Sunday, October 22, 2017 is a date Team WE fans will cherish for at least one year, as their team had edged Cloud9 3-2 and qualified to the semifinals, marking its highest finish in the World Championship – a competition it hadn’t seen since Season Two, all the way back in 2012. There might be more for Team WE to experience, but Samsung Galaxy is barring the way.

With SK Telecom T1’s qualification to the finals, Samsung Galaxy is eyeing a revenge match, a run-back of yesteryear’s finals where it nearly reverse-swept the World Champion. In fact, it looks poised to do so after trouncing Longzhu Gaming in a not-so-lopsided 3-0 affair.

The two teams represented their regions as their third seeds, but there can only be one among them to go to the finals. Only two headlines are possible.

“Team WE Carries China’s Hopes to Worlds Finals, Beats Samsung Galaxy”

Just like that, the fairy tale rebirth of Team WE would be complete. Or would it?

Team WE is only China’s third seed by name; after all, it had dominated the spring and summer splits in China until mishaps occurred in the LPL Summer Playoffs, forcing it to play through the regional qualifier and narrowly beat Invictus Gaming 3-2.

Compared to the other semifinalists, WE had the longest road to the semifinals, although one may question whether its ability to clench the top spot of Group D (ahead of Misfits Gaming and Team SoloMid) was more challenging than SK Telecom T1’s road to first place in Group A, or Samsung Galaxy’s second-place finish in Group C.

Nevertheless, WE has delivered on its promise to carry China’s banner to the farthest extents, and it could go even beyond that point. For that to happen, the team relies on its AD carry, Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun, a player whose last appearance in the top Korean competitive circuit (in Jin Air Greenwings colors) dates back to an era when Samsung’s Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong still played in the mid lane for CJ Entus Blaze.

Mystic’s departure to China on the tail end of 2015 coincided with the promotion of Ke “957” Chang-yu and Su “xiye” Han-wei from WE Academy to the main team, and with the hire of Xiang “Condi” Ren-jie from Masters 3. Since then, the quartet has developed into a unit with the strongest macro game in China, following a simple mantra: Establish constant pressure.

Should WE get a lead in a lane (especially in the bottom lane, where Nam “Ben” Dong-hyun has been able to keep Mystic out of trouble most of the time), it has shown the ability to snowball it into objective takedowns, whether the process involved sending the AD/support duo to a lane that cannot counter its pressure, allowing xiye’s Galio (or damage picks) to roam freely for more objective takedowns, or unleashing 957 through Teleports and skirmishes – the latter in which he has been able to zone back lines. The team has occasionally forced objective trades that went to its favor, and parlayed pressure into vision control systematically.

However, WE is far from perfect. Mistakes include trapping itself with a slow scaling option in the jungle (such as Maokai against Cloud9 in Game 3), especially given Condi’s position as a front-line initiator within the team. Another mistake lies in WE’s occasional disregard for the enemy support pick during drafts, as Taric may be used against non-burst inclusive squads, and as Rakan may create surprise ambushes. There is also the reliance on Mystic to perform well, given his high damage contribution on average (39.4 percent of his team’s damage) and his involvement in WE’s success (79.8 percent kill participation ratio), as well as his ability – alongside Ben – to enable pushing scenarios in the lanes they are in, lest the pressure game grind to a halt and the game come down to team fights.

To reach that point, Samsung would need to deal with the possibility that Condi may impede Ambition’s progress in the jungle, setting him significantly behind to allow WE to leverage high lane pressure picks into insurmountable leads from tower takedowns, or to allow xiye and 957 free reign over the map.

But there is another headline that could play out.

“Samsung Galaxy Dispatches Team WE, Eyes Revenge Against SK Telecom T1.”

Samsung Galaxy was, at some point during the summer, the top dog in Korea, until losses to Longzhu Gaming and KT Rolster started a chain of events that nearly culminated in missing Worlds. One would also have held its second-place finish in Group C against it, but the point became moot after the team utterly annihilated Worlds favorite Longzhu Gaming, sweeping the sole undefeated team in the competition at that point.

Samsung’s biggest strength – and potentially its biggest weakness – is its reliance on Ambition to set the tone macro-wise. Kang “Haru” Min-seung might probably see play if Samsung Galaxy has a straightforward early-game centric game plan that it can translate translate into a landslide victory, but on longer games – which WE have had plenty – the team may need direction from a coach-on-the-floor type of player.

With Ambition on Summoners’ Rift to dictate or suggest maneuvers, Samsung has been able to set up devastating skirmishes in ganking and counterganking situations, the latter being more impressive considering its reliance on flawless bottom lane or top lane recall timings – a sign that said laning phases have gone smoothly.

In fact, the team’s ability to play around cooldowns ranging from recalls to Teleports (including ultimates and Flashes) has helped it set camp near the enemy jungle (especially on enemy blue buff respawns) or near major objectives. Couple that with the ‘party bot’ mindset the team has (a mindset that could be effective in shutting down WE’s Mystic) and Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin’s team-first decision-making, and you have a tough case to handle for WE.

However, if Samsung is to win, Lee “Crown” Min-ho needs to respect the existence of an enemy jungler, as his aggressive early laning play has cost his team opportunities on the short term. The matter is dire considering the team’s reliance on Crown’s damage-dealing champion picks to contribute during skirmishes.

In the end, should Samsung wrest control of the game through its ability to limit the opposite jungler’s ability to impact his team’s fortunes in the early game (through early warding), the solo laners may roam all the way to the finals. However, WE is well-versed in such tactics, making the match-up an extremely volatile one in the drafting phase for Samsung.

On top of that, WE has shown more consistency in asserting vision and timing said process (and pick attempts) with proper wave management, a matter Samsung has occasionally overlooked.

The ball may be in Team WE’s camp, but the same had been said about Longzhu Gaming in the quarterfinals. Samsung has two options: bow down, or silence Shanghai on the way to the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.

Disclaimer : The following article was written freely based on the author's opinion, and it may not necessarily represent Inven Global's editorial stance. 

About the Author :
Adel Chouadria is an esports writer by day, and a jack-of-all-trades by night. In the League of Legends scene, he has worked on projects ranging from live ticker updates to statistics gathering, but his calling has always been writing. Once a Counter-Strike fan, he has moved on to appreciate all types of games, including LoL, Rocket League and StarCraft II. Adel seeks to serve his audience by providing a different look into players, coaches and teams, as well as interacting in silly and personable ways on Twitter at @AdelChouadria.