Invictus Gaming have emphatically ended the debate over who’s the best team in the world after annihilating South Korea’s SK Telecom T1 in 16 minutes today, setting a world record in the process.
After sweeping aside Team Liquid earlier in the day, IG were coming into their match against the three-time world champions with the weight of their region behind them. They arrived in Vietnam as world champions, but they won their championship without facing SKT and Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. Star mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin even said that the only thing he regrets about the Worlds win was that Faker wasn’t there.
Related: Rookie and Faker face off at MSI in a battle for global mid lane supremacy
There were many exciting things to look forward to in this clash of titans. Faker vs. Rookie: the best player in the world against the man looking to take his title. Kim “Khan” Dong-ha vs. Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok: a battle between the most dominant top laners in their respective region, both known for flashy, aggressive plays. Even Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning and Kim “Clid” Tae-min should have put on a spectacular show, with Clid being a former LPL jungler returning to Korea to play for SKT. But all of Invictus put on an absolute clinic that might not never be matched.
The spiciness started in the draft when SKT moved to pick up Sona and Taric for Park “Teddy” Jin-seong and Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong, while Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo decided to take the aggressive route and locked in Draven. The game started in a way not so far removed from a solo queue game as Clid found a kill onto Rookie only 37 seconds in, breaking the world record set in the Phong Vu Buffalo vs. Bombers game earlier in the tournament. The problem was, though, the kill traded onto Teddy was given to JackeyLove and he was all set to take over the passive, summoner-less SKT bot lane.
Frequent ganks were the name of the game as Invictus proceeded to raid the bot lane, handing kill after kill to JackeyLove. The IG ADC had a BF Sword by four minutes and three kills a minute later. He destroyed the first turret at six minutes and bought his Bloodthirster at just past the seven-minute mark. Any teamfight that the LCK champions tried to take to IG was lost the moment JackeyLove threw his first axe.
An inhibitor was broke just 13 minutes into the game with the help of the Rift Herald, which hammered the nail into SKT’s coffin as the gold lead for Invictus snowballed to 10,000. As they laid siege to the SKT base, Faker valiantly tried to start a game-saving teamfight. But JackeyLove’s axes started spinning and before long, all of SKT were looking at grey screens followed by a burning red “Defeat” screen.
It only took 16 minutes for Invictus Gaming to put away their biggest competition coming into the tournament. This win broke a four-year record by over four minutes for the fastest game at a Riot-held international tournament, surpassing Edward Gaming’s stomping of the Bangkok Titans at Worlds 2015. IG calmly claimed that record and first place at the end of day two at MSI 2019.
