SK Telecom T1 vs Samsung Galaxy

It is time for the final match of the 2017 World Championship of LoL where SK Telecom T1 is facing off against the Samsung Galaxy, both teams from Korea, to not much of a surprise to anyone I guess. A little surprising that Longzhu Gaming was knocked out so early, and seemingly easily by SSG, but here we are.

Now, no doubt SKT1 is the favorites coming into this match. They were considered the favorites before the tournament started, and still are, even if they had a tough road to get here. Their group stage play was just as expected: solid and well executed. Business as usual for the 3 time world champions. But when we got to the playoffs and what looked to be a walkover match against Misfits, we almost witnessed one of the biggest upsets we would have seen in Worlds as far as I can remember. After being down 2-1 and on the ropes in game 4, a bad decision by Misfits saved SKT, and let them go for game 5 which they took for themselves. Much thanks to clutch plays by Faker to seal a victory.

Next was Royal Never Give Up, and they were out for blood seeing that SKT1 were actually mortal. It went about almost the same for SKT1: being on the ropes, 2-1 down, barely getting game 4, but also barely getting game 5 as well, again saved by Faker.

They have managed to get to the finals now, but are up against a team that has really stepped it up in the playoffs, even beating the #1 seed from Korea, Longzhu Gaming, 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

Now, comparing the two teams, we see that SSG is in a good position to play against how SKT1 are behaving at the moment: they have a really aggressive early game that sees them get an advantage from the get-go and then pounce with that advantage until they get their win. So far SKT1 have been able to stave off these early deficits they find themselves in, but they simply cannot afford to keep getting behind against a team like SSG.

Previous results between these teams have shown that it is really close in terms of skill, and we agree that this will be a very close one. With the odds higher on Samsung Galaxy, we like a solid bet on them to win the World Championship again and dethrone SK Telecom T1!