After failing to qualify for the World Championship last year to defend their 2013 title, SK Telecom T1 have done everything in their power over the last 365 days to become two-time world champions. Undefeated heading into their Belgian semifinal showdown with home favorites Origen, SKT T1 didn't let up as they qualified for their second Summoner's Cup Final with another commanding sweep. Dating back to their world championship victory two years ago, the Korean kings are now on a 17-game winning streak at Worlds.

SKT T1 are now in a position that no team in the history of League of Legends have found themselves in before: they're entering the Summoner's Cup Finals without a loss. Although Samsung White were dominant in 2014 — only dropping two maps the entire competition — the current iteration of SKT T1 is on the verge of completing a flawless victory in the game's biggest tournament. It wouldn't only cement SKT's place as League's greatest franchise, but also put the 2015 iteration SKT T1 in a position to be called the best team of all-time. They dominated their domestic play in 2015, winning both the spring and summer splits in blowout 3-0 victories in the Grand Finals, and their only blemish, a close 2-3 loss to EDward Gaming in the Mid-Season Invitational finals, was purged when T1 got their revenge at this tournament by embarrassing them twice in the group stage.

Tonight's series went as expected from the outset. Origen put up a good fight, actually pulling ahead in the first game and using their macro play around the map to snag an early Baron to put themselves in a comfortable lead. For the first 15 to 20 minutes of the games, Origen appeared to be on equal footing with SKT T1. Origen were capable enough in the early-game, stood up to T1's players in-lane, and stayed close in gold totals as the game transitioned into the mid-game. OG succeeded in some of their plans heading into the mid-game throughout the series, most notably in the first game when they got the Baron, yet it all fell apart when the tension heightened. Even down 3k gold and watching their turrets get knocked down by a Baron Power Play souped Origen squad, SKT T1 and their substitute mid laner Easyhoon always played calm, confident, and waited patiently for their chance to strike off an Origen mistake.

SKT T1 played passively in the game following Origen's smart Baron grab and didn't try to do anything bold to bring the game back into their favor. It came down to OG's execution in the mid-to-late-game, and if the summer European runners-up could finish off what they started, they would go ahead in the series with a 1-0 start over the tournament favorites. However, for all the work that Origen put in to getting the lead and grab the turret lead, it all came crashing down when they started making communication mistakes that saw them get picked off around the map and allow SKT T1 back into the game.

When playing against SKT T1, you can get ahead of them. You can lead lead them in kills. You can even at times look like you're vastly superior to them when it comes to decision making and playmaking. But what makes T1 so dangerous isn't that they can roll over you in the lane phase and close the game out in 25 minutes. Sure, they can do that, but that's what the 2013 SKT T1 team was all about. The 2015 version has what the 2013 team did, but with the experience, shot calling, and intangibles that make them possibly the greatest team of all-time. Make one mistake against SKT T1, regardless if you're up 1k or 10k, and you're going to see a domino effect that results in you losing everything you fought for the last 40 minutes of the game. The Korean champions are a team that can reverse a lead a team has tirelessly worked for over the course of the entire game in a matter of 60 seconds.

That was the story of the series for Origen. They had moments of brilliance that got them to the semifinals, and then they made those small, fatal mistakes that a team like the Flash Wolves couldn't capitalize on. But SKT T1 surely could. Instead of playing a game in the quarterfinals like they did when a game would bounce back and forth with ebbs and flows, the series against SKT T1 was, for all intents and purposes, one mistake and you're dead. Following their lost lead in Game 1, the next two games felt like Origen knew that their chance at an upset had passed them by. It was like clockwork — play well in the first few minutes, get one or two kills in lane, and then crumble when trying to make a big move to grab another big lead like the first game. Be it chasing a tank Renekton around the map or opting into disadvantaged skirmish situations, Origen tried to go for the jugular and couldn't convert their reckless attempts into anything outside of the first game Baron.

All in all, the year should still be considered a massive success for the fledgling European organization. A team made up four veterans and one rookie, xPeke and co. had to fight from the very bottom of the regional ladder at the start of the campaign and wound up in the semifinals of the World Championships. xPeke only wanted to be a middling team in the EU LCS playoffs, and Origen surpassed all preseason expectations, giving Fnatic the fight of their lives in the EU LCS summer final and making it to the Top 4 at Worlds before losing to an all-time great team in SKT T1. Their communication was the big issue in the series, as the offensive mid-game decisions trapped them in games two and three. A long offseason with IEM San Jose in the near future should be enough practice to further along the development of this squad. With only a few months of premiere league experience under their belts as a five man unit, I don't think Origen's evolution as a team is done by a long shot.

Greatness awaits SKT T1 in Berlin, Germany. They've raised their undefeated record to 12-0 and are three straight map wins away from putting themselves in the record books as a perfect team. Sure, T1 have won 12 games in a row, but what have they really showed to either KOO or Fnatic heading into the Summoner's Cup Finals? Faker has spammed Ryze for a majority of the tournament, seemingly playing the late-scaling mage until someone can beat him on it. The player with the widest champion pool we've ever seen has only played a couple of champions this tournament, and that isn't a good sign for either Kuro or Febiven heading into the final with Faker not needing to hold back picks any longer.

There is only five possible games left in the year for the former world champion mid laner, so if either Fnatic or KOO can knock out the Ryze, expect the unexpected in the mid lane from T1's crown jewel.

Tyler "Fionn" Erzberger is a staff writer for theScore eSports. You can follow him on Twitter.