In the midst of a false suspense that took hostage the last two weeks of competition Worlds 2018, China has finally won the world championship. A somewhat bitter experience for the public. The tournament was a quite unexpected experience for not only the Korean audience but for the entire community of League of Legends.

In Korean lands, Invictus Gaming became the first Chinese team to lift the Summoner Cup in these 2018 Worlds. Royal Never Give Up, a big favorite in the competition after winning the entire professional calendar this year, has been completed demolished and outplayed, like so many other contenders. In these World Championships, the problems that enveloped the underperformance of each serious contender for the title finally gave way to underachievers in the competition, which was quite evident seeing the last four teams of the tournament. The report is cruel: the 2018 Worlds have failed to offer the public the aspect of strategic development that fans subscribe to each year on the same date.

The Demise of West

In many ways, the rise of Fnatic, G2, and Cloud 9 is respectable as these teams have been able to prove their strength of character and the depth of their lineups against the top opponents. In view of the demands of this competition, the three western teams performed well in the initial stages with aggressive drafts. In the end, the triple was beaten 3-0 past the quarter-finals in the light of the regret of a quit or

double meta that was very frustrating for the fans. The disappearance of tanks and the rise of an ever more mechanical playing style was good news for the show if the team is able to take on team fights on equal terms.

Fall of G2 Esports

The G2 quickly showed that they were out of the competition in the semi-finals. Outclassed by the future world champion, the Europeans were not playing the same game as the others between very fragile 1-3-1 lane setup. The team failed in the drafting stage with the champions that occupied too much space in the overall strategy of the team. Proud in the pursuit of their identity, the team still managed the paradox of saving its season by eliminating the favorites of the competition, RNG but after that displayed a very poor semi-final, thus silencing their fans, until the resumption of the next season.

Despite beating some of the renowned teams, it is no surprise that G2 progressed so far. Since the meta had been changing throughout all stages of the competition. The team might have a fairytale of a campaign in the EU LCS but showed a fair share of weaknesses in the initial stages of Worlds. Same could be said for the Korean and the Chinese teams. However, the team flourished in Group A by unexpectedly taking a game off Afreeca Freecs and Flash Wolves. Some might say it was a fluke victory against RNG in the playoffs but see how unpredictable the Worlds was, the fall of the Chinese giant was inevitable.

Cloud 9 losing its control

The series of unexpected performances continued with Cloud 9 whose performance as a semi-finalist of the Worlds has been quite astonishing. Embroiled in executing linear tactics of constant over-aggression, the Cloud 9 players are guilty of showing barbaric execution by playing the game in the hand of Chinese rather than relying on their very good individual skills and very good drafts.

The memories of Svenskeren’s Xin Zhao are the most painful moment of the confrontation with Fnatic, despite being the best player for C9 in the competition behind Licorice. Lagging behind in all stages of the game in the semis and execution of a bad strategy that did not work, the coaching staff of Cloud 9 deserves a round of ovation to which they are entitled to their achievement. They also deserve applause on its decisions, which got them so close to a grand finale appearance.

Looking back to the beginning of the season, we came across the complete rejuvenation of the team with the sidelining of three stars that are Jensen, Sneaky, and Svenskeren. No one has forgotten the humiliation of the tenth place of the team at halfway point of the regular season. However, the increase in the level of performance in the latter half was accompanied by the gradual return of the original line-up in July until the semis of Worlds.

“Half a season lost” is therefore worthy of being added to the list of unexpected performance this year. The American team lost a lot of times to progress together, perhaps a little too much to have a chance to win against Fnatic at the Worlds. Obviously, the trophy cabinet did a lot of damage to Sneaky, who was playing his sixth consecutive World Championship and failed to lift the title. Dreadful movements across the map and awkward in the lane, the carry-ad C9 remains the symbol of a West that has not progressed as much this year.

Fnatic – A little bit short

The exception to the rule may lie on the side of Fnatic. At least that could have been the case if the European training had not underestimated their opponents so much at the most important final for the franchise in seven years. In each lane, Fnatic was completely demolished by the Chinese and they had no answer to the dominance of Chinese. Fnatic players did not have the stuff of World Champions in this final.

The destruction of Bwipo, the confession of failure of Caps and the botlane. Unfortunately, the final of the Worlds 2018 is an embarrassment for the spectators and the proof of a dysfunction in the hierarchy of a competition of this magnitude. A manufacturing defect that does not give a finished product and finds its reasoning in the meta as in the state of mind of each participant.

Korea slumbers, China wakes up

If there are two meta constants that have shaped this competition, it is the ability to attack early in the game and the strategy to achieve flawless drafts. These two arguments were the key to success in these 2018 Worlds and those who refused to do so had to face bitter consequences: the title holder Gen.G, who should have been phenomenal, failed to evolve its gameplay. At this level, the problem goes deeper and is rooted directly in the execution of methods of the staff and individualities that failed to respond.

In the same category, Royal Never Give Up created the feat of losing all their means after playing with a stupid draft against G2. This obvious overconfidence of the Chinese side left no chance for the individual exploit. In other words, they completely disrespected the G2 side and had to pay heavily for it. At the end of the game, Royal Never Give Up which presented themselves at the Worlds with the best bot lane in the world and probably the best jungler was completely demolished. Moreover, this competition was not to be won by the champions of the MSI, because they might have been the best in lanes but were quite weak in team fights.

KT Rolster going down

It is impossible to convince oneself that the clash between KT Rolster and Invictus Gaming was obviously the real final of this tournament. The Sino-Korean duel was reserved for the Busan public for an incredible style of play between the worthy representatives of the Korean region in the face of risk-taking and the spontaneity of the Chinese. The iceberg Invictus Gaming completely dominated the Korean side in their home ground and showed how the power has shifted in the competitive world of League of Legends.

The fact is, Invictus Gaming holds the best individualities in the world and has completely out drafted all of its opponents: The IG lineup fits perfectly with the winning formulas of these Worlds and the question of whether the competition would give rise to a new meta was answered comprehensively by Chinese. This subject should have been better debated between the Chinese and Korean representatives who experienced for the first time a real break in the continuity of the Worlds meta for years. The teams did not respond and left the field open to a more open style of tactics, whose way of working is to consistently adapt.

With regard to the narrative of the final phases, the tournament tree suffered a lot from the Invictus Gaming Seed 2 following the double defeat inflicted by Fnatic in Pool. A more agreed scenario from the Group Stage could have resulted in the desired anthology finale full of our favorite teams.

The 2018 Worlds are filled with moments of rare emotions, through the thrust of the LCS teams, but they cannot escape the delicate context experienced in Korea: embarrassing meta, weak lineups, and aging of the professional scene. The illusion of the class difference between Europe and Asia was quite evident. However, a slight retrospective is enough to guess that these 2018 Worlds had the means to crown the West for the first time in this format. Despite the stars aligned, the opportunity was completely missed and the road of the Worlds 2019 in Paris already promises some great stars of the games and some traffic jams in the closed streets of France.