Korean teams have been dominating League of Legends professional scene ever since Season 2 when they debuted and up to Season 8 they barely lost any games in World Championships, especially in group stage. This year changed it all.
Season 8 will be remembered as one of the rockiest seasons League of Legends had due to numerous issues both the game and Riot Games faced over the span on 2018. But Season 8 will also be remembered as the season where absolute Korean domination stopped.
Ever since Season 2, the worst win-loss record any Korean team had in the group stage was 4-2, but World Championship 2018 started off with a number of upsets in the first two days of the competition. This resulted in Korean teams having an aggregate score of 1-4, with only their number one seed, KT Rolster scoring a victory against Team Liquid so far.
Afreeca Freecs have lost two matches so far, with the one against Flash Wolves not being that much of a surprise as the latter are known for brilliant starts in tournaments so far. For example they won all of their first six matches during MSI 2018, even against giants such as RNG. The more surprising loss Afreeca Freecs had was against G2, which is essentially the third European seed, as they reached World Championship through play-ins.
This came as a surprise to everyone, but we must admit - things started looking interesting the moment Afreeca Freecs left Heimerdinger open for Hjarnan. We believe they will not repeat the same mistake in the rematch on 15 October 2018.
Riot Games
Meanwhile, the second Korean team to go 0-2 so far is Gen. G who just recently lost to the Chinese powerhouse RNG, so it's not that much of an upset, considering the latter are one of the favourites to win the tournament. Team Vitality were the ones pulling a surprise as they managed to beat the Koreans, as Jiizuke played Ekko with Mejai's Soulstealer. Hardly anyone would dare buy that item against a strong team, but Vitality dared and they won.
Both of the European teams that won against Koreans so far would look good for going through the group stage if they didn't drop the ball later on though, as G2 lost to Phong Vu Buffalo and Vitality lost to Cloud 9. Upsets all over the place resulted in unpredictable group stage where everything is still possible, but they also ruined the day for anyone who played Worlds Pick 'Em.
League of Legends - showcase of several champion splash arts
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