LOL Finals – Predictions and Thoughts

The 2017 League of Legends World Championship semifinals are in the books, leaving South Korea’s SK Telecom T1 and Samsung Galaxy as our finalists.

Incidentally, this is a rematch of last year’s final, which SKT won to become three time world champions. Samsung will be looking for revenge in this matchup, as both last year’s bridesmaids and LCK rivals of SKT. The prevailing narrative for this matchup, even moreso than SSG’s potential redemption, will be the rivalry between SKT’s Faker and SSG’s Ambition. Ambition, now a jungler, was a star mid laner when Faker came onto the scene. Faker solo killed Ambition in his first ever game, starting a meteoric rise to the top of the League of Legends world, heights Ambition came within reach of in last year’s final before falling short. A fourth title for SKT will cement them as the greatest dynasty and Faker as the greatest player of all time. For SSG, this is a redemption story and they have the potential to stage the greatest upset in LoL history.

All odds below are as provided by ArcaneBet.com

Samsung Galaxy vs SK Telecom T1

SKT made their fourth final out of four world championships after staging a comeback from a 2-1 deficit to defeat RNG in their semifinal.

Once again, Faker played outstandingly, helping his team navigate the series in masterful fashion.

His play on Galio was textbook, serving as the front line for SKT in all fights. SKT’s bot lane, Bang and Wolf, also deserve immense credit for the comeback, as their play in games 4 and 5 was immaculate.

The jungler position, which has been a source of consternation for SKT, seems to have been solved with Peanut coming back into the lineup and posting a 6-0-3 line in game 5.

Important to keep in mind is that Peanut’s performance marks one game of a five game series where SKT has received adequate play from the jungle.

After dropping game 1 of their semifinal vs Team WE, SSG steamrolled their way to the final.

SSG’s bot lane of Ruler and CoreJJ has vastly improved throughout the tournament, going from being the weakest link of the team to arguably their strongest.

Aside from a disastrous game one performance, CuVee played like the best top laner in the world. SSG mid laner, Crown, played well enough in the semifinal but needs to play at the level he is capable of in the final if SSG wants to win the final.

If not, Ambition will need to provide assistance, as he has throughout the tournament.

I alluded to they key points in this final above- for SKT, jungle play remains a major issue, but will hopefully be solved by a resurgent Peanut.

SSG will need Crown to play up to his skill cap to have a chance at winning the final, as he has been spotty at best throughout the tournament. If not, Ambition will need to continually apply pressure against Faker in the mid lane, allowing SKT’s side lanes to play without fear of jungle pressure.

This would also open up Peanut to snowball the other lanes, especially if Faker holds his own in what would basically be a 2v1.

Would it be shocking if SSG won this final?

No- this is a talented team that has experience and can go the distance. But based on their play, SKT’s skill, coaching, and overall form, I don’t see very many paths to victory for SSG.

SSG needs too many things to go right to win this tournament, whereas SKT has rounded into form and only has one major issue to rectify, which may have been solved.

Strangely enough, SKT is arguably the best value they have been in the tournament thus far, making them the easy pick at 1.58.

Related:

• LOL worlds schedule and predictions
• LOL worlds livescore & results

umdfresh103

The author

As a former top laner with deep knowledge of the game and lacking mechanical skill, I'm here to provide the best available insight on the professional LoL scene. Expect a combination of hot takes, cold analysis, and hopefully profits! Good luck, happy betting, and wards save lives!

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