Learning From the MSI, Part 1: The Best in the West

Mixing Up the Mid-Season

The middle of the season, after the major regions’ Spring Splits have finished, has historically been characterized by a more light-hearted event known as All-Stars. Featuring voting for the inclusion of fan favorites in various modes of combat, the All-Star events were supposed to tide the world over and give them a little dose of competition in primarily exhibition matches.

However, this year Riot decided to move the All-Stars event to the end of the year, after the World Championships have concluded, and have instead introduced the Mid-Season Invitational.

In this new format, the winners of each major region’s Spring would compete for bragging rights, and of course, a wad of cash. Because the participants all qualified under much more recent and controlled circumstances, the representation at the tournament looked much better than IEM Katowice, the last international tournament held this year.

After this best of the best clash, the League of Legends community would hopefully find the answers as to where the different regions stood in terms of overall power. Were Koreans still number one in the world? How did the Korean exodus really affect China now that their top team was showing up (instead of Team WE at IEM, who were at the bottom of the LPL at the time)? Was Team Solo Mid truly worthy of their title as the best team in the West?

This opening article will discuss much of the latter, as we dive into how the MSI started and ended for the North American and European representatives.

Who Is the Best in the West?

Two of League of Legend’s most storied Western sides appeared at the MSI, but with vastly different build ups and reputations.

Team Solo Mid, the perennial North American darlings, were billed as the brightest hope for the ‘weaker’ side of the world to finally match up to or even beat the Korean overlords. TSM had their region in a stranglehold for most of NA League of Legends Championship Series spring. With mid lane star Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg calling the shots, he exploded out of laning phase with commanding victories throughout the split, proving that nobody in North America could touch him.

Add to this that TSM won IEM Katowice, which had the likes of GE Tigers, CJ Entus and SK Gaming in attendance, on top of being #1 in their region, and you can see why they were riding such a big hype train.

In contrast, Fnatic looked to be riding the little engine that could. Though the organization can boast of being the Season 1 World Champions, none of those players exist on the current roster. Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim, the grizzled veteran support player, captained a Cinderella story of a season, bringing four untested players together to capture the European title.

The road was rough, and for most of the season, Fnatic had to play second fiddle to the dominant SK Gaming, and only managed to brawl their way through the playoffs in close contests against H2k-Gaming and Unicorns of Love to make it to the MSI.

Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim stands beside Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, both of them looking to captain their teams to victory.

Fnatic were not only coming in as the underdog champion with a lineup of neophytes, but they were also set against the backdrop of Europe’s horrible international performances in 2014. No European team advanced out of the group stage of the Season 4 World Championships, with added insults such as SK Gaming’s Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen receiving a small tournament ban for racist actions and last year’s champions in Alliance falling to Brazil’s KaBuM! e-Sports in a monumental upset.

Expect the Unexpected

It was fitting then, that the first match of the MSI would be TSM versus Fnatic, in what could very well decide which team would enter the semifinal. What many thought would be a win for TSM was actually a rather decisive loss.

Fnatic set the pace for how TSM would show up in the MSI, by first banning out every safe pick TSM’s top laner Marcus “Dyrus” Hill used throughout the Spring Split in Lulu, Sion and Maokai. This forced Dyrus into the trap of picking Gnar, which went up against EU Rookie of the Split, Seong “Huni” Hoonheo’s surprise Cassiopeia counter.

Combine that with TSM having next to no presence out of the jungle, and Fnatic’s own jungler pressuring all over the map, and the hopes of North America were thwarted right out the gate. The last time Bjergsen and Lucas “Santorin” Larsen looked so ineffective was at IEM San Jose when they were embarrassed by the Unicorns of Love.

As TSM’s coach, Choi “Locodoco” Yoonsub, tweeted: Expect the unexpected. Many imagined that meant TSM would at least come close to winning the tournament, but even that was turned on its head, as TSM faced defeat after crushing defeat in the round robin to send their hype crashing down to the tune of a 1-4 record.

TSM’s top laner, Dyrus, was constantly banned out by their opponents and focused throughout the tournament.

It was only in hindsight that people began to see that the win at IEM was even more hollow than previously speculated. Yes, TSM won that tournament, but did so without beating top Korean or Chinese talent in a best of series.

To complicate matters, their poor performance could only highlight that if TSM were so unprepared for the best of the other regions then the other logical problem point was that the North American region as a whole is not challenging them. TSM’s lack of local competition may have fueled their hype, but ultimately has led to their downfall.

The only thing for the kings of North America to do would be to lick their wounds, regroup, and shore up the weaknesses that were exposed at this tournament in hopes of a much better showing, assuming they make it to the 2015 World Championship.

Making God Kings Bleed

While TSM faced their reckoning at the hands of the Eastern teams, Fnatic managed to scrape by on that singular win against North America, making it to the bracket stage. Their opponent? Season 3 World Champions, SK Telecom, and the god of mid lane play, Lee “Faker” Sanghyuk.

The matchup destined to be a one-sided affair was thrown for a loop again. Once more, Fnatic came in as underdogs, and once again they defied the odds by taking the Korean powerhouse team to the full 5-game series.

There’s a lot to cover if we were to cover the games, simply because each was action packed. I would actually suggest you watch all the replays if you haven’t seen the series to witness one of the most stunning performances a Western team has ever put up in recent history.

To give context to the triumph Fnatic has achieved despite their loss to SK Telecom, the only time any Western team has ever bested a Korean team in a 5-game series was all the way back in Azubu The Champions Summer 2012, where CLG.EU defeated NaJin Black Sword to advance to the finals. The classic Gambit Gaming lineup also boasts wins against Korean teams, but in a best of 3 format.

Back then, Korean dominance wasn’t even as established as it is today. Ever since then, no North American or European team could provide a formidable challenge for a Korean squad, so for Fnatic to go and test the limits of a former World Champion team goes beyond all expectations.

These games also highlighted the promising talent of the rookies of Europe, with Huni making play upon highlight play, and even turning around a 2v1 dive from Faker and Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-Hwan. Fnatic’s Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten also made a name for himself by being the only Western mid laner to solo kill Faker twice in one game!

At the end of the day, Fnatic still lost, and there will be those who say that there are no moral victories. But anyone who’s watched 300 can tell you that sometimes, even making a dent in an otherwise impervious enemy can be enough to inspire hope—and that is what Fnatic, rookie roster or no, has done for Europe and the West at MSI.

Look to the East

As hyped up and epic as the Western showdown was, there was more than one regional rivalry to be found at the MSI. You could even argue that this rivalry is bigger, or more relevant than any other rivalry in the entire scene right now, and that is China versus Korea for the title of Most Dominating Region.

Korean teams seem to have cemented their place at the top of the professional League of Legends food chain with dominant international performances over the past two or so years. The past two World Champions are Korean, and only in the recently concluded IEM Katowice did a Korean team ‘disappoint’ in terms of what was expected of them.

China has, for the better part of the last few years, been in Korea’s shadow. They’ve always come close, but have never regained the glory of the old days of World Elite. After the current iteration of WE reformed to make a surprise surge at Katowice, many wondered what China could do if their representative was their best team instead of one of the LPL bottom feeders. Edward Gaming would seek to answer that question at the MSI.

Stay tuned, Summoners, as we break down the fated clash of the Eastern titans in Part 2!

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