Perhaps the greatest Incredible Miracle is that the team by that name always managed to find its way back into Champions after placing near the bottom every split. IM’s participation in OGN has always seemed plagued by infrastructural issues, but the IM team itself has also hosted several players that have become punchlines, acquiring humorous nicknames that mocked their abilities.

The 2015 World Championship semifinals between KOO and Fnatic challenges the battered reputation of ex-IM players, as three of them take to the rift to win a more glamorous place in League of Legends esports history. Players like Kim “Reignover” Yeujin and Song “Smeb” Kyungho aren’t just dead weights slotted into Fnatic and KOO Tigers, but instrumental to their squads’ successes. Lee “kurO” Seohaeng, not part of IM since May 2014, has also impressed on the world stage with Viktor.

Regardless of who triumphs, at least one ex-IM players will become a World Championship finalist. The redemption of Incredible Miracle’s players makes their persistence in Champions less of a mystery. IM has had talent, but simply lacked the execution—and that’s something that KOO and Fnatic have both been able to showcase. In the right environment, the miracle is dispelled, and even players who have sat at the bottom of the Champions ladder can become incredible.

Matchup to watch: Smeb vs Reignover

The top lane carry meta has come into its own. Three of the four remaining teams revolved around getting the top lane ahead before juggernauts entered the fray. With Fioras and Dariuses dueling, Fnatic, SK Telecom T1, and KOO have accepted the gank top, snowball carry formula by rote. Both Fnatic and KOO feel comfortable using their junglers to gank often and early and fetch leads for their top laners, but on both teams it seems one player carries more of the burden.

Lee “Hojin” Hojin has displayed signs of a limited champion pool, relying mainly on Evelynn during the regular summer season. He’s best known for Lee Sin and has played Elise, Rek’Sai, and Lee Sin with a few early mistakes in the World Championship. Hojin’s inconsistent pressure has been noted as one of the reasons for KOO’s noncommittal early game, often fraught with misplays.

As a result, Smeb is often given credit for when a top lane matchup goes well for KOO. As the only top laner to do more than 25% of his team’s damage, Smeb is starting to make a name for himself as the greatest threat above the rest of the rift.

Heo “Huni” Seunghoon has strong play when he’s ahead, but often plays as if he has a lead from Level 1. In isolated duels at the World Championship, Huni hasn’t been incredibly successful. Yet Reignover’s presence gets Huni the leads he craves, and they often work in tandem with Teleport plays. Reignover received a lot of criticism from the EU LCS community for a potentially small champion pool, but he’s been the instrument of Fnatic’s teamwork at the World Championship.

Years ago, when Reignover went to the top lane to gank for Incredible Miracle, Smeb was on his team, but now both players have evolved. Though criticisms lobbied against Hojin have merit, he will gank top. May the best 2v2 prevail.

X Factor: Febiven and GorillA

While this tournament has often seemed to function around junglers ganking the top lane, both KOO and Fnatic have appropriated members of their team into positions where they can still carry games if the formula fails. Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten is having an impressive tournament. Despite the focus of Fnatic on Huni getting ahead, Febiven deals 31% of his team’s damage, and games often blow open when he ventures bottom lane for kills.

Kang “GorillA” Beomhyeon holds a Top 3 ranking in average wards placed per minute, and his use of Tahm Kench against Counter Logic Gaming made viewers pay attention to the champion. Even when KOO didn’t perform, GorillA was a beacon who still allowed them to win games in the regular season. GorillA’s playmaking on the side of the map opposite Smeb gives KOO the opportunity to control the lane to which Fnatic tend to allocate the fewest resources.

Regardless, Fnatic and KOO both suffer from inconsistent early games. It’s the decision-making mid game that has often won them their matches. Both have made some strides toward stronger early game play between their leagues and the World Championship.

Fnatic’s weaknesses showed up in the first two games against EDward Gaming, and KOO couldn’t capitalize well against KT outside Game 1 until they began to make mistakes. This matchup is a less exaggerated redux of Origen vs Flash Wolves, and whichever team makes the first move could take a series.

Key Strategy: The draft

KOO Tigers’ Jeong “NoFe” Nochul is probably the best drafting coach in the semifinals. KOO brought us a Veigar counter and several mixed strategy compositions in the quarterfinals that hit the spot. KOO not only can draft well for themselves, but seemingly know how to back their opposition into corners.

That’s not to say that Fnatic’s Luis “Deilor” Sevilla Petit doesn’t have a few moves of his own. In the quarterfinals against EDward Gaming, Fnatic chose to leave Gangplank and Mordekaiser open on red side, forcing their opposition to choose an early game Mordekaiser or late game Gangplank. The game had to be remade, and AD carry Martin “Rekkles” Larsson told theScore he believes Fnatic still haven’t shown the full extent of their capabilities should that draft often come again. We expect it in the semifinals.

Fnatic and KOO could well be decided by the draft. Fnatic’s questionable drafting toward the start of Group Stage has seemingly been resolved, but KOO will be their toughest opposition. If there are any cracks in picks and bans remaining for them, NoFe will expose them.

Conclusion

Sadly, I don’t have an incredibly strong conclusion. I think a lot of this set will be decided by the draft and that crucial first gank to the top lane. Both Fnatic and KOO have shown great comeback potential through mid game, however, so looking away once one team acquires a massive lead would do the match a disservice.

KOO have been repeatedly underestimated since their unfortunate loss to WE at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship. Since then, they’ve seemed to come prepared for every opponent. Flash Wolves gave them a stumble in Group Stage, but NoFe told theScore that he believes that sometimes teams that play around “funky individuals” rather than around teamwork and strategy can counter KOO. Fnatic isn’t one of those teams. Both KOO and Fnatic play intelligently around the map, and KOO should be able to predict some of Fnatic’s moves if NoFe’s assessment is true.

I think KOO will take the series, but not by a landslide. Not just the ex-IM members, but every player on KOO and Fnatic have a few things to prove. Fnatic want to win Worlds as a European team. Korea isn't dead. The second spot into the finals is wide open.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore eSports. You can follow her on Twitter.