The Koreans from SKT1 were considered the favorites to win the LoL Worlds 2019. However, they were eliminated by G2 Esports in the semifinals. In the press conference, the coach of the legendary team of League of Legends takes responsibility for the defeat.
This was the situation: The SKT1 team has been built around the midlaner Faker for years. This year, he had a young crew around him, with strong but internationally inexperienced players in every position.
In the semifinals of the LoL World Championship 2019 against the Europeans from G2 Esports, the team repeatedly gained significant advantages but could not convert them, ultimately losing 1:3.
Faker, in particular, seemed prone to mistakes and appeared shaken, as seen in this clip from Match 4.
SKT1 loses everything in crucial moments
How was the match decided? The game ended with SKT1 sieging the opponents’ base in a 5vs4. However, the siege failed, and G2 Esports initiated a team fight with fewer players.
When the fifth man from G2 Esports, Perkz on Yasuo, returned, he took out SKT1 with a quadra kill: a “hero moment.”
The special thing was that Yasuo had actually only received a lot of pressure in that match. He was at 1/6/6. This was emblematic of SKT1’s defeat: they gained significant advantages, but G2 Esports ignored that and simply won anyway.
They were “tilt-proofed”, as they say, mentally so strong that they could handle mistakes wonderfully.
Coach takes responsibility
This is how SKT1 now deals with the loss: In the press conference, the Koreans looked visibly dejected (via inven).
The coach of SKT1, kkOma, says:
“I know that our players are individually much better than G2, so it feels really bad to lose. […] I think I am the biggest reason we lost. So I want to tell my players that they played really well, and I am sorry.”
Faker says he wasn’t nervous – It was as always
Faker says: “G2 Esports is now the team that I really want to beat. Next time, I will make sure to defeat them.”
When asked whether Faker was more nervous than usual, he replied: “It was like always. But there were moments where I could have played better. Not being able to capitalize on those moments is what I regret the most.”
The veteran Mata explains: “G2 Esports also made a lot of mistakes, but they recovered from those mistakes better. We made many mistakes when we were ahead. That’s why we lost today.”
What the winners say: The mood at G2 Esports, on the other hand, is exuberant and relaxed. (via inven) In the press conference, midlaner Caps joked: They now wanted to poach the Korean Doinb and he would then switch out of the mid.
For the final, G2 Esports seems to be in good spirits. Caps said (via Inven):
“I felt a bit sick this week, so I promised my team that if they pull this off today, I will take care of next week. So I will just show up next week and send FunPlus Phoenix home.”
The final will take place on Sunday afternoon in Paris. FunPlus Phoenix defeated the world champions of 2018.
What makes the European team G2 Esports 2019 so special and different has been explained in this article:
