We’re down to four teams in the League of Legends Worlds semifinals, heading into the penultimate weekend of international play this season. First up: European runners-up Origen, the most surprising team remaining in the field, against Korean champions SKTelecom T1, the heavy tournament favorites widely considered the best team in the world. The best-of-five series begins Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Origen needs its best performance yet to beat SKTelecom T1
Can the European upstarts make noise against the best team in the world?
LoLesports
After a 4-2 run through Group D that included a win over Chinese summer Champions LGD Gaming, Origen beat Flash Wolves three games to one in the quarterfinal round. A new team in the EU LCS this past split, Origen was formed by former Fnatic mid laner xPeke and has a veteran-loaded roster for a rookie team. The best player so far has been rookie AD Carry Niels, however, who helped lead the side to a surprise semifinal berth.
Best in the West
Meanwhile, SKTelecom T1 looks on track to become the first team to ever win a second world championship. SKT was the Season 3 champion in 2013, and mid laner Faker and jungler Bengi are looking to become the first two-time champions as players as well. But xPeke won Worlds in Season 1 with Fnatic, and is looking to play spoiler en route to a second championship for himself.
SKT has not yet lost in the tournament, with a 6-0 run through the group stages followed by a 3-0 sweep of ahq in the quarterfinal rounds. Can Origen make this a contest?
One important note: Gragas, one of the top three junglers in the current professional meta, has been disabled for the rest of the tournament after a bug in the quarterfinal round. Gragas has been the most frequent (and most successful) pick for Origen jungler Amazing. Lux and Ziggs have also been disabled.
Stats via Oracle’s Elixir.
Quick glossary:
KDA: Kills/Deaths/Assists ratio. Calculated as Kills + assists : deaths.
CS difference at 10: CS stands for “creep score,” and signifies the number of minions your champion has killed. CS difference at 10 is the average CS difference at 10 minutes between a player and the enemy team’s player at the same position.
Early game rating, mid/late game rating: Explanation here. Generally, an EGR of 60 or higher is very good, while a rating of 40 or lower is very poor. An MLR +15 or higher is very good, while a -15 or lower is very poor.
Team tendencies
| Origen | W/L | Average game time | Early game rating | Mid/Late game rating | Gold difference at 15 | First Baron rate |
| Worlds | 7-3 | 42.1 | 51.0 | 19.0 | -225 | 60% |
| Regular season | 12-6 | 36.8 | 64.8 | 1.9 | 969 | 72.20% |
| SKT | W/L | Average game time | Early game rating | Mid/Late game rating | Gold difference at 15 | First Baron rate |
| Worlds | 9-0 | 31.1 | 80.0 | 20.0 | 2,565 | 100% |
| Regular Season | 35-6 | 38.1 | 65.2 | 20.2 | 1,214 | 79.50% |
Top lane
| OG Soaz | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 2.5 | 6.4 | 59.7 | 18.8 |
| Regular season | 4.3 | -0.1 | 65.2 | 18.4 |
| SKT MaRin | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 5.2 | 13.2 | 54.6 | 24.1 |
| Regular season | 4.9 | 7.6 | 62 | 24.9 |
Soaz Worlds champion pool: Lulu (3-0), Darius (1-1), Kennen (1-1), Fiora (1-0), Malphite (0-1), Vladimir (1-0)
MaRin Worlds champion pool: Fiora (4-0), Darius (2-0), Renekton (2-0), Rumble (1-0)
Jungle
| OG Amazing | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 3.7 | 3.9 | 65.5 | 12.5 |
| Regular season | 4.4 | -0.8 | 68.6 | 12.2 |
| SKT Bengi | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 6.8 | 0.8 | 62.5 | 12.9 |
| Regular season | 5.5 | -2 | 64.4 | 13 |
Amazing Worlds champion pool: Gragas (3-1), Elise (2-1), Rek’Sai (2-0), Evelynn (0-1)
Bengi Worlds champion pool: Elise (6-0), Evelynn (1-0), Gragas (1-0), Rek’Sai (1-0)
Mid lane
| OG xPeke | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 2.8 | -2.6 | 56.3 | 27 |
| Regular season | 5.6 | 3.9 | 63.8 | 34.8 |
| SKT Faker | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 6.7 | 16.1 | 57.3 | 27.8 |
| Regular season | 5.4 | 5.4 | 66.9 | 32.1 |
| SKT Easyhoon | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 8.7 | 16.5 | 74.3 | 29.6 |
| Regular season | 4.3 | 5.3 | 63 | 26.9 |
xPeke Worlds champion pool: Anivia (4-0), Orianna (2-2), Twisted Fate (1-0), Viktor (0-1)
Faker Worlds champion pool: Ryze (3-0), Azir (1-0), Kassadin (1-0), Lulu (1-0), Olaf (1-0)
Easyhoon Worlds champion pool: Karthus (1-0), Twisted Fate (1-0)
AD Carry
| OG Niels | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 5.6 | 8.3 | 84 | 33.3 |
| Regular season | 8.5 | 3.1 | 70.7 | 27.5 |
| SKT Bang | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 27.3 | -1.2 | 71.7 | 27.7 |
| Regular season | 6 | 2.3 | 60.2 | 27.2 |
Niels Worlds champion pool: Kalista (3-1), Sivir (2-0), Jinx (1-1), Kog’Maw (1-1)
Bang Worlds champion pool: Tristana (4-0), Kalista (2-0), Sivir (2-0), Vayne (1-0)
Support
| OG Mithy | KDA | Wards per minute | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 3 | 1.28 | 74.8 | 8.3 |
| Regular season | 4 | 1.22 | 70.7 | 7.1 |
| SKT Wolf | KDA | Wards per minute | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 13.8 | 1.16 | 72.4 | 7.1 |
| Regular season | 7.2 | 1.25 | 70.4 | 5 |
Mithy Worlds champion pool: Thresh (2-1), Tahm Kench (1-1), Alistar (1-0), Annie (1-0), Braum (1-0), Kennen (0-1), Morgana (1-0)
Wolf Worlds champion pool: Alistar (4-0), Tahm Kench (2-0), Braum (1-0), Morgana (1-0), Thresh (1-0)
See More:
