Earlier today, European underdogs, Origen, went up against the leading team in China, LGD Gaming. LGD was the clear team to win, with all analysts coming to an anonymous vote that they would be the victors. LGD’s Imp is said to be the best AD Carry in the world, and he did not disappoint. He is definitely entertaining to watch and it is almost always a bloodbath when he is playing. His lack of worry regarding the match was apaprent before picks and bans when he was filmed just slouching back in his chair, not a care in the world.
Origen’s xPeke is wildly known for his backdoor tactics while he was on Fnatic, but he has been slightly under the radar as of late because of how much of an underdog team Origen is thought to be. LGD only banned one champion from his pool, Varus, leaving him with other options such as Orianna, whom he chose. For a slow start to the game with odds being very much in LGD’s favor, xPeke and Niels, OG’s ADC, ended up dominating. Neck and neck at 33 minutes, OG had a slight lane advantage, even though they were down 4 kills. The focus was meant to be on botlane, mainly due to Imp, but xPeke greatly changed that after he got an amazing quadra kill midlane with a successful Shockwave.
A very successful Baron and fight shortly afterwards lead to Origen being able to push lanes with their Baron buff. They are able to take bottom inhibitor turrent and as they’re running back through LGD’s bottom jungle, we see the most useless teleport in Worlds history by LGD’s Acorn; he has no teammates nor ultimate to follow up, so he ends up just teleporting in and walking away.
Now, Imp was incredibly fed this game, being 7-3, but both xPeke and Niels had 5 kills each. LGD’s mistake was going for that last Baron. Origen’s Soaz, who had not been doing too well in his lane and was 0-3, was quickly soloing (with the help of minions) LGD’s Nexus turrets. He was able to get both of them down and was chunking away at the Nexus before Acorn could get back to base and use his ultimate ability to try and contest it. Getting him down to half health, Soaz Sanguine Pools to the other side of the Nexus, also gaining health while doing so to make sure Acorn couldn’t kill him and continues to hit the Nexus. By this point, all LGD players and no longer even touching their mouse and keyboards. That was it. The game was done. Their heads in their hands, they watch on as they lose against a barely out-of-challenger team.
No one should ever underestimate a lesser known team, especially when there are seasoned champions on it. Origen didn’t have to deal with the pressure that many players and teams succumb to, leaving them maybe too riled up to perform as they should. This was a team who were calm, cool and collected, much like LGD, but for very different reasons: LGD probably thought, as did the analysts and most of the audience, that they had this game in the bag. Origen were calm because they were confident in their teamfights, communication and altogether ability to play well without needing to get cocky with their plays. It was the smart path.
Another thing that needs to be mentioned is yesterday’s comment from SKT T1’s Faker and H2K’s Ryu regarding the highlight video made a while back when they went Zed vs Zed. Ryu was nearly full health, with Faker at maybe a quarter health, but Faker tragically yet beautifully outplayed Ryu, leading to what is now known as the ”Ryu face”, a face he made afterwards showing that he could not believe what had happened and all hope was pretty much lost. Ryu’s comment going into yesterday SKT vs H2K match was that he wanted to create another highlight video, but this time be on the killing side. He has held onto that loss for a very long time. Faker’s comment, on the other hand, was how everything in League of Legends should be handled: The past is the past. Neither play the same way anymore, so it is as if he’s going up someone completely new. He went into this match fresh, with only hopes on winning on his mind. Ryu went into the match just wanting to beat Faker, which he did, but not in a 1v1, and never will be beat him the way Faker beat Ryu. That’s something Ryu is going to have to let go of.
Origen faces my beloved Team SoloMid tomorrow at 8 AM PST.