There isn’t expected to be much excitement in the first semifinal of the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational, but there is plenty of attention being paid to the second semifinal. Invictus Gaming are expected to romp over Team Liquid in Taiwan on Friday, but the semifinal between SK Telecom T1 and G2 Esports on Saturday is much more of a toss-up. G2 knocked off SKT in both of their meetings in the Group Stage, but SKT finished with a better overall record and were the lone team to beat Invictus. This one should be fun.
2019 League of Legends World Championship Regional Betting Odds
SK Telecom T1 -256
G2 Esports +190
In the first game between these two teams at MSI, SKT drafted poorly. Both SKT and G2 said as much shortly after the match, as Mata’s Nautilus support fell flat, and the game didn’t last long enough for Faker’s Azir to get going.
The second game was much more even, but G2 got the win because their pocket pick came up big, while SKT’s fell on its face. When the European champions selected Pyke, most observers thought that he was going into the hands of Mikyx in the support role, but instead Wunder took him into the top lane against Khan’s Jayce. Wunder dominated the match-up after an early hiccup and finished with 11 kills and 7 assists, against just 4 deaths. Meanwhile, Teddy’s Miss Fortune did not work out as well as SKT hoped, finishing with a KDA under 2.
One of the keys to this match will be the top lane match-up between Khan and Wunder. Khan is seen as one of the world’s elite top laners, but he has yet to impress on the international stage, coming up short as a member of both SKT and Kingzone DragonX. Wunder has fared much better, and he will be looking to outfox Khan over the course of the series.
Clid has been SKT’s catalyst this year. Aggressive junglers that can get you ahead in the early game are more important than ever, and Clid has come up huge in the games where SKT has done well. He has more MVPs than any other player at MSI, and when he gets the ball rolling, the Korean champions are hard to stop. Jankos has done a great job counter jungling him in the two previous games, and he will need to do so again.
The bottom lane has not been the mismatch many expected. Perkz has not been blowing SKT out of the water with his play, but he has more than held his own against Teddy, and that was an area where many believed SKT had a big advantage over G2. Mata’s struggles have negated his edge over Mikyx in the support role too.
Of course, the biggest win condition for SKT is Faker. Caps popped off against the Unkillable Demon King on LeBlanc in their last game, but G2’s mid laner has had an up and down tournament. Faker is still the best or second-best mid laner in the world, and he is rounding into form at MSI. He has only played Azir against G2, so look for SKT to prioritize Ryze or another mid laner that is more powerful in the mid game.
SKT have made a habit of underwhelming at first in international competitions before figuring out the meta and routing the competition. I want to bet on them to do the same here, but I’m very concerned about the struggles of Khan and Mata. The best bet is to take SKT on the game score and hope that conventional wisdom pans out.
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