams from Asia, Fnatic will face the Chinese team Invictus Gaming in the final. The last time a European team made it to the finals was in 2011, in the prehistoric times of League of Legends. Back then, it was also Fnatic who even won the Worlds 2011.
From 2012 to 2017, the winner always came from Asia. Even in 2018, Invictus Gaming from China is considered the favorite to win.
Original report on the 1st semi-final yesterday:
This morning, on 27.10, the first semi-final of the LoL Worlds 2018 took place. G2 Esports faced Invictus Gaming in the semi-finals of the World Championship of League of Legends. The killing of favorites came to an end this time. Invictus Gaming with top laner TheShy advances to the final.
Crazy Worlds so far: The Worlds in League of Legends have been so crazy that in the prediction game “LoL Pick Em 2018”, there was only one out of 3.8 million who guessed correctly. And even that person was mistaken for the first time.
The super tipster had bet on the underdogs from Spain in today’s match between the Spanish team G2 Esports and the Chinese team Invictus Gaming. But nothing could be won with that bet today.
Welcome to the TheShy show! #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/0yFEWzo6po
— lolesports (@lolesports) October 27, 2018
This is how the first semi-final went: This morning saw a so-called “stomp.” This is what it’s called in League of Legends when one team overruns the other. Invictus Gaming played as aggressively as one expects from them. All three matches ended in less than 30 minutes:
- In the first match, the ADC of the Chinese team, “JackeyLove”, dominated with Lucian, achieving 6 kills. Invictus Gaming dominated the match with 16-4 kills.
- In the second match, top laner “TheShy” on Jayce and “Rookie” on LeBlanc from the Chinese team shone, securing 14 of 18 kills for their team.
- In the third match, G2 started strong, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. Again, the top laner from Invictus Gaming, “TheShy”, managed to end the match for his team. This time on Aatrox.
The most important scene: In the decisive scene of the third match, Invictus Gaming actually wanted to retreat before a team fight, but TheShy decided to attack. And that “led to a good result,” as he explains in an interview with Inven.
Rise of the West at the LoL Worlds has been stopped: Once again, the highly favored Asian team has won this time. After 5 other teams from South Korea and China have been eliminated, Invictus Gaming was able to reach its top form.
The ongoing trend of the LoL Worlds 2018, the “Rise of the West”, was not continued today.
With the elimination of G2 Esports, the last German participant in the LoL Worlds 2018 is also out. Coach Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann misses the opportunity to reach the final. He writes on Twitter that IG was simply the better team.
What’s next: G2 Esports will take home $150,000 as a consolation prize.
For the winners, it continues in the final. Their opponent is either Cloud 9 or Fnatic.
