The 2017 World Championship concluded yesterday in a way nobody was expecting. A 3-0 collapse of three time World Champions, SK Telecom T1. It was a rematch of last year’s World final and Samsung took their revenge against SKT sweeping the former champions. SKT were looking to cement their dynasty by adding a three peat World Championship to their legacy. Samsung Galaxy showed up big and proved that they were the best team in the World this year.

While it wasn’t necessarily an upset, fans have come to know SKT as the powerhouse team in professional League of Legends. Three World Championships in the last four seasons speaks to the dominance of the dynasty that they’ve built. Mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has become world renown as the best professional LoL player. He did not disappoint this Worlds, but it just wasn’t enough to overtake Samsung.

Ruler and cuvee play out of their minds

While SKT tried to play thru Faker, Samsung played through their side lanes. Samsung Galaxy ADC Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk stepped up huge for his team this Worlds. Last year was his Worlds debut where he showed glimpses of what was to come. In the end, he fell short of his goal and made some costly mistakes that led to Samsung losing to SKT 3-2 in the finals last year. This year was different. Ruler came out and showed why he is one of the best ADC’s in the World, dominating the game and earning himself the Finals MVP.

Over the three games Ruler had some phenomenal performances on Xayah and Varus. He also made the game ending play off a bold flash Varus ultimate that led to the team catching out Faker and sealing the championship for Samsung Galaxy.

Top laner Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin had himself quite the series as well. It was a close race between him and Ruler for MVP. In game one, Samsung baited SKT top laner Seung “Huni” Hoon Heo into taking Gnar in preparation for unleashing Cuvee’s Kennen. The Kennen pick was amazing as he dominated the lane and then continued to do so, forcing Huni to stay with the threat of the split push. His AD Kennen was such a unique pick and so powerful that it allowed Samsung to steamroll through game one.

In game two he was countered by Huni’s Yasuo as he picked Gnar. He was able to keep up in lane despite the bad match-up and made his presence known with his excellent TP plays. It was his team fighting prowess that helped Samsung come back from major deficits in games two and three.

Bang and Peanut Fall Short

It was no secret who SKT’s scapegoat would become for the series. It was the uncharacteristic misplays of ADC Bae “Bang” Jun-sik that allowed Samsung back into the matches in which SKT grew big leads. SKT were ahead both games after a much more proactive early game as opposed to game one. Looking to snowball even more, Bang flashed into dragon pit to ult Jarvan with his Varus. This left him vulnerable with no followup as Samsung were able to easily eliminate him before moving on to the rest of the team.

Game three looked to be a redemption game for him as he seemed to be doing well for the first half. When it came to the mid-late game, SKT attempted to catch out Ruler without his flash, but it was Bang’s Tristana ult that ended up saving Ruler and allowing him to stay in the team fights to dish out damage. This was a championship costing mistake as Samsung were able to gain Baron control off of it and take control of the game.

For jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho many expected his addition to SKT to be the next chapter of a star studded championship roster. As the meta shifted, SKT relied more on Peanut to be less of a carry and more of a control jungler. Not a style we had seen him do well on in the past. Peanut seemed out matched by Samsung’s Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong. Peanut was benched in game three and despite SKT having a good early game due to some early ganks from Blank, they still fell short.

A perfect storybook ending for ambition

Samsung jungler, Ambition, is a long time name in League of Legends. Known as one of the best mid laners in the world when he came onto the scene, many thought he was washed up when he joined Samsung long ago as a jungler. Samsung was nowhere near a Worlds caliber team at the time and had lower expectations. As the season grew on and the roster changed a few times, they slowly grew into the World champions that they are today.

It wasn’t too long ago when Faker made his debut against Ambition solo-killing him on Nidalee against Ambition’s Kha’zix. Having the chance to dethrone the player whose legacy began solo-killing you had to be satisfying for him.

After falling short a year ago, they stuck with the same roster knowing that if they had a second chance they would not allow it to slip from them once again.

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Cover photo by Riot Esports