At the LoL Worlds 2019, the first quarter-final match has been played. The Chinese team Invictus Gaming won decisively against the Koreans of Griffin. The strongest player from Invictus Gaming, TheShy, faced the weakest player from Griffin, Sword, on the top lane. The matchup proved fatal for the Koreans. They are eliminated from the World Championships of League of Legends.
This was played: Earlier today, the 1st quarter-final at the LoL Worlds 2019 took place:
Invictus Gaming are the World Champions from 2018 from China. This year, however, they were not as strong in the regular season and qualified only as the 3rd from China for the World Championships.
2018 was the tournament for top-laner “The Shy” (featured image). Together with the previously less known players JackeyLove (ADC) and Rookie (Mid), he really shone at the World Championship. Suddenly, the three were regarded as world-class players.
2019 looks again like “TheShy” could make his mark on the LoL Worlds.
Griffin are the second strongest team from Korea. They are newcomers on the international stage.
In Korea, Griffin always plays top during the year but loses the final against established teams like SKT1. This year there is a strange drama involving the head coach who was fired. Apparently, there was a power struggle with the manager, who has also since been dismissed.
The team has won their group and has played strongly in the Worlds so far. Recently, they managed to win against G2 Esports twice in a row, who were previously regarded as “the super team” from Europe.
Therefore, much was unclear before the matchup, although Invictus Gaming was favored.
TheShy on Kayle will be a decisive factor
What were the match outcomes? The teams played against each other in a “Best of 5” series. Invictus Gaming won 3-1.
The key in the decisive 4th game was that top-laner “TheShy” clearly won the matchup against Sword with Kayle on the top lane and then dominated the match.
In doing so, the player Sword from Griffin took on the role of the scapegoat. He was not only constantly demolished by TheShy, but also members of Invictus Gaming seemed to prefer to focus their attacks on Sword.
Sword has always taken a beating in Griffin’s losses. He died 22 times in 4 games. Thus, more than every 3rd kill from Invictus Gaming went to poor Sword (22 out of 61).
Sword was often isolated on the weak side.
As soon as he dared to stray too far from the tower, Invictus Gaming would attack him with 2 or more players or someone would pick him off in passing as a solo kill.
Due to Sword dying so often, he remained weak throughout the match and became an easy target, facing consequences in teamfights as well.
Only in Match 3 was Griffin able to really hold their ground. Here Chovy on Sion managed to transform the tide in teamfights early on with a good ultimate and put Griffin on the path to victory.
Yet even in this match, when Griffin only had 6 deaths recorded, Sword died 5 times as Kayle.
In Match 4, Griffin attempted a wild stunt with Karthus as jungler.
However, TheShy on Kayle was even stronger than before, and Invictus Gaming absolutely massacred poor Sword on Jayce:
- In Match 4, Shy played 8/0/5 on Kayle
- Sword played 0/6/1 on Jayce
Invictus Gaming won the series against Griffin by identifying the weakest link in Griffin’s chain and breaking it.
