The LPL’s Invictus Gaming crushed Fnatic in a 3-0 series to cement themselves in modern League of Legends history as world champions.
The series began with IG in the driver’s seat. IG jungler Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning applied early pressure on Fnatic mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther. IG took first blood against Caps and continued to punch down the middle lane. Fnatic’s Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen tried to stem the bleeding with his Lee Sin, but IG star mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin couldn’t be stopped.
Fnatic continued to leak kills as IG choked them out with oppressive vision. From there, IG used a Baron buff to easily pushed for the win.
Ning replicated game one’s aggression into the top lane, ganking for IG’s Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok. Ning demolished Fnatic’s GabriĂ«l “Bwipo” Rau and secured a massive gold lead for himself and TheShy. Hoping to swing the game back in their favor, Fnatic tried a last ditch Baron. Before Fnatic could escape with the buff, IG aced Fnatic, took an inhibitor, and eventually took game two of the World Championship final.
Entering game three, Fnatic substituted Bwipo out for Paul “sOAZ” Boyer. Unlike in games one and two, Fnatic showed some signs of life. Despite this, IG’s Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo came out with a massive eight kill streak. IG took to the Baron pit again, but a miraculous smite steal from Broxah kept Fnatic’s hopes alive.
Even with Fnatic’s steal, IG pounded on the doors of the EU representative. Fnatic attempted to trade outer objectives, but this amounted to little as IG took inhibitors in exchange. There was nothing Fnatic could do as the LPL team pushed through the bottom lane, took a decisive team fight, and destroyed the Fnatic nexus.
Worlds 2018 started with everyone’s eyes on the LPL’s Royal Never Give Up. RNG was the clear favorite coming into this tournament, having won MSI and the LPL summer playoffs. But when RNG was knocked out by G2, it suddenly seemed as though anyone could win the year’s biggest League of Legends tournament.
Making League of Legends history, an EU team and a team from the LPL made it to the grand final of the World Championship, while Cloud9’s miraculous run secured the first semifinal appearance for a North American LCS team.
Song “Rookie” Eui-jin, the star mid laner for Invictus Gaming, took to the stage after their victory with tears in his eyes.
“I’m so proud I could provide this championship to the LPL fans. I hope the fans continue to have faith in IG and continue to support us in the future,” Rookie said.
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