“Samsung looked vulnerable during the group stage and RNG 2-0'ed them. Longzhu’s going to reach the finals.”

Words to that effect were uttered when the bracket stage was drawn; Samsung Galaxy had drawn Longzhu Gaming by virtue of their second placing in Group C, while Royal Never Give Up, considered China’s best hope for lifting a Worlds after Edward Gaming bombed out of the group stage, had drawn Fnatic, a team RNG in theory should have no problem beating.

This story isn’t about RNG, however. It is about Samsung, and how they pulled the blinds over the #1 Korean seed.

Longzhu had impressed all throughout summer and Worlds, and were coming off a maiden LCK Summer victory over SK Telecom T1. Their aggressive snowballing drafts flew in the face of what was considered the meta way, and experts were in agreement that they were not only favourites, but also boasted of four Top 10 players competing at Worlds.

Yet Longzhu crumbled in a quick 3-0 series, the result contrary to everyone’s expectations -  except, perhaps, to Samsung themselves. SSG were unfancied for a reason; it was thought that they had inferior laners in every position. The result should have been straightforward, even if the writer thought Samsung would put up a better performance in a Best of 5 scenario than they had during the group stage.

The difference maker ended up being in the jungle. Ambition left his mark on the reigning LCK champions, controlling LZ’s jungle and taking advantage of his opposing jungler Cuzz’s own inexperience on the big stage. The latter could not last the pace despite a strong start to the series, and ultimately much of Samsung’s success can be attributed to their stellar control.

Such an approach to the jungle had been largely absent from Ambition in the past. Previously more of a team-fighting and farming jungler, Samsung would appear to fall behind but turn games around after capitalizing on mistakes in the late-game. At some points during the group stage, they appeared to take this approach to extremes, even going down in gold to 1907 Fenerbahce for long stretches of the game before Samsung took back control with well-fought teamfights.

Getting married and being the longest-serving Korean player still playing in the LCK apparently hasn’t dulled Ambition’s senses. As one ages, the struggle to keep up with young stars increases; a factor Ambition cited in his move away from mid lane, where talents such as Bdd were cropping up. This time, his vast experience and leadership, in contrast to jungler sub Haru’s eagerness, played a large part in what secured Samsung the win over the exuberant youths that make up Longzhu’s core. This is not to ignore the contributions of the others, of course; CuVee performed superbly on his pocket Kennen pick to match up against Khan, while Crown's poor laning phase in comparison to Bdd's was made up for with solid play in later stages of the games.

As skilled and aggressive as Longzhu were, they had a certain predictability to them; it appeared clear during the series that Longzhu had been unprepared for a scenario where they would fall behind, despite the fact that they were facing Samsung. Perhaps they thought Samsung would not be too difficult a proposition?

After the match, the founder of Longzhu, Friend spoke out on Weibo (translation can be found here) over LZ’s lack of experience in Best of 5 matches, having only played in one during the entire summer split -- that is, the final against SKT. Certainly, Longzhu lacked the vital skill of adaptation that far more experienced teams like SKT and Samsung had acquired over years of competition, and to compound matters, several players were attending their first Worlds.

The pressure that comes from seeing Plan A fail is difficult to tackle mid-series; perhaps it was a failing on the part of the coaching staff which contributed to their ignominious defeat, and Friend admitted as such, mentioning that the team’s mentality ‘went wrong after Game 2’, leading to them having to rely on their own instinct instead of a more measured approach.

Said measured approach is something Samsung particularly excels in, but there was adaptation, honed through thorough prep, observed from them coming from the group stage to the bracket stage that went beyond mid-series changes of the type SKT are known for. All across the board, Samsung’s players executed a plan designed to target Cuzz from the get-go and keep him down, while avoiding falling too far behind in the laning phase. The series was anything but dragged out and this was a completely new Samsung from what the world had seen previously.

For now, Korea is still in line to take the title, but their domination has also come from the high level of competition they’ve had to play in all year round, and the resulting need to adapt and improve over time to keep up. Longzhu faltered because they were so new, and similarly, China and the West lack that high-pressure competition that has moulded Korean teams for the past five years. Western teams take games over Koreans, but they currently lack what is required to cross the finish line of a series. No amount of scrims can ever hope to replicate that sort of experience. It is something the West will have to think about in the coming years as organizations look for profitability over success internationally.

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