2015 LoL World Championships
October is the month that all League of Legends fans and players enjoy the most. The specific month holds a climactic tournament that defines each season: Worlds. This event placed in four regions of Europe. The Group Stages took place in Paris, France. After two weeks in Paris, they transferred to London, England for the Quarterfinals. Knockout Stages started, where teams would face each other off in a Best of Five. Once the Quarterfinals were complete, Semifinals came the following week in Belgium’s Brussels. The last two teams that remain were to travel to Berlin, Germany for the Finals, competing to win the one million US dollars and the Summoner’s Cup they were to earn as the 2015 World Champion team.
As we reached the 2015 World Championship, the sixteen groups that reigned as the top two/three victors in Regionals attended this month-long event. Three teams from North America, Europe, Korea, and China qualify, while two from Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau qualify. Two teams from International Wildcard regions also qualify.
Teams Who Attended Worlds
The North American teams that attended Worlds were Team SoloMid(TSM), Counter Logic Gaming(CLG), and Cloud9(C9), who all failed to make it past the final week of the Group Stages.
The European teams were H2k-Gaming(H2K), Fnatic(FNC), and Origen(OG). H2K didn’t make it past the final week of the Group Stages and gave their spot in the Quarterfinals to LPL team, Edward Gaming, who battled Fnatic and lost which made FNC advance to the Semifinals for the third time. Fnatic’s victory was short-lived though, being that they lost the Best of Five matchup in the Semis. Origen also had a rough time in the Group Stages, going four/two by the win to loss ratio just like Fnatic. They made the second and final seed in the Group Stages and fought the LMS Flash Wolves to prove their worth. Succeeding, they also take place in the Semifinals, but then lose to the currently undefeated SKTelecom T1.
The Korean teams became known as SKTelecom T1(SKT), KOO Tigers(KOO), and KT Rolster(KT). KT made it as far as the Quarterfinals, where they had to face their Korean companions, KOO. They attempted to put up a fight in the Best of Five, but went one/three in the matchup and had to leave the tournament. SKT and KOO both had a very strong season and proved their superiority to the EU LCS teams, Fnatic and Origen. Both teams advanced to the Finals to battle head-to-head for the Summoner's Cup.
In the LPL, the Chinese teams were LDG Gaming(LGD), Edward Gaming(EDG), and Invictus Gaming(IG). LGD and Invictus Gaming both were left in the dust during the second week of the Group Stages with only EDG left to compete. Unfortunately, they only made it as far as the Quarterfinals, where they got stomped by Fnatic.
Two teams from Taiwan made it to the Quarterfinals. They were known as the ahq e-Sports Club(AHQ) and the Flash Wolves(FW). Both teams had an exceptional time in the Group Stages but lost their footing during the Quarterfinals.
Lastly, the International Wildcard teams were the Bangkok Titans(BKT) from Thailand and Brazilian team, paiN Gaming(PNG). Sadly, both of these teams underperformed during their stay in the Group Stages and failed to advance.
Five Impact Players
There were large amounts of evidence that the teams did really well this year, being only Season Five in League of Legends. For sure though, there are at least five players that proved their worth in the tournament. Those players are Febiven, Faker, AN, Smeb, and Niels. They may not have been the most powerful of their teams, but they proved a lot during the course of Worlds.
Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten is the Mid Laner for Fnatic. Personally, he’s 19 years old and is from the Netherlands. This was his first year at Worlds. Formerly, Febiven was in Cloud 9 Eclipse, a Challenger Series team. Afterwards, he joined H2K, where they underperformed and failed to make it to Worlds. On January 7th, 2015, H2k-Gaming announced Febiven’s departure. Since Fnatic was rebuilding their team at the time, they called on Febiven for his place in the mid lane. In Worlds, he played four Champions; Viktor, Orianna, Azir, and LeBlanc each three times over the course of his twelve games.
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is the Mid Laner for SKTelecom T1. His life has been spent in South Korea as a 19 year-old. Faker is known as the best Mid Laner in the World, but this season has been a questionable one. When Faker played in Worlds, he played non-meta Champions such as Ryze, Kassadin, and Olaf. His other two were Lulu and Azir, which were more popular.
Chou “AN” Chun An is the AD Carry for ahq e-Sports Club and formerly known as OhReaL. AN is 21 years old and lives in Taiwan. His played Champions were Kalista, Jinx, and Tristana. Playing Jinx was one of his top priorities in Worlds. His Support, Albis, would play Tahm Kench when he had the chance, which made the two almost unstoppable.
Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho is the Top Laner for KOO Tigers. He’s 20 years old and is from South Korea, just like his Korean brother-in-arms, Faker. Smeb was the powerful frontline in the Semifinals that faced off against one of his best friends from Fnatic, Reignover. He had a large pool of Champions that he chose for Worlds. He played Fiora, Darius, Riven, Gnar, Hecarim, Lulu, and Kennen. As a fact, he played Fiora seven of seventeen games.
Jesper “Niels” Svenningsen is the AD Carry for Origen. He is from Denmark, and is only 17 years old. Like Febiven, he is also a rookie when it comes to Worlds. He performed well, showing his months of growth. He chose Kalista, Sivir, Jinx, Kog’Maw, and Tristana to accompany him at Worlds.
10 Most Picked/Banned Champions
As far as Champions, 74 of the 127 of them were used over the course of Worlds. They always have the more popular characters to use though due to the Meta creating ones more powerful than others. Ten of the Champions with the highest pick/ban percentage are: Gangplank at 98.6%, Mordekaiser at 97.3%, Elise at 95.9%, Lulu at 95.9%, Rek’Sai at 78.1%, Darius at 72.6%, Kalista at 72.6%, Azir at 57.5%, Thresh at 49.3%, and Alistar at 46.6%.
Two-Time Champions
The battle between SKT and the KOO Tigers was intense. Favors were in the hands of SKTelecom, unfortunately. Before battling KOO, they were undefeated with a perfect twelve games. The day of Best of Five, and the votes from the viewers were clear on who they thought was to win; 82% thought SKT, and 18% thought KOO. No matter what though, a Korean team would be holding the Summoner’s Cup. The first game played out, and SKT slaughtered KOO. It didn’t look good. Usually, the first game sets the mood for the following others. For example, when Fnatic and Origen lost their first games of the Semis, they did worse the other two games than their first game, but not KOO. The second game, they were even in kills, but SKT slowly ate at the map and broke KOO Tiger’s Nexus once more. One more game, and SKTelecom T1 would claim their undefeated victory at 14-0. KOO was hanging on by a thread, but they were determined. Game three, and they snapped, skirmishing kills on all sides of the map and forcing their enemy’s Nexus to break for the first time of the tournament. Due to this, the unexpected fourth game was forced to be started, but this time SKT weren’t to be fooled. They flattened the chances of KOO winning the fourth game. SKT may have won, and became the first team to win two Championships, but they didn’t win undefeated, which is the pride KOO will hold. "Two teams have risen above their peers. Ten warriors have laid claim to the Summoner’s Cup. Five champions will etch their names in history. The 2015 World Championship concludes on October 31st. Watch them become legends." Riot Games said as a description to the following video.