Invictus Gaming advanced to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship semifinals with a victory over Griffin.
IG is one step closer to getting its second World Championship title. The LPL team took the win over rookie organization Griffin and became the first team in the semifinals.
Invictus Gaming is in it to win it at LoL Worlds
IG started the series with two scrappy victories.
The defending champion started games one and two by losing the early game. Griffin showcased good control of the game and excellent teamwork, but in both games IG turned the game around after one team fight. IG showed that they can still capitalize on the enemy’s mistakes and take a mile whenever a foe gives them an inch.
In game one, Griffin committed to the Rift Herald as IG sat back and watched them. Once Griffin took the herald, IG jumped in to get the kills on their wounded prey.
In game two, the game-changing play came around the baron buff. Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok on Kayle was the strongest player in the series, as he consistently provided IG with late-game insurance.
Griffin claimed one victory in game three. The team regained control of the situation and utilized the same Kayle that destroyed them in the previous game.
Along the way, Griffin showed how much they have grown since their start in the LCK. The team remained cool, calm and collected, not falling into the bad habits that cost them the LCK finals three times.
Bottom laner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon deserves an honorable mention. In game three, he achieved his first pentakill at Worlds. Viper had an outstanding performance throughout the series, jumping in and out of the plays and executing enemies at will.
Unfortunately, Griffin couldn’t take advantage of Viper’s mechanical talent.
IG closed the series in game four. Griffin made the crucial mistake of leaving Kayle open for TheShy. The top laner was merciless on this pick, scoring an early kill over Choi “Sword” Sung-won to start snowballing the game out of control. Griffin couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding and TheShy’s presence on the map was enough to scare away the enemies.
TheShy was singlehandedly the best player in the entire series. His ability to play the side lanes and his clean execution on Kayle carried the rest of the team to victory. Griffin goes home disappointed after losing another best-of-five series.
IG will return in the semifinals, where they will face the winner of FunPlus Phoenix vs. Fnatic.
