Things looked bleak when Star Horn Royal Club (SHRC) drew Group B. Despite being placed in a group without a Korean team, they were on a collision course with two tournament favorites, Samsung Galaxy White and Edward Gaming, should they make it out. Yet after making first in their group, SHRC advanced through the other Chinese teams in the tournament, beating out both Edward Gaming and OMG: a feat they hadn’t managed to accomplish all year in the LPL.
The GROUP STAGE
As the second seed Chinese team in Group B, SHRC were set against the first seed from North America: Team SoloMid (TSM), the third seed from Europe: SK Gaming, and the first seed from Taiwan and Southeast Asia: the Taipei Assassins (TPA). With SK Gaming reeling from last minute substitutions, Star Horn Royal Club’s steepest competition came from TPA and TSM.
After more than 30 minutes, TPA had accumulated a gold lead against SHRC in their first game during the Taipei Group Stage. But at around 40 minutes in, SHRC devised a strategic flank to catch out TPA's AD Carry, Cheng “bebe” Bowei. The tactic allowed SHRC to secure Baron, giving them the momentum they needed to close out the game.
After dominating their subsequent games, it seemed SHRC would come out of Group B unscathed. They continuously found easy 2v2 matchups to allow their jungler, Choi “inSec” Inseok, to help snowball AD carry, Jian “Uzi” Zihao, ahead. SHRC would hit their only Group Stage hiccup on the final day against TSM.
TSM had learned from their mistakes after losing to SHRC previously and came out with Rumble and Orianna picks to challenge SHRC’s team fighting power. Despite this, SHRC still put up a good fight and was able to take two Barons before they ultimately lost to the North Americans.
Afterwards, SHRC picked themselves up and won a decisive final game against TPA. Meanwhile, TSM struggled against a rejuvenated SK Gaming and fell for a split-push bait in SK’s base. With SK Gaming’s victory over TSM, SHRC took the first seed out of Group B to face the first seed Chinese team, Edward Gaming (EDG).
The QUARTERFINALS
Edward Gaming offered a weaker than expected performance in the Group Stage, with their own star AD carry, Zhu “NaMei” Jiawen, perhaps displaying Worlds jitters. It was unknown whether EDG would regroup, as they often did between the regular season and Playoffs in the Chinese LPL, or if SHRC’s apparently stronger form would give them a run for their money.
The series turned out to be the only five game series of the Quarterfinals. SHRC handily picked up the first two games, despite some successful Baron bait tactics from EDG. In the third and fourth games, EDG’s Ming “Clearlove” Kai pulled out assassin jungle picks like Evelynn and Kha’Zix and took control. With his comfort champions, he was able to snowball EDG's top laner, Tong “Koro1” Yang, ahead of SHRC’s Jiang “Cola” Na.
Uzi's play in the final game was the real highlight of this series, as he put up perhaps his best performance of the entire tournament so far. He snatched up Tristana and jumped into fights well ahead of his team, taking two or more kills before leaping back out with a reset. With his team to initiate and Yoon “Zero” Kyungsup to peel with exceptional Janna performances, SHRC paved their way to the Semifinals in the closest match of a hard fought series.
The SEMIFINALS
SHRC had perhaps the toughest road through the Knockout Stage, as both their Quarterfinal and Semifinal matchups went the five full games. Not to mention they had yet to face an opponent as daunting as the OMG who decimated NaJin White Shield in the Quarterfinals. In a post game interview with OnGameNet Global, a giddy
Uzi admitted they didn't start preparing for White since they hadn’t expected to make it through this series.
After the first game, OMG seemed to confirm the suspicion that they were the favorite to advance, as they met little resistance on their way to a 23-6 kill score victory. The second game proved much closer. OMG found a lead but didn’t close out the game in a timely fashion, leaving SHRC’s Dr. Mundo pick to pay dividends. Even with percentage health damage, OMG could not finish off Cola and lost the game.
The best games for SHRC came as a result of off-beat jungle picks from inSec. In the past, OMG found considerable advantages by banning two of his three main jungle champions: Rengar, Lee Sin, or Kha’Zix, and picking the third for themselves. InSec had come prepared for a similar ban strategy and in Game Three, he surprisingly chose Fiddlesticks.
Throughout the game, OMG’s split-pushing style was countered by SHRC’s Fiddlesticks team fight composition, which was more suited to a 5v5 brawl. OMG kept a significant lead, but lost it when they engaged a late game fight and subsequently over-committed on SHRC’s final inhibitor.
After OMG’s dives found them another victory in Game Four, SHRC regrouped for Game Five with a unique Pantheon selection. Pantheon's Grand Skyfall ultimate forced members of OMG to separate from the rest of their squad, allowing SHRC to sandwich them into narrow corridors and pick them off. OMG appeared shaken and made significantly more mistakes during this game than in any of their previous four, leaving SHRC to finish the series with a dominant victory.
The Finals
Despite very close records against EDG and OMG throughout LPL tournaments, SHRC had failed to best OMG in Playoffs and EDG in Regionals. At Worlds, they have defied even their own expectations and Uzi arrived as the first player to ever reprise an appearance in the World Championship Finals.
To take the title, SHRC will have to pull more than an upset against Samsung White. A few have said SHRC plays a style very similar to their Finals opponent, but Samsung White’s play overshadows SHRC’s in nearly every regard. The key to victory will be between Uzi and Gu “imp” Seung-bin, which is the closest matchup. If Uzi and Zero can shock the world and upset imp and Cho “Mata” Sehyeong, the support many are touting as the best player in the world, we’re in for a series just as intense as SHRC’s LPL rematches.
Star Horn Royal Club takes on Samsung White October 19 at 3pm KST/11pm PDT/8 am CEST right here on
lolesports.com. Make sure to catch the pre-game show and the opening ceremony, including a special performance by Imagine Dragons.
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