And Then There Was Four: An MSI Semifinals overview

With the bloodthirsty MSI group stage finally coming to an end we see 4 teams appearing from the dust, these teams are Invictus Gaming, SK Telecom, G2, and Team Liquid. We saw constant back and forth games with numerous upsets occurring. This year’s MSI definitely had one of the most insane group stages of all time, G2 go 2–0 against SKT then proceed to lose to PVB and TL, IG winning 9 games in a row before finally being dismantled by SKT, and Team Liquid starting off shaky but managing to clinch a spot in the play-offs are just a few of the many stories that have unfolded in the past week.

With these 4 teams managing to battle their way through the group stage they are now met with an even bigger challenge, going against one of their fellow competitors in a full best of 5 series.

The time for cheesy best of 1 strategies is over, teams must prepare a full arsenal of strategies if they wish to defeat any of the competition. This is where we really separate the top tier teams from the obvious cheese reliant line-ups. So without further ado let’s take a look at our two semifinal match-ups and who will be going home victorious.

TL VS IG

For most fans TL vs IG is the match-up that seems the most predictable and to that I say “fair enough, but let’s have some fun with it before all our hopes and dreams are smashed.” This is the true David vs Goliath match-up of this tournament, the team that has dominated everybody up against the team that barely grasped a spot out of groups. IG is coming in to this best-of-five with nothing on their mind but leaving a blazing path of destruction in their wake and Team Liquid is looking for any way to avoid being the first victim of this behemoth’s vicious spree.

From top to bottom it appears that IG has Team Liquid beat, TheShy vs Impact? Not even close, Xmithie vs Ning? don’t make me laugh, Jensen vs Roo… alright you get the idea. On the surface it would appear that Liquid has indeed met their match and are soon to meet their maker, but is there any chance that Liquid might be able to clinch a clutch victory and move on to the MSI finals?

Team Liquid’s performance at MSI so far has been incredibly hit or miss, either delivering concise victories against the likes of Flash Wolves, G2, and PVB or getting completely rolled over in true North American style by SKT and IG. The biggest barrier that Team Liquid will have to climb over coming into this match is not the towering opponent glaring down at them from across the rift but rather the mental barrier that sits inside themselves. We’ve seen Liquid show good performances against other teams, we know they can play their style and achieve victory but when they go up against these big name Chinese and Korean teams they just hit a mental block. If Team Liquid can get past this mental infringement then perhaps they will be able to stand toe to toe with IG and give us a best-of-five that is worth remembering. If not, then Invictus Gaming will see an easy 3–0.

SKT VS G2

Coming in to this match on paper G2 is the clear favorite with two clean victories against SK Telecom in the group stage of MSI. Theoretically G2 should take this series with ease, having already shown that they can take two matches from the Korean powerhouse. Looking past these two victories it is important to note that following SKT and G2’s last meeting G2 went 1–3 and SKT went 4–0. This could be due to several factors such as teams adjusting to the MSI meta, G2 having a very unique strategy that got figured out after they played a few games, or even Mikyx arm injury making him play sub-optimally following days of intense competition. Whatever the reason for this huge swing in these team’s results against the rest of the teams at this tournament it is for sure making this series even more hyped than before.

Looking at the lineups for this match it is clear what the keys for victory are for each of these teams, not in any particular lane but rather in champion select. Both of these teams draft around their strategy perfectly, G2 go for the cheesy counter-picks that catch the opponent off guard with picks such as Vayne, Neeko, and Pyke top where as SK Telecom follows a very strict champion hierarchy where they have near perfected the play-style for the best meta champs such as Sylas, Akali, and Ryze. If G2 can keep Khan off of his top lane carry champions such as Jayce or Akali and get Wunder on a counter-pick they may be able to win through top lane with some assistance from Jankos in the early game. On the other hand you have the clear weak spot of G2’s bottom lane, coming into this best of 5 it is clear that Teddy/Mata are far superior to Perkz/Mikyx and it will be up to G2 to play around Teddy’s carry potential and try their hardest to not let him get too large of a lead against Perkz.

On paper the results say G2 where as in most fans hearts SKT just seems like the for-sure front-runner at this tournament following them getting used to the meta.It seems G2 have finally been figured out and teams will prepare for their off the wall strategies and cheesy picks which will be their downfall in the best-of-five stage of MSI. Personally my pick for this best of 5 is SK Telecom, following their performance against IG it just seems like their grasp on the meta is finally at that level we have seen Korean teams have before.