The 2018 League of Legends World Championship quarterfinals stage was shocking. It’s hard to believe that three LCS teams made it to the semifinals and no Korean team is left. This shows that change is coming to the professional League of Legends scene and it’s driven by the four remaining teams. They are now in a race to innovate and push their way to the final.
Here are four key lessons we’ve learned so far this year and what the semifinalists can take into this weekend’s matchups.
Trust Yourself
The teams that trusted in themselves came out on top. Trust can manifest in many ways. For example, Fnatic’s mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther trusted that his jungler and support would have his back when he struggled. G2 trusted in their 1-3-1 split push strategy and it led to an upset victory over Royal Never Give Up.
Trust can even come from unexpected sources. Cloud9 realized that they were at their best with jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen in the lineup. They trusted his map awareness and his ability to snowball the game.
Trust is a powerful motivator and the foundation of the remaining four teams.
Don’t Be Stubborn
Trust allows teams and players to change and admit when they are wrong. Both KT Rolster and RNG suffered from stubbornness in their quarterfinal matches. RNG refused to abandon their strategy centered around ADC Jian “Uzi” Zi-hao, despite having a deep and flexible roster. KT stuck with a champion that wasn’t their best pick for their ADC, resulting in their elimination.
Red Side Matters
Being on the red side has advantages if used properly. IG capitalized on this in their series against KT by counter-picking the solo lanes and saving power picks for the draft. Red side win rate is a good indicator of a team’s strength. RNG and Afreeca Freecs struggled with red side drafts in the quarterfinals.
The Gap is Shrinking
The gap between Korean teams and the rest of the world is shrinking. Korean teams made too many mistakes and were outplayed in the quarterfinals. Western and Chinese teams are no longer at a talent deficit. Any of the remaining teams can win the World Championship, showing that anyone can win Worlds.
League of Legends, World Championship, LCS teams, Korean teams, semifinals, trust, innovation, key lessons, quarterfinals, upset, stubbornness, red side, shrinking gap.