Today’s cartoon is dedicated to the players in the 2017 World Championships that stood out the most.

There were a lot of outliers in the quarterfinals last week. In the midst of a heavily ADC-focused meta, a select few have hard carried their teams.

The first player that comes to mind is Fnatic’s sOAZ. sOAZ, starting from the get-go of week 1, received a lot of focus in the top lane, making his time in the rift not as enjoyable as it could have been. However, starting from the second week, sOAZ’s presence came to grew. After the miraculous entry into the quarterfinals, sOAZ performed exceptionally as if he grew a pair of wings to uplift his team with his Gnar super plays. sOAZ had the last hopes of EU on his shoulders. People started to give sOAZ nicknames from his performances such as ‘The King sOAZ’, 'XXXLOAZ' or ‘Bright sOAZ’.

Korean players coming from oversea teams also captured the spotlight, especially Ignar. Ignar hard carried his team with fresh and unique picks such as Leona and Blitzcrank. Impact had also aided in the shift of the typical meta picks. Bringing out a fun pick, Impact chose Singed. He showed not only the genuine livelihood of the pick but also how strong Singed could be in the current meta.

Unfortunately, all these players mentioned for honorable picks have been eliminated from the World Championships. However, these players greatly influenced how their regions were looked upon. Showing the true strength of their regions, these players really showed that the ‘Gap is Closing’ within many regions.

Delivering a bombardment of surprises, the 2017 World Championship continues. We can only wait in anticipation for the next player to perform a super play, causing the crowd to go wild.