G2 Esports vs. Invictus Gaming

I’ll be honest. This semifinal disappoints me. Every single League of Legends fan headed into this tournament wanted to see RNG vs. KT Rolster. The top Korean team against the top Chinese team. Uzi vs. Deft. Score vs. Karsa/mlxg. Mata vs. Ming. It would’ve been more exciting then the final. Now, we have G2 Esports who has came out of nowhere taking on Invictus Gaming where JackeyLove just had the series of his life. The most hyped matchup on the map has to be Rookie vs. Perkz. Rookie has been the best mid laner at the tournament, and all the players look up to him as the top mid laner. That said, Perkz was absolutely insane in the series against RNG. G2 needed a miracle to win that series, and Perkz delivered. He finally had the performance that explains why G2 has such an incredibly high priority on Akali. And, he broke out LeBlanc in game 5 and nuked RNG out of the entire tournament. Rookie has been insane and everything I hoped for since seeing him head to the LPL in Season 5. I’ve been incredibly disappointed to see IG lose time and time again to make sure Rookie doesn’t get to appear on the international stage. Well, this year he made it. And, this year he’s done nothing but impress. Going up against Perkz, this matchup is going to be very exciting. Both teams need their mid laners to perform to win, and the series may come down to which mid laner performs better. That’s why I want to talk about the junglers next.

Jankos has returned to form. The First Blood King has shown that he can find those early game kills and leads. Ning on the other hand has not been as good on the international stage as he was domestically. And despite the victory against KT, Ning did get smacked around by Score in the majority of those games. Jankos has been very successful in getting his solo laners ahead, as G2 likes to leave Wadid and Hjarnen on an island in the bot lane. That could clash with IG’s style which is throwing parties in the bot lane and skirmishing wherever possible.

So far, I’ve painted a picture that looks pretty good for G2. I think they have a big advantage in the jungle. Wadid has been one of my standout performers throughout Worlds despite no one really talking about him. Hjarnen has been good and may pose a bigger threat in the pick/ban phase then on the actual map due to his ability to play AP champions bot at an extremely high level. But, the real difference to me in this series is TheShy. We finally got to see what TheShy was capable of as he took the carries into Smeb and won. His ability to play champions like Fiora and Darius is a major threat to G2 as their win condition throughout the group stage was let Wunder carry. Wunder has been outstanding this tournament, but I don’t see him topping TheShy. This is going to be a close series, but I’m giving it to IG 3–1 in 4 close games. Expect tons of skirmishers and an exciting series if you like action in the early game.

Cloud9 vs. Fnatic

This series excites me because of the clashing styles. For me, C9 showed that they might be the most flexible team in the tournament. After focusing on Licorice and getting him to carry throughout the play-in stage and the group stage, they actually gave him the Dyrus treatment in the top lane. They blind picked Licorice’s top laners into Kiin and he got bodied to be honest. Despite that, the early picking of Lucian and Braum and the emphasis on bot lane paid off as the rest of the map carried C9 to a 3–0 with their focus on the early game. Svenskeren had the best series of his life and went off in all 3 games. Jensen managed to be useful from behind on Ahri after Afreeca threw 7 bans at him. Meanwhile, Fnatic actually got smashed in their early games against EDG. They managed to skirmish and teamfight their way to victories against them. That’s why I’m really hoping that Fnatic starts sOAZ in this series, and a lot of my prediction centers around the fact that sOAZ plays for Fnatic. Bwipo playing against EDG made a lot of sense to me. Fnatic felt that if they played sOAZ on tanks, then they are at risk of losing all 3 lanes and open up the chance for Ray to grab a counter pick top lane and go off on the likes of Fiora. For this series, I want to see sOAZ.

When Fnatic plays Bwipo, they want the option of taking a Kleptomancy mage in the top lane and pressuring through that part of the map. When sOAZ plays, they want to play the map and utilize tanks. I believe that Fnatic should start sOAZ and have Rekkles play Sivir and Xayah this series. C9 have found their success from Licorice winning, or going all in on the early game. If Fnatic is able to take early wave clear and survive the storm, they will win these games with Rekkles on the hyper carries. Taking Sivir and Xayah ensures that Fnatic can stall out the game and have good late game options, and I really think that putting sOAZ on the Sion’s of the world is the approach Fnatic should take this game. Licorice might get big, but if C9 is going to go all in on these early games then Fnatic has a huge advantage. The lane advantage that Bwipo gives you in this series isn’t worth the map plays that sOAZ can give you as you know that C9 is willing to brawl if they find the smallest window or advantage.

In terms of the rest of the map, I’m really excited for Svenskeren vs. Broxah. Sven is coming off of the best series of his life, and Broxah has been the best jungler in this tournament. Both players have a very similar champion pool and are very talented Lee Sin players. It’s going to be interesting to what the teams prioritize in the jungle early. Caps vs. Jensen is going to be a great matchup. Caps really struggled against Scout but was able to find his way back into the game through teamfights. Jensen has a bit of a different champion pool then the rest of the mid laners in the tournament, and he’s been able to find some success on it. That said, he has had some games where he struggles to perform. As a fan, I really hope that LeBlanc becomes a highly contested pick as I believe these are 2 of the best LeBlanc players in the world.

In the bot lane, the nod goes to Fnatic. Braum may be a very highly contested pick as both teams are likely to skirmish and both supports are very good Braum players. It will be interesting to see what happens with Lucian as that was essential in C9’s wins over Afreeca. Rekkles has only played 4 champions in this tournament and Lucian is not one of them. Fnatic has been electing to take safer bot laner heroes with more wave clear. I’d love to see Rekkles on Tristana as that strategy worked wonders against IG. The champions that Rekkles is playing in general frees Hylissang to roam around the map where he leaves his mark as a player. If Fnatic can execute this and get Caps ahead, then it will be easy wins for them.

Overall, I believe Fnatic is the favorite going into this match. However, I’m going to take the upset. Cloud9 3–2 and I believe this for a few reasons. 1) I think Fnatic decides to play Bwipo early and loses 2 games with him in the series. 2) Reapered is a genius. How does this man do it? Completely flipped the map priority against Afreeca and C9 smashed. Picks like Hecarim and Singed top coming up big for C9. I think he has something up his sleeve and that’s worth at least 1 game in this series. 3) C9 has nothing to lose. They’ve had nothing to lose since they made it into the group stage. Fnatic is now the tournament favorite and looked very off in their last series against EDG. They have a lot to lose. I think these big factors give C9 the 3–2 upset victory. Anyway, I haven’t really picked an upset in the tournament of upsets. Is it too late to start now?

Matthew “Cubbyx” Samuelson is a former collegiate analyst and co-founder of the Miami University (OH) Varsity Esports Program and is a caster for their League of Legends matches. He’s covered Esports previously for allmid.gg & quibbl.me. He’s a Thresh god (for a hard stuck low-diamond player).