The first of two Europe vs. Korea League of Legends Worlds semifinal games will see Origen face a tough task against SKTelecom T1, the overwhelming tournament favorites. The second series, between European champions Fnatic and KOO Tigers, could be a lot more interesting. The best-of-five series begins Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Fnatic has a big opportunity against KOO Tigers at League of Legends Worlds
The class of Europe has already become the first team to make it to three Worlds semifinals. Can it make the finals for the first time since the Season 1 championship?
LoLesports
Fnatic recovered from a 1-2 start to the group stages with a dominating 3-0 second week. That was followed by a stunning 3-0 sweep of Edward Gaming, the only Chinese team remaining in the tournament and the most recent international tournament winners. EDG and Fnatic played each other at that tournament, the Mid-Season Invitational, resulting in a resounding win for EDG. Last weekend showed how far Fnatic has come, with a revitalized bottom lane thanks to the re-addition of AD Carry Rekkles, a vastly improved mid laner in Febiven and a generally more coordinated gameplan.
KOO Tigers entered the tournament as perhaps the least heralded of the three Korean teams to qualify, but a strong showing so far has them as one of the final four teams remaining. KOO qualified despite a fourth-place regular-season LCK finish, and went 4-2 in the group stage to advance to the quarterfinal round. Up against second-place regular-season LCK finishers KT Rolster, KOO put together a very strong performance, winning 3-1 and advancing to the semis.
Best in the West
The most intriguing battle may come in the top lane, with Smeb facing off against Huni. Smeb ranks first among all top laners at Worlds in damage per minute, damage dealt per gold spent and average gold differential at 20 minutes. Huni had a slow start to the tournament, but has improved tremendously as the month has gone on, including a quadra kill with Riven against Invictus Gaming.
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. 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
| FNC | W/L | Average game time | Early game rating | Mid/Late game rating | Gold difference at 15 | First Baron rate |
| Worlds | 7-2 | 34.6 | 72.5 | 5.2 | 2,235 | 100% |
| Regular season | 18-0 | 36.2 | 70.8 | 29.2 | 1,772 | 67% |
| KOO | W/L | Average game time | Early game rating | Mid/Late game rating | Gold difference at 15 | First Baron rate |
| Worlds | 7-3 | 33.3 | 65.7 | 4.3 | 1,599 | 40% |
| Regular Season | 26-15 | 38.5 | 54.5 | 8.9 | 408 | 59% |
Top lane
| Huni | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 3.6 | 5.4 | 66.5 | 23.7 |
| Regular season | 4.7 | 2.6 | 66 | 24.5 |
| Smeb | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 4.5 | 7.5 | 64.1 | 26 |
| Regular season | 4.5 | 5.1 | 70.3 | 22.2 |
Huni Worlds champion pool: Riven (3-0), Darius (0-1), Ekko (1-0), Gnar (1-0), Hecarim (1-0), Jarvan IV (1-0), Yasuo (0-1)
Smeb Worlds champion pool: Fiora (3-1), Darius (2-1), Gnar (1-1), Kennen (1-0)
Jungle
| Reignover | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 4.1 | 1 | 63.2 | 14.8 |
| Regular season | 5.7 | 4.8 | 63.3 | 13.9 |
| Hojin | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 7.5 | -4.1 | 62.2 | 11.8 |
| Regular season | 7.4 | -3.6 | 75.2 | 11.6 |
Reignover Worlds champion pool: Elise (3-0), Rek’Sai (3-0), Gragas (1-1), Olaf (0-1)
Hojin Worlds champion pool: Elise (5-0), Rek’Sai (1-2), Lee Sin (1-1)
Mid lane
| Febiven | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 6.9 | 7.7 | 62.6 | 31 |
| Regular season | 6.2 | -2.4 | 63.3 | 30.9 |
| Kuro | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 7.7 | -4.8 | 74.4 | 27.2 |
| Regular season | 6.2 | -3.6 | 73.2 | 28.6 |
Febiven Worlds champion pool: Viktor (3-0), Azir (2-0), LeBlanc (2-0), Orianna (0-2)
Kuro Worlds champion pool: Azir (2-1), Viktor (3-0), Veigar (1-1), Ahri (1-0), Lulu (0-1)
AD Carry
| Rekkles | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 6.8 | 0.8 | 70.3 | 25.3 |
| Regular season | 10.7 | 3.9 | 67.5 | 26.6 |
| PraY | KDA | CS difference at 10 | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 6.6 | 4.3 | 67.3 | 27.4 |
| Regular season | 4.7 | 0.9 | 73.5 | 28.7 |
Rekkles Worlds champion pool: Sivir (2-2), Kennen (3-0), Jinx (2-0)
PraY Worlds champion pool: Ashe (3-1), Caitlyn (2-0), Jinx (1-1), Kalista (0-1), Mordekaiser (1-0)
Support
| YellOwStaR | KDA | Wards per minute | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 4.8 | 1.42 | 65.2 | 5.2 |
| Regular season | 16.3 | 1.30 | 73.8 | 4.1 |
| GorillA | KDA | Wards per minute | Kill participation % | Damage participation % |
| Worlds | 4.0 | 1.45 | 71.2 | 7.6 |
| Regular season | 3.8 | 1.40 | 76.2 | 8.2 |
YellOwStaR Worlds champion pool: Alistar (2-1), Shen (3-0), Annie (0-1), Braum (1-0), Tahm Kench (1-0)
GorillA Worlds champion pool: Alistar (1-1), Shen (2-0), Tahm Kench (1-1), Kennen (0-1), Leona (1-0), Morgana (1-0), Thresh (1-0)
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