“Did you guys hear that Samsung won WC?”
“Yeah, of course. Everyone knows.”
The 2014 World Championships for the online Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) League of Legends ended on Oct. 19, resulting in a victory for team Samsung Galaxy White, which carried away the League of Legends World Championship trophy and $1 million.
The series started in Taipei and Singapore, where 16 top teams battled for a quarterfinal slot. After a month of intense gameplay, team Samsung Galaxy White and team Star Horn Royal Club played in the finals against each other as 40,000 fans packed Sangam Stadium in Seoul to watch.
Samsung Galaxy White, as its name suggests, is a professional gaming team sponsored by Samsung. The teams consists of “Looper” Hyeong-seok Jang, “imp” Seung-bin Gu, “Pawn” Won-seok Heo, “Dandy” In-kyu Choi and “Mata” Se-hyoung Cho. Over the course of the tournament, the team only lost two games out of some four match-ups with each a best of five. This performance of outstanding considering that they were playing against sixteen of the best teams in the world. In the finals, Samsung Galaxy White beat their opponents 3-0 in a best of 5.
Star Horn Royal Club, the other finalist team, placed second in the World Championships and walked away with a quarter of a million dollars. The team, consisting of “Cola” Jiang Nan, “Uzi”Jian Zihao, “Zero” Yun Kyung-sub, “InSec” Choi In-seok and “corn” Lei Wen, did well in the quarter and semifinals, but floundered against Samsung Galaxy White, unable to win a single game.
“From the start, everyone knew Samsung White was going to win. I was rooting for Star Horn, but I know they didn’t really have a chance,” senior David Price said. Price has always looked up to Star Horn, even trying to incorporate some of the team’s play styles.
“It’s the difference between who the heart roots for and who the mind roots for. There was no way Star Horn could have won,” senior Jung Hyun Park said. “A lot of people supported Star Horn, but we all knew Samsung was going to win. It was just because they were a lot better.”
And it was true. Samsung Galaxy White had incredible team coordination and brilliant plays throughout the entire tournament. In the final match, the team played quickly and aggressively, slowly wearing the opposing team down while refusing to give an inch of map control.
The tournament was aired by several Korean television programs and casted by several well known Esports Youtubers. Senior Andy Kang said that he watched the tournament online as they were uploaded.
“I watched the semifinals and finals on youtube. At lot of places were streaming live. Also I heard that select theaters were streaming the games so that people could actually buy tickets to see it on the big screen.” Senior Andy Kang said.
The tournament, made possible by various large donations and an extremely large fan base, showcases the power and popularity of Esports, even at MVHS Vista. The game League of Legends already has a player base of 27 million people, and large annual events like the World Championships and interested fans like Price and Park will only increase that number.
