In League of Legends, the “Grand Slam” is something that no team has ever achieved. However, G2 Esports is only 3 victories away this Sunday. They had ruined exactly this triumph for one of the strongest teams in the history of LoL back in 2018.
What is the Grand Slam? The Grand Slam is the biggest achievement a team can attain in League of Legends. To achieve this, a team must:
- win both split seasons in their own region – these are the regular seasons with league operation and subsequent playoffs
- win the MSI – the “Mid Season Invitationals” are an invitational tournament by Riot where the strongest international teams compete against each other in the summer
- and win the LoL Worlds – the major eSports tournament at the end of the year, the World Championship
A team must be dominant throughout the year, start the season strong and maintain that level throughout the year to have a chance to achieve this ultimate triumph.
G2 Esports ruined Uzi’s chance at the Grand Slam in 2018
That’s why it’s something special: No team has ever managed to achieve the Grand Slam in LoL – not even the dominant Koreans like SKT1 (World Champions 2013, 2015, 2016) or Samsung Galaxy (World Champions 2014, 2017).
Last year, the Chinese team Royal Never Give Up had the opportunity to win the Grand Slam before the Worlds. They had won both splits in China and the MSI, but things did not go well in the Worlds.
There, the team around star-player Uzi was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Ironically against G2 Esports.
For G2 Esports, their victory against Royal Never Give Up in 2018 was an absolute highlight. The victory was considered a sensation.
Overall, the entire 2018 World Championship was strange – as the Korean teams were unusually weak. The biggest team from Korea, SKT1 with superstar Faker, did not even qualify.
In 2018, “modern LoL” apparently developed past Korea and a new “snowball” style was dominant. This was particularly embraced in China and Europe.
But even China faltered. Only the eventual world champion Invictus Gaming was as strong as everyone had expected, if not stronger.
That’s why G2 Esports are the favorites in 2019
So it is in 2019: A year later, G2 Esports has strengthened itself at a crucial position: They have signed the strongest player from the rival Fnatic, the midlaner Caps, after the season. For this, their own strong midlaner, Perkz, switched to the bot lane.
Caps had made it to the finals of the Worlds 2018 with Fnatic. However, that was also due to a fortunate tournament trajectory, as Caps himself admits today.
Because Fnatic had a relatively easy opponent in Cloud 9 (USA) in the semi-finals. They beat them convincingly 3:0.
Fnatic was then, in the final, hopeless. They lost 0:3 against Invictus Gaming, who had previously knocked G2 Esports out of the tournament 3:0.
Final on Sunday in Paris
In 2019, G2 Esports is in a different situation than in 2018: Before the tournament, they were considered co-favorites for the win. Jungler Jankos stated this confidently as an assessment.
During the tournament, G2 Esports was successful with their unconventional style. Because the team seems to not let the pressure get to them: During the matches, the 5 Europeans joke around. You can hardly see that they are currently playing the most important matches of their careers.
Since G2 Esports won the MSI and both splits in Europe in 2019, they only need to win the best-of-5 series against FunPlus Phoenix in the final.
Then they would be LoL World Champions 2019 and have achieved the Grand Slam.
The final will take place on Sunday around 1 PM in Paris. A big spectacle from Riot is expected beforehand – but the match against FunPlus Phoenix should also be spectacular. After all, Super Carry Doinb is waiting there.
