:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57218361/CoreJJ.0.jpg)
For the first time at Worlds 2017 we have a truly surprising upset, and it came in the first quarterfinal match of the tournament.
Coming into this series between Longzhu Gaming and Samsung Galaxy, Longzhu were not only favored to win the match up, but to win all of Worlds. But it simply wasn’t meant to be as Samsung proved once again that there is no team in the world better at creating strong game plans and executing them in a series. After a lackluster Group Stage, Samsung reworked their play entirely and came in with exactly the right plan to counter Longzhu’s style.
While Samsung’s greatness was certainly on display in every facet of the series, it’s worth mentioning that Longzhu didn’t quite look like themselves. The team had only played one best of five together as a team before this quarterfinal in the LCK Final against SK telecom T1. That lack of experience showed here as they struggled to find their footing in the first game and allowed each successive game to be just a little worse for them without ever finding a way back in.
Samsung Galaxy will advance to the Worlds 2017 semifinal where they will face-off against the winner of Team WE vs Cloud9.
Game One
Winner: Samsung Galaxy
Longzhu picked a very strange composition for the first game of the series, setting aside any concerns of what the meta at worlds has been so far and playing a mid-game, non-scaling split push team comp. It didn’t quite work. In the world’s easiest counter, Samsung played a meta composition and played slowly, which led them to a decisive but still tough win.
Game Two
Winner: Samsung Galaxy
This time, both teams draft fairly standard composition, but the result remains the same. Once again, Samsung took early control thanks to the jungle mid lane combination and through superior vision control managed to grow their lead and close the game quickly.
Game Three
Winner: Samsung Galaxy
Samsung once again proved to be the superior team in this series as they close strong with another solid win built around their early game objective control and late game teamfighting. Longzhu managed to exert a little bit of pressure near the end of the game, but Samsung absorbed the pressure perfectly never giving up an inch of their lead.