It had been 1,106 days since a Korean team had lost of a best-of-five series to a team from a different region. Chinese champions Royal Never Give Up stepped up to the plate and finally ended their long search for an international trophy.

RNG finally took home the LPL title for the first time ever jsut a few weeks prior and managed to carry their winning momentum into a sensational victory against Kingzone DragonX.

And one man who played a crucial role was Taiwanese jungler Hung 'Karsa' Hau-Hsuan. He had the highest KDA of any player in the knockouts (6.4) and the third most assists (56).

Royal Never Give Up finally got their first taste of international victory after winning MSI 2018

Jungler Karsa played a big role in their win and sported the best KDA of the knockouts (6.4)

Despite RNG's track record in finals and the usual dominance of the LCK, Karsa doesn't think their win was an upset: 'Before the final, I wasn't nervous. I had a special sense that we were going to win against Kingzone. Now we've gone and accomplished that, it was as expected.'

Despite playing it cool in the post-match interview, there was no doubt how much this meant to Karsa. In a recent interview with Inven, RNG's coach said Karsa was a very emotional player and had cried a lot throughout the split.

Fortunately for RNG, Karsa was only shedding tears of joy on stage in Paris - it was his first time competing in an international final and it couldn't have worked out any better. All of his hard work had paid off but Karsa admitted that it had been a struggle: 'This was a really tough season for me after joining a new region.

'At first, I was unfamiliar with my teammates and with the LPL meta but now I'm really used to it. I've adapted well, I really like the food in China and can communicate with my team easily.

Karsa was overwhelmed on stage after he had a hard time adapting to life in the LPL with RNG

'When I'm under-performing I get really sad but my teammates have helped me a lot, Ming especially is able to calm me and provide me with support. I'm just super happy that all my dedication has paid off by us winning this championship.'

Overcoming those personal struggles can only have made victory taste sweeter and Karsa says avenging his former team was the icing on the cake: 'I was with Flash Wolves for three years, I still have a really good relationship and connection with all of the people there. I'm sad that they lost to Kingzone but now I'm even happier we won, it feels like revenge.'

Karsa's perseverance paid off massively and he says it was thanks to help from his teammates

Revenge is exactly what Kingzone will be looking for and they'll be even more desperate to prove themselves internationally when the World Championships return to Korea later this year.

Yet, Karsa isn't concerned. The team are understandably on a high and have no intentions of slowing down: 'I have full trust in this team. I've been picking utility champions so all I have to do is not feed and this team will carry me.

'I think we definitely can make it to Worlds this year and go far, I think we're super strong and super confident - our ultimate goal is that World Championship trophy.