Who won League of Legends Worlds in 2018?

In 2018, memories of the previous year's exceptional worlds-winning run by Samsung White were still fresh in the minds of League fans everywhere. It had been yet another win in the five-year championship streak for Korean League of Legends teams, upheld since way back in Worlds 2013. Korea's undefeated reign left the LoL scene's other regions each hungrier than ever to compete, which set the stage for an intense 2018 to come.

Held in venues across South Korea, Worlds 2018 featured a near-identical format to the previous year's, in which 24 teams from across the globe were invited to compete. Twelve of those teams began in the Play-in Stage in Seoul, where they would fight to advance past each other and qualify to the main stage.

The main event's first part, the Group Stage, began Worlds 2018's main stage in Busan with a bang. North America's third seed, Cloud9, were slotted into what many called the 'group of death.' With rookie top laner Eric "Licorice" Ritchie and subbing in-and-out rookie jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang, the team had to stare down giants like China's first place squad RNG and Korea's Gen.G, the reigning champions who had won worlds the year before under the name Samsung White. And yet, Cloud9's unique play and grit managed to propel them forward, qualifying over an underperforming Gen.G.

Meanwhile, in Group D, Europe's first seed Fnatic and China's second, Invictus Gaming, were facing off repeatedly, in matches that would echo over the tournament to come. Fnatic had two fresh players of their own: a young Rasmus "Caps" Winther, in his second year of play, and a just-debuting Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau, boldly stepping into the toplane after spending much of the year on the bench. But it was IG's rookie in the botlane, (not their veteran midlaner Song "Rookie" Eui-jin), the explosive young AD Carry Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo, that brought the most intensity to the stage. Fnatic got the better of IG 3-1 in close group stage matches, and both advanced to the knockout stage bracket.

In the quarterfinals, Cloud9 shocked the world yet again. The only still-standing NA team managed to 3-0 sweep Korea's Afreeca Freecs, with a decisive baron steal by Licorice's Ornn sealing their fate. This elimination cemented a huge regional underperformance by the LCK in 2018's worlds: with Afreeca knocked out, there were now no Korean teams left in the tournament. Now that Korea, the five-time consecutive champion, had been eliminated, the remaining teams from North America, Europe, and China all had their eyes on the prize.

IG, Fnatic, and G2 Esports all advanced to the semifinals in close series. There, Fnatic made quick work of the North American team's run, ending C9 3-0, and IG had a similar 3-0 performance to wipe out G2. This set the stage for the world finals, Fnatic vs. IG, Europe vs. China, two teams packed with fresh talent and playmaking ability.

Neither a team from Europe nor China had been able to qualify to the world finals in years. For Europe, it had been since all the way back in the very first LoL world championship, the Season 1 finals, that they had made it this far. The European team then was an earlier roster of the very same one that now found themselves on the finals stage: Fnatic. That time, Fnatic won. Here, they were hoping to repeat history. For China's LPL, it had been since 2014 that the region had sent a team of their own to the world finals. And a Chinese team had never brought home that coveted championship title. This was a chance for Invictus Gaming to make a mark on LoL history, unforgettable as the first Chinese team to prove themselves on LoL's ultimate biggest stage.

And the stage certainly was big, as finals were held at Munhak Stadium in Incheon, with a capacity of over 50,000 seats in the audience. With the two teams' many close matches against each other in the previous stages, fan consensus was that either team had a real shot to win it all. The hype was only increased by the live K/DA music performance before the matches, and the 200 million online viewers, a record-breaker for LoL games thus far.

Game 1 began with a draft highlighting both teams' favorite picks, including Bwipo's Urgot and JackeyLove's signature Kai'Sa. What came as a surprise was just how much pressure IG could deal out, putting Caps' Irelia very far behind and making play after play once 20 minutes had passed. Before Fnatic could stage any meaningful counterplay, IG were already taking down the nexus, ending the game in a swift 27 minutes.

This set the stage for what was an unexpectedly one-sided series by IG. Game 2 came and went even faster, as IG's confidence in pushing their leads forward grew. Incredible performances came from top laner Kang "TheShy" Seung-lok on Irelia, and jungler Gao "Ning" Zhen-Ning on Gragas, both relentlessly aggressive in punishing Bwipo. Ning ganked top again and again, putting TheShy so far forward it became impossible for Fnatic to stop him. TheShy's carry top playstyle shined this game with Ning's support, and Fnatic was devastated completely.

Game 3 was the same story yet again, as Jackeylove's Kai'Sa went deathless with 11 kills, carrying fight after fight and ending the game at 25 minutes. IG had done it - World Finals was theirs, in what had become the fastest World Finals ever, a clean 3-0 sweep in only 85 total minutes. The Finals MVP went to Ning, for his exceptional performance in the jungle. IG's excitement was shared by passionate Chinese fans across the world, their long-striving LPL region was finally rewarded with the Summoner's Cup at last. Years of effort for the region to prove itself culminated in three games that perfectly showcased the LPL's lethal style and aggression. Fnatic and fans of Europe's LEC would have to place their hopes on another day.

IG carved their place into LoL history with this roster:

As is Riot Games tradition, the winning team was honored with a new set of in-game skins for the champions of their choice, under the new "IG" skin-line. This set featured IG Fiora, IG Irelia, IG Camille, IG LeBlanc, IG Kai'Sa, and IG Rakan.