A full League of Legends World Championship in Shanghai, live, with even an audience at the grand finals, is an impressive achievement not just for esports but sports as a whole.
Here is a snapshot of how the final match shaped up.
DAMWON were heavily favored going into this match, and unlike last year’s worlds finals, which was expected to be much closer than the 3-0 FunPlus Phoenix victory, the 2020 championship series played out about as expected.
Suning snuck a game in due to a favorable draft and some creative decision-making but China’s third seed was ultimately outclassed by DAMWON’s stronger objective setups and teamfighting.
DAMWON play fairly similarly to Suning in a few ways but are just a better team.
The members of DAMWON admitted in the pre-finals news conference that they didn’t have to change much between LoL Champions Korea summer finals and worlds because of how little the meta shifted, and additionally that they didn’t have to change much from their group stage appearances to the worlds finals. This metagame was perfect for them, and they thrived, just as the previous two world champions before them.
Few players exemplified that great fit better than DAMWON jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu, who was identified as a potential worlds MVP before the tournament even began due to his prowess in this meta on Graves and Nidalee. In his final game against Suning, he had a deathless 8/0/7 statline on Kindred, cementing the title for his team and, for the first time since 2017, the LCK.