eSports: LoL Worlds Semifinals Preview

The big news in the week leading up to the Semifinals has been the removal of Gragas from the champion pool. Riot decided to remove the champion after a glitch was found in the quarterfinals match between Fnatic and EDG when Gragas was unable to use one of his abilities.

Gragas was one of the most used champions throughout the tournament with the character appearing in 29 of 38 games so far. Riot also removed Lux and Ziggs from the rotation, though neither champion has been used in the tournament.

The player likely to be affected the most with the removal of Gragas is Amazing from Origen Gaming who used the champion three times so far this tournament. Fnatic selected the champion twice, SK1 picked him once and the KOO Tigers had not picked him up once.

SK1 Rightfully Massive Favorites 

Coming into the Worlds SK Telecom T1 was the favorite to win the tournament, but has done nothing more than assert their dominance in play so far this tournament. SK1 has yet to drop a single game this tournament and have averaged less than 30 minutes per game.  Not surprisingly. SK1 is a huge -1400 favorite for their match with Origen Gaming Saturday according to Sportsbook.

Let’s face it, if SK1 loses this match it will be one of the biggest upsets in LoL history.

Battle in the Midlane to Determine Fnatic and KOO

Early in the group stages it appeared that the powerhouse Fnatic may not be as great as originally thought, but they have settled down and gone back to their dominating ways. Their recent hot play has Fnatic as a -180 favorite when they face-off against the KOO Tigers with a spot in the finals up for grabs according to Sportsbook.

Fnatic’s resurgence has had a lot to do with Febiven. The mid set the tone early in the teams quarterfinals matchup by picking up First Blood on a Triple-Kill. Despite being a mid, Febiven has led Fnatic in team damage so far.

The real battle will be between Febiven and KurO for KOO. Both of these mids have used Viktor to great success with Febiven posting a 11.0 KDA with the champion and KurO a 7.2.