On Sunday, October 6th, the most important match in the group stage of the World Championship took place in League of Legends. The defending world champion T1 with Faker faced off against the strongest team in China, the tournament favorite Bilbili Gaming. In Germany, the game was commented by Niklot “Tolkin” Stüber on Twitch, one of Faker’s biggest fans worldwide. It wasn’t impartial. But it probably doesn’t have to be.
These 2 teams faced each other:
T1 is the most popular team in the world. The players are cultishly revered, especially mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (28), who has become a living legend in LoL. However, nominally T1 is not a top team in the world in 2024, having only qualified as fourth and just enough from Korea for the World Championship.
On the other hand, Bilbili Gaming is in the opposite position: This is not a big name, but the team around mid laner knight has dominated China in 2024 and has become the clear champion. They are one of the two top favorites to win the World Championship tournament, but have already suffered a surprising loss against an outsider from China.
In the match, there was actually nothing at stake. Both teams stood at 1-1; it was just about who would create a slightly better situation for the upcoming games.
The German Commentator in an Emotional State
These were the decisive moments of the game: In Germany, the match was broadcasted by Tolkin on Twitch. Tolkin, who was once a professional in LoL, is known to be one of the biggest fans of Faker worldwide.
The decisive sequence begins about when 32 minutes have been played in the match. T1 has a 5,000 gold lead, but nothing is decided yet.
In an initial chaotic teamfight around the Dragon Soul, Faker manages to eliminate the opposing top laner Bin just in time. Bilbili Gaming is outnumbered and retreats. T1 secures the important objective, the soul, and heads towards Baron. If they can secure that, then go back to base and “reset”, they can finish the game cleanly and clearly – just like in the textbooks.
But Bilibili Gaming, who are still outnumbered, are waiting for their chance and want to ambush T1 when they start the Baron and are distracted. The match is on the brink of decision.
However, T1 has caught on to the bait. They only pretended to start the Baron with 3 players while 2 others are now holding back the Chinese. When the attack begins, the other 3 Koreans also ignore the Baron and go wild against the still disorganized Chinese, in the teamfight they can overwhelm and eliminate the Chinese.
This sequence is typical for LoL: A team planning a surprising ambush is itself surprised and ambushed.
This is how the decisive fight was commented in English:
The German commentator Tolkin has now openly switched to fan mode, cheering, clapping, and shouting that Faker “is locked in like a god.” As Faker eliminates mid laner knight, Tolkin applauds into the camera.
Tolkin Desperate as T1 Goes Straight for the Nexus
But his mood quickly changes. He shouts “Off to Nash, boys”, but T1 wants to finish the match now. Tolkin is in disbelief: Now they should play it safe and secure the important objective. “No, not to the Nexus!” Tolkin pleads. “Nash Nash Nash – NO!”
But Faker and T1 know better than the German commentator: They go for the Nexus, and Bilibili Gaming, who are just respawning at the well, push back; for a moment, it’s a nail-biter – Tolkin dies a thousand deaths, but then Faker and T1 manage to push through.
Tolkin can no longer contain himself – as an involuntary reaction, he jumps up and down in joy. Even Faker breaks into a grin after the victory, something you rarely see from him.
This is the sequence from the perspective of the German commentators, the video starts about at 3:01 hours in the stream:
The Biased Caster Is Well Received by Fans
Here’s the backstory: For “professional commentators,” it is a cardinal sin to commentate a match so biased. But for Tolkin and LoL, it’s part of the charm.
Riot Games has recognized this, when they switched from professional casting teams set up in the style of a sports show to influencers that are allowed to co-stream. Co-streaming on Twitch means that an influencer receives the official Riot stream and can comment over it.
In Germany, Tolkin has done so well that he has drawn more and more viewers than the official cast from the site Summoner’s Inn, for which he used to work and which he has now inherited.
The 26-year-old Tolkin once wanted to play as a top laner in the LEC and at Worlds, but he didn’t quite make it. Today he is the German face of LoL, which is also something. At the peak, he had 48,517 viewers on Twitch on Sunday, and Faker won as well. What more could one want?LoL: German Twitch streamer gives up his dream of being a pro in 2020, starts a job – Now he must resign because he is too good
