We are down to four clubs at the 2016 League of Legends World Championships. Four distinct, separate dreams, but all wanting to end up at the same place: hoisting the Summoner's Cup in front of a sold out Staples Center crowd as the best team on the planet.
Reigning and defending world champion: SK Telecom T1.
Last year's Worlds runner-up and current South Korean domestic champion: ROX Tigers.
The 2014 world championship organization that fell to nothingness in 2015 before returning to power in 2016: Samsung Galaxy.
And the last Western hope, a team of individually talented misfits who've come together at the perfect time to contend for the ultimate prize: H2k.
A quarter of the original 16 teams remain, and there are four possible finals we're left musing over until the semifinals kickoff next Friday night, incidentally a rematch of last year's Summoner's Cup Finals between SKT T1 and ROX Tigers. Narratives abound for each final, so which final, at least for me, the guy who will have to write extensively about it, has the most potential in terms of drama and intrigue?
You only need three words to know which possible final tops the list: Faker versus Ryu.
1. SK Telecom T1 vs. H2k
It has been a little over three years since League of Legends' most iconic play in the 2013 South Korean domestic summer finals between SK Telecom T1 and the KT Rolster Bullets. Back when fifth game blind-pick matches were still a thing, the two best mid laners in the world at the time, SKT's Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and KT's Ryu "Ryu" Sang-wook, battled in a Zed mirror matchup. Although the game was far in the favor of SKT T1 by the time the play actually happened, Faker's duel with Ryu has become a hallowed moment for both players in their careers since.
Faker: the devilish genius, assured in his victory and becoming a champion for the first time off his technical outplay on the flashy Zed.
Ryu: stone-faced in his booth, looking like the entire world had collapsed around him after losing the one-on-one with the upstart mid laner who was in only his second domestic season as a professional.
A final between SKT T1 and H2k would have -- cue up the Konstantinos-Napoleon "Forg1ven" Tzortziou soundbyte -- by far the most interesting storylines heading into it. You would get to see Ryu -- who has been playing fantastically this tournament, by the way -- get his one shot to redeem himself entirely for three years ago. A Summoner's Cup win on the grandest stage of all, beating Faker in the final, and cleansing the demons of the past would be the storybook ending for the player that left his homeland of South Korea two years ago to begin an odyssey in Europe that eventually ended with him on H2k Gaming.
For Faker, this would be his chance to bookend his career. He won his first major championship against Ryu in a gigantic final; winning his third world championship, which would put him galaxies ahead of any other player to ever play the game, against the same mid laner would be poetic in almost the cruelest of ways to Ryu.
Aside from the mid-lane showdown, you'd also have a contest between two players who believe wholeheartedly they are the best AD carries in the world: H2k's Forg1ven and SKT's Bae "Bang" Jun-sik. Both marksmen have been playing out of this world this tournament, and a meeting between the two would produce fireworks in the laning phase.
On top of that, you get a Korean vs. non-Korean final. While that doesn't always push the viewer's preference above a Korean vs. Korean final, and we'll get into that soon enough, the international feel of the final (even if six of 10 starters would be Korean) is an easy storyline that will catch the eye of a casual viewer. H2k would champion its role as the last remaining non-South Korean survivor in a tournament that has three South Korean giants left, and it has battled its way to the final stage.
Also Neil "PR0LLY" Hammad would be coaching for H2k, so North American fans could pretend they're also in the final, too. Everyone wins.
2. Samsung Galaxy vs. SK Telecom T1
The final of all finals. The 2014 world champion organization against the winner of the 2013 and 2015 titles. It would be the "Clash of Champions," a final that would either put Samsung right up there with SKT T1 as the best organization in League history, or a final that would cement SKT's place as the king of kings in the world of esports today.
Samsung has not reached a final since the Worlds in 2014 where Samsung White faced China's StarHorn Royal Club. There, SSW proved to be the best team in the world by a mile, and the team celebrated as alternative rock band Imagine Dragons serenaded them with a post-finals concert that seemed to go longer than the final itself. After the ecstasy of victory came the harshness of reality, and Samsung lost all of its players to China due to not being able to match salaries with the richer Chinese organizations. The rebuild began, and it was a long one, Samsung not crawling out of the basement of South Korea's domestic league until 2016 and not making the postseason until this most recent summer split.
"Clash of Champions" would be the story of two Korean giants that took differing paths to the top. SKT has been able to hang on to its crown jewel of Faker, and it has consistently shifted with roster movements to keep the team ahead of the pack. Instead of rebuilding, SKT is always in a state of revamping thanks to the organization's keen eye for amateur talent and rising prospects. If SKT T1 were to make the final, Faker would most likely be the only starter from the previous two world championship victories.
As for Samsung, it lost all of its stars and had to go for a hard rebuild. It went through the mess of finding prospects that could become legitimate talent, and it started 2016 with an awkward roster captained by newly signed jungler Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong. The acquisition didn't look like much at the time, Ambition coming off a disappointing final season on longtime club CJ Entus, but it would turn out to be the perfect decision at the right time. Ambition's veteran presence helped mold the younger players under him on the Samsung Galaxy roster, and the former best mid laner in the world is currently looking like one of the best junglers, as well.
Ambition will also be looking for revenge against Faker if Samsung makes the final. Faker's debut was highlighted by him solo killing Ambition on Nidalee; it was a passing of the torch of sorts between the two. Ambition at the time was the best mid laner in the world, and here was Faker, coming from the amateur scene to kill him in his opening game in the laning phase without any help.
Three years later, Faker is the best mid laner in the world and the game's greatest, and Ambition has had to, like Samsung itself, rebuild himself into a new role and position. If Faker represents the glory of SKT T1 as a whole, then Ambition, this current iteration of Ambition, is the personification of the new Samsung Galaxy.
Rebuilt, redesigned, and ready.
3. H2k vs. ROX Tigers
"While it's presumptuous to say if ROX can defeat SKT it'll beat either team it meets in the final, that's almost how it feels."
With this series, you get the same West vs. East storyline from SKT T1 vs. H2k. Plus, we'd get to see the intriguing top lane matchup of the world's best top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho versus H2k's Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu. Odoamne has been one of the breakout stars of the tournament, quietly putting together a stellar group stage before bursting out in the quarterfinals on Jayce in three straight dominating victories vs. CIS' Albus Nox Luna.
For ROX, the only of the three Korean teams we haven't talked about yet, getting over the hump of SKT T1, in a weird way, is almost a bigger challenge than the Summoner's Cup Final itself. The entire history of the Tigers has been intertwined with SKT T1. Every time the Tigers made headway to becoming the world's top team, SKT T1 would be there to defeat them. SKT T1 has beaten them twice in domestic finals and once in a Summoner's Cup Final. ROX ultimately won its first domestic title this most recent summer split, but was against KT Rolster in the final, who had defeated T1 in the semifinals.
While it's presumptuous to say if ROX can defeat SKT it'll beat either team it meets in the final, that's almost how it feels. ROX has proven itself to be the second-best team in the world since the beginning of 2015, and against SKT T1, at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals, it will find possibly its final chance to surpass it.
4. ROX Tigers vs. Samsung Galaxy
An all-Korean final without Faker. How will Riot attempt to build the story for this one? While this final might be the closest and most evenly matched of the four possible, it's also the one with the least amount of intrigue in terms of storylines.
ROX and Samsung have never really been rivals in the domestic scene. When Samsung was at its peak in 2013 and 2014, ROX wasn't an organization. When ROX entered the scene and started beating people up, Samsung was no longer a contender and merely just cannon fodder for the Tigers to chew upon. You can point out earlier in the year during the spring split where the Tigers had an 11 match winning streak going until Samsung surprised them to end the perfect season, but that wasn't seen as a heavyweight clash at the time; it was more, "Wow, did Samsung Galaxy really just do that against one of the best teams in the world?"
Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin vs. Smeb would be a blast to watch, and Han "Peanut" Wang-ho's wild adolescence batting heads with Ambition's grizzled farm-heavy style would be a fun meeting of opposites. For overarching narratives, though, it'll be difficult to build outside of the South Korean fans; however, does it really matter as long as the two teams put on a good show? We desperately need a Summoner's Cup Final that isn't lukewarm.
Maybe Riot could get Faker to commentate on the analyst desk?