GAME 1

In every big series, there is at least one game that goes very slowly, and that was this game. Maybe the teams just wanted to feel one another out, or maybe both teams had the jitters about being in the finals, either way, the game went nearly twenty-four minutes without a single kill from either team.

We did get to see Crown on Malzahar again, something we anticipated in our preview, and it worked exactly as SSG would have hoped, with Crown nearly taking Faker on in a 1v1. This alone was enough to show how rattled SKT was that Faker was so easily pushed around in lane. The real problem was the game was over before it began. SKT’s draft was simply too weak. It made little sense to play Galio five games in a row in their previous series and then first ban him against SSG (something they continued to do every single game). Even Faker’s choice of Cassiopeia into Malzahar had many scratching their heads. Their comps simply didn’t show the same level of strategy and cohesion most expect out of SKT. Out the gate, it looked bad for SKT, and while this 7-0 loss was their worst, it didn’t get much better.

 GAME 2

All the things SKT did wrong in Game 1, they set out to do right in Game 2. This started with a far more ambitious and thought-out draft with Huni taking a Yasuo into CuVee’s Gnar. Knowing SSG’s top lane was their star, they opted into a strong counter which worked wonders. Even Faker stepped up to the plate on Ryze and led the team in several early game leads and kills, but then the fatigue that seemed to have settled over SKT returned.

By the half-way point, SKT stopped their aggression. The pressure which had given them such a huge lead was simply abandoned as SSG slowly climbed back into the game, and then, at a team fight around dragon, SKT focused on taking down Gnar while SSG’s backline decimated them. CuVee’s Gnar and Ambition’s Jarvan then stepped up to do combo after combo on SKT, linking their ults together to constantly catch out SKT. It was reminiscent of SKT vs EDG, when they built for a CC heavy team that could come back from any deficit, but SKT found the situation reversed, and seemed unable to come up with a draft of similar power against SSG.

GAME 3

For all the things SKT was doing wrong, SSG was doing a lot right. CuVee was constantly getting picks, and every game Ruler and CoreJJ were outplaying Bang and Wolf, but it was in Game 3 that the gap in bot lane was particularly noticeable. Ruler was caught out numerous times by SKT, constantly with his back to the wall as the team collapsed onto him, but he never once let the pressure get to him. He never panicked, and several fights that could have been disasters were brought back through by him.

On the other side, SKT was falling apart with bad plays. If Bang wasn’t ulting enemies away with Trist’s ult – a moment of clear frustration for Faker as he teleported for a gank – then Blank was knocking Ruler away from death with a Gragas ult. It was a muddled, confusing game from the team that has been known for playing better than anyone in the world.

Their coach – Kouma – mentioned in a recent interview about the mortality of SKT, and how with each year the pressure mounted on them to do better than the last year. It seemed all that pressure finally peeked in this series, giving Samsung Galaxy the title of World champions.