▲ Photo courtesy of Riot Games

The ill-fated relationship between players in the Sports industry is always an entertaining attribute for fans. The most skilled player who somehow becomes weak against one particular player, or tripping over at every critical moment that is repeated in similar matches, would eventually draw people’s attention.



eSports is no exception from this rule. Faker, the mid laner at SKT T1, would probably be the one who makes the most negative relationships. In fact, Ryu at Phoenix 1 has become the biggest solo-kill target ever since he got defeated by Faker when they fought with Zed. There are countless players who can’t climb over the wall of Faker at every critical moment, as Hans Sama at Misfits said after quarterfinals, “You can beat SKT T1, but you can’t beat Faker.”



Then, who would be the one that holds the longest negative relationship with Faker? It’s undoubtedly Ambition, the jungler at Samsung Galaxy. He used to be considered the best mid laner of LCK until the year of 2013, but the relationship began when he got solo-killed by Faker in his first debut stage of the LCK Spring.



Feeling even more suppressed by new mid laners such as Pawn and Rookie, he decided to change the position to jungle, and he even moved his base from CJ Blaze to Samsung Galaxy. This seems to be right choice as he managed to enter the World Championship 2016 for the first time and carry Samsung Galaxy, the team known to be relatively the weakest, to the semifinals. Of course, the final victory went to SKT led by Faker.



Two players’ relationship continues in 2017. The Summer Split Regular Season, in particular, was the time when SSG showed themselves as the SKT killer by destroying the enemy team. However, they got annihilated by 3 : 0 in the Postseason which was much more crucial, and Ambition himself didn’t show any outstanding performance at the time.



Two players are now about to face once again in the World Championship Finals this year. Whereas Faker needs to show his undiminished power as the King of LoL by defending his throne one more time, Ambition receives an opportunity to pay back the defeat in the LCK Summer Split this year, the bitter taste of the last World Championship, and the personal score of 9 : 22 between two professionals.



Although many predict Faker’s superiority referring to the statistics, Ambition also has a chance of winning considering each team’s overall and personal performances in quarterfinals and semifinals. Also, it would be a start for Ambition if SSG manages to sway the SKT’s reliability on Faker, just like how they mentioned during the interview.



How will the match with two players turn out? Who will be the main protagonist to claim the Summoner’s Cup? Everything will be decided in this weekend’s finals held in Beijing.

Related : Beat PraY, Win Worlds: The Strange Spells of the World Championship

■ Positive signs for Faker



* The team has won when they defeated Uzi’s RNG on the World Championship Knock-out stage

2013: SKT wins in the finals

2014: Samsung Galaxy White wins in the finals

2016: SKT wins the quarterfinals, then wins the championship

2017: SKT wins the semifinals(ongoing)



* SSG’s parallel theory

SSG’s movement to the World Championship is similar to that in 2016. The final matchup was exactly the same, and therefore SKT wins if the theory is valid.



* The rule of SKT’s absolute wins

SKT has always won the World Championship until now, except the year of 2014 when the team was dropped from qualifiers and failed to enter the championship. The winner was Samsung Galaxy White.



* Faker, renewing his heyday through quarterfinals and semifinals, and the rest of the team recovering their performances

■ Positive signs for Ambition



* The team has won when they defeated the enemy team with PraY on the World Championship Knock-out stage

2012: TPA wins in the quarterfinals(vs Najin Sword)

2013: SKT T1 wins in the semifilas(vs Najin Sword)

2015: SKT T1 wins in the finals(vs KOO Tigers)

2016: SKT T1 wins in the semifinals(vs ROX Tigers)

2017: SSG wins Longzhu Gaming in quarterfinals(ongoing)



* The bot duo showing their superiority in the current ADC-focused meta, and CuVee, the top laner who just seems unbeatable



* The score of both teams in 2017 - it favors SSG

Spring: SSG wins by 2 : 0 in the Regular Season 1R, SKT wins by 2 : 0 in 2R

Summer: SSG wins by 2 : 0 in all Regular Season 1R and 2R, SKT wins by 3 : 0 in the Postseason 1R

SSG in a better position with 5 : 6 set score and 2 :3 match score.