DAMWON Gaming defeats Suning Gaming in a 3-1 series. The League of Legend World Championship is the pinnacle of competitive eSports. Both finalists put it all on the line for the opportunity to become the League of Legends World Champions. Korea has reclaimed its throne as the best competitive League of Legends region in the world.
DAMWON GAMING ARE THE 2020 WORLD CHAMPIONS! 🏆 #Worlds2020 pic.twitter.com/5ugqBGJ0cs
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 31, 2020
Sweet, Sweet Victory
DAMWON Gaming has put an end to the Chinese era of dominance. The League of Legends Champions Korea, or LCK, had been on top of the competitive international scene for five consecutive years. In 2013, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok lead his team, SK Telecom T1, and Korea to their first world championship. This was the beginning of Korean dominance. For the next five years, Korea would proudly hoist the international trophies of their head.
That all changed in 2018 when Invictus Gaming, from the Tencent League of Legends Pro League, won their first international tournament and brought the trophy home to China. This was the first time that a Korean team hadn’t made it to the finals, let alone the semi-finals. China would go on to win the championship again in 2019, and it seemed as though the Korean hype train had run out of steam. DAMWON Gaming made sure that the world didn’t forget about Korea.
Game 1
DAMWON Gaming came into game one with a solid draft. Their champion choices allowed them to have strong laning phases, but Suning Gaming came to fight. Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu came into game one with an aggressive jungle Graves pick. Suning Gaming’s Shen pick allowed the game to stay competitive until late into the match. But they were matched blow for blow and eventually DAMWON was able to accrue a slight gold advantage — enough to let them pick up the win.
Game 2
Game two saw Canyon on another popular jungle pick — Evelynn. The team got off to a solid start, picking up the first kill of the game at twelve minutes. DAMWON Gaming took off with an early lead, but their top lane opponent Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin was a ticking time bomb. Bin would unleash his team’s potential and begin decimating the DAMWON Gaming carries. Unfortunately for DAMWON Gaming, they didn’t end the game fast enough.
Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin would go on throughout the game and bully the DAMWON mid-laner. His Fiora would receive the first-ever pentakill in a League of Legends World Championship final. Bin cemented his name into League of Legends history regardless of the overall outcome.
Game 3
Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon, the top laner for DAMWON Gaming busted out his trademark Kennen pick. Although Kennen hasn’t been seen often in the current meta of League of Legends, Nuguri helped his team cross the finish line to their second victory. The game was close, just as the other games were, it was a nail biter. But Canyon on his signature Graves pick, and Nuguri on his Kennen would give Suning Gaming hell.
The win comes after a late-game mistake from Suning Gaming support, Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh. He was caught and chased into the bottom blue side quadrant and this gave DWG the confidence to start Baron Nashor. Upon beginning the Baron, the remaining members of SN Gaming arrive to contest. Nuguri’s Kennen pick came in clutch and forced SN Gaming to retreat but like a shark, DAMWON smelled blood in the water. DWG killed three members of SN Gaming and pushed down the mid lane for another victory.
Game 4
DAMWON Gaming asserts their Korean dominance and dismantles Suning Gaming. Game four was not like any of the others — it was not nearly as close. DWG’s support player, Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee, would come in red hot. His Pantheon support was a force to be reckoned with. It grabbed them first blood, and the rest was history. BeryL was able to facilitate the fights that allowed his carries to get ahead.
Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun, the team’s marksman, was the beneficiary of BeryL’s hard work. The marksman finished the final match of the series with a solid 9/1/5 scoreline. Canyon, who also adopted another marksman in the jungle, finished 8/0/7. Shoutcaster Trevor “Quickshot” Henry stated what everyone was thinking when he said, “You cannot hear a sound in Shangai as DAMWON are making a statement in game number four.” The crowd fell even more silent as SN Gaming’s nexus exploded, and DWG had won the series.
The Best Team since SK Telecom T1
It had been a long time since Korea felt the World Championship trophy in their hands. DAMWON Gaming proved to the world that they had what it takes. They were able to prove that Korea was still a competitive force that should not be taken lightly. Their jungler, Canyon, was voted MVP by shout casters, analysts, and journalists.
Nuguri had a post-game interview with Laure “Bulli” Valée (@LAUREBUlIIV). After a few productional mistakes, she finally posed the question, “What does it mean to you to bring the title back in Korea?” Nuguri, accompanied by his translator responded, “LCK has been winning a couple of worlds and then they started having a little bit of a slump. So I think with this victory we were able to show that LCK has learned a lot of lessons. And for me personally, I think we, DAMWON Gaming, itself as a team, after getting eliminated last year, a lot of people were criticizing that we were kind of weak on the big stage. But this time around, we’re happy. We’re super happy that we have proven ourselves because we had a lot to prove in front of the crowd and we made it happen.”
Returning as Champions
DAMWON Gaming will be returning to Korea as the League of Legends Champions of the world. In their success, Riot Games will be releasing champion skins for the characters of their choosing. For now, Korea reigns supreme once again.
