Did you know that since Season 3, the team that won the first set of the Worlds finals became champions that year? SK Telecom T1 was the first team to be a part of this trend, when they took a 3-0 victory against Royal Club in the 2013 Worlds finals. Since then, the team that won game 1 of their series have all become World Champions, and this year was no different.  EDward Gaming won game 1, lost game 2 & 3, then proceeded to win game 4 & 5 for their championship victory this year over DWG KIA.

After the finals had ended, I had some time off to just kick back and relax. In that time, I had lots of time to reflect about this year's global tournament. As a journalist who covers the LCK for a living, I was delighted to see all of LCK's representative do well in the tournament. Although DWG KIA lost in the finals, 2021 was a great year for the LCK.

Welcome to the final volume of Quest’s Musings for the 2021 season. With the 2021 season almost over, I wanted to close off the ongoing series for this year with my thoughts about the Worlds finals between DWG KIA and EDG, as well as my thoughts on the alleged dishonest media access from Riot Games.

DWG KIA vs EDG - The Finale

When I saw EDG swoop game 1 and take the lead in the series, I thought to myself, ‘Okay, this series is definitely going to be a banger.” Why? Because DWG KIA was looking invincible throughout the tournament. They were the only team to come out of the group stages undefeated and they swept through their opponents until the semifinals, when their series against T1 went the full distance.

However, EDG flipped all those odds and lifted the Summoner’s Cup. Fans in China were in party mode after the news hit about EDG’s victory, especially because LPL as a region has not performed as well as fans hoped in the tournament. Two LPL teams got knocked out in Groups, and the remaining two teams faced off right from the quarterfinals.

I was genuinely surprised to see how well DWG KIA presented themselves during their loser’s press conference. At Khan’s request, everyone on DWG KIA were jokingly flaming Khan for their loss. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, but more than that, they seemed ready to go at it again.

Only time will tell on how many players will continue for DWG KIA next year, but I hope the squad will not only stick together, but come back stronger for 2022.

Favoritism toward certain media outlets?

For those that are unaware of what I’m talking about, Jacob Wolf of Dot Esports and Ashley Kang of Korizon published a statement that accuses Riot Games of dishonest media access. According to the statement, Riot Games told media outlets that no on-site media coverage will be allowed this year due to COVID restrictions, but alleges that third-party Chinese media organizations were given on-site access. 

This piece of news disappointed me on a very personal level. I started working for Inven in September, 2019; right before the pandemic shut the world down. A lot of my media coverage on the LCK and Worlds were either done online; the offline coverage that I was able to get had little to no fans on-site. I was really hoping to finally being able to travel overseas to cover Worlds this year, and made early preparations on things like getting vaccinated, visas, and all the documents I need to safely make it to the event. 

The bottom line? I’m still very disappointed, so I’m eager to hear what you have to say about this, Riot Games.

Editor's note: With Worlds now ended, 'Quest's Musings' will go on a hiatus until 2022. To all those that have either somewhat actively followed my series throughout the year or have at least read at least one volume of ‘Quest’s Musings’ in 2021, I'm sincerely grateful for your time. It’s a series I’ve started I can doodle down my thoughts on the current state of competitive League of Legends, specifically the LCK, and hope to share more of my thoughts in the 2022 season!