History Awesome / LeagueOfLegends

* Regardless about how one may feel about Mordekaiser's rework, it cannot be denied that being able to ''enslave the Dragon'' is nothing short of awesome. Nothing beats securing dragon with your jungler then using its ghost to siege a tower with impunity.

* Taric stands between a force of Noxians and Demacians, making both sides stand still in fear of him, all so that he could save a single flower.

** Continuing this is ''Shadow and Fortune'' where Miss Fortune, after a little epiphany that maybe throwing Bilgewater into chaos isn't such a bright idea, held one her own against the Harrowing with just her crews (while last time, she had to resort to an EnemyMine with Gangplank), and also surprise BigDamnHeroes featuring Lucian. But the one that steals the cake is practically Olaf, who just [[BloodKnight does what he does best]] and is like [[DeathSeeker "Oh, doggone it, gimme my glorious death already!"]]

*** The present segment, and real standout of the cinematic, Tryndamere. Who duels Kindred (AKA the Runeterran GrimReaper) and ''wins''[[labelnote:note]]Well, possibly a symbolic victory as shown by Lamb's arrows becoming Ashe's as she saves him, but still, it says a ''lot''[[/labelnote]]. Fending off Lamb's arrows, Wolf's jaws and comes within an inch of taking Lamb's head off. Even Lamb herself is momentarily stunned to see a mortal fighting ''that'' hard against death.

*** The present segment, and real standout of the cinematic, Tryndamere. Who duels Kindred (AKA the Runterra GrimReaper) and ''wins''[[labelnote:note]]Well, possibly a symbolic victory as shown by Lamb's arrows becoming Ashe's as she saves him, but still, it says a ''lot''[[/labelnote]]. Fending off Lamb's arrows, Wolf's jaws and comes within an inch of taking Lamb's head off. Even Lamb herself is momentarily stunned to see a mortal fighting ''that'' hard against death.

*** The present segment, and real standout of the cinematic, Tryndamere. Who duels Kindred (AKA the Runterra GrimReaper) and ''wins''. Fending off Lamb's arrows, Wolf's jaws and comes within an inch of taking Lamb's head off. Even Lamb herself is momentarily stunned to see a mortal fighting ''that'' hard against death.

** Speaking of new skins, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAiOAert8us DJ Sona's Ultimate Concert]]. Fans had been clamoring for a DJ Sona skin for literal ''years'' and the result not only did not disappoint, it ''smashed'' expectatations.

* In act 3 of Bilgewater: Burning Tides, in which Miss Fortune pulls an impressive BatmanGambit against Gangplank involving Twisted Fate and Graves, destroys his ship and apparently ''kills'' Gangplank in front of the entire city-state. At this point, you'll never see MF as merely just your average '{{Stripperiffic}} [[BuxomIsBetter big-breasted]] PirateGirl' again.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDYqT0_9VR4 The Call]] is a glorious montage of champions in combat- Sejuani leading Olaf and her tribesmen against Volibear and the Ursine, Taliyah and Kai'Sa fighting Xer'Sai in the desert, leading to a clash against the gigantic Rek'Sai, Pantheon smashing through the Solari to duel against Leona, while [[BookEnds the cinematic opens and closes]] on Ornn calmly forging weapons of war.
*** Not just any weapon of war, ''Infinity Edge''.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eu7NzzHC84 The Climb]]", a cinematic to kickstart the 2018 Season, depicting the trials and tribulations of various champions from all across Runeterra. Undeniably CutscenePowerToTheMax, but also undeniably spine-tingling, blood-pumping, and [[SceneryPorn utterly gorgeous]] [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome the entire way through]].

[[folder: Meta examples]]
* Every ultimate skin has to be a huge concept that's worthy of being here:
** After months of delays and THOUSANDS of pages of community complaints, the Pulsefire Ezreal skin was finally released in June 2012. How can a simple skin release be a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome? [[http://promo.leagueoflegends.com/pulsefire-ezreal/en.html By being ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE more awesome than ANYTHING Riot have ever released before.]]
** The next high-value ultimate skin was Spirit Guard Udyr. Udyr is a significantly harder champion to make skins for because of his four different stances changing his model, so the fact that you have something significant like a voice-over/visual-design overhaul for a character like Udyr was quite a step up.
** The concept of a DJ Sona skin was long anticipated for years, and when it was finally released, it didn't disappoint, because Riot went the extra mile to make her an incredible auditory experience, giving her 3 unique forms of different genres of EDM with actual big-name producers behind them as well as a functional playstyle that made her actually feel like you're controlling an actual in-game DJ.
** Elementalist Lux raised the bar even higher by evolving Lux not by giving her a new model/animations/voice-over/all the other good trappings, but by giving her '''''TEN'''''. All of her forms feel vastly different and unique from one another, from the particle effects to the voice over, and it feels like they actually gave a boatload of champions people didn't realize they wanted all in one package.
* On the 11th of July 2012, ''League of Legends'' [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/07/11/riot-games-league-of-legends-officially-becomes-most-played-pc-game-in-the-world/ officially became the most-played PC game in the world]], beating out even ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft!''
** Over half a decade later (in 2018 as of this writing), ''[=LoL=]'' is ''still'' the most-played PC game in the world! By now it's arguably staking a serious claim to being the most-successful PC game ''of all time!''
* Everyone who was in attendance or watching online knew that a musical performance would open up the Season 3 World Championship finals at LA's Staples Center. What no one knew was that said performance would include a surprise appearance by none other than ''The Crystal Method,'' who performed Lucian's theme, "The Purifier's Resolve," live for all of the summoners. [[http://youtu.be/nxioGco_N8o Watch it, and the rest of the awesome performance, here.]]
** Oh, and you know the guitarist in the suit of lights? Yeah, that's ''Wes Borland'' of ''Music/LimpBizkit''. When Riot have a party they pull out ALL the stops!
* The music video for the 2014 League of Legends World Championship theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmI_Ndrxy14 Warriors]] is pure SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome. It sums up ''EVERYTHING'' the grins to pro is in League of Legends.
** What makes it even better? It was sung by the ''Music/ImagineDragons'', who are pretty big fans of League themselves.
* Somehow not mentioned already, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e_N4WpqH5o The Summoner's Rift VU]]. There are no words to describe how awesome it is.
** Best part? This is '''PRE-BETA''' footage. It's gotten even more work since then.
* When Miss Fortune killed Gangplank during the Bilgewater event, Riot decided to show that they were not joking by '''disabling Gangplank in all queues'''. This is the first time in the history of the game that they disabled a champion for any reason other than [[GameBreakingBug game-breaking bugs]]. While the move can be called controversial, it proves that Riot is very serious about the game lore.
** Somewhat subverted when it turns out that the ''actual'' reason they disabled him was because his rework that they'd just launched at the start of the event ''did'' in fact have several {{Game Breaking Bug}}s. But they way [[IndyPloy they rolled with it and worked it into the story so seamlessly that it was impossible to tell]], actually ''improving'' the event, was ''brilliant.''
* Riot missed the opportunity of the Franchise/DragonBall ActorAllusion with Creator/SpikeSpencer doing their Wukong even if he's doing a damn good job, and on the other side, his English VA Creator/SeanSchemmel has gone over doing the ActorAllusion on VideoGame/{{Smite}}'s Sun Wukong. How do they up the ante for that? For the release of the Japanese server and thus a full Japanese dub for the game, they got Goku's Japanese seiyuu, Creator/MasakoNozawa to dub their Wukong in Japanese. Riot might have gotten an already huge AllStarCast of noted seiyuus, but being able to hire a legendary seiyuu like Nozawa is a ''huge'' accomplishment.
* Riot [[https://www.riftherald.com/lol-esports/2018/5/9/17336010/riot-games-sports-emmy-esports-worlds won a Sports Emmy]] for Outstanding Live Graphic design for their 2017 Worlds Grand Final opening ceremony, when they used AugmentedReality [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pwMht-B46g to make a massive Elder Dragon fly down into the stadium and roar]] at the climax of Against the Current's performance of the tournament theme, "Legends Never Die".
** Oh, and the gigantic Summoners Cup in the background? ''Not'' augmented reality!
* After the previous year's award-winning show, Riot upped the ante during the 2018 Worlds Grand Final opening ceremony by having [[GirlGroup K/DA]] perform their debut single POP/STAR live for the crowd- not just the real life performers, but also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9oDlvOV3qs the characters they perform making a live appearance]]- Ahri, Akali, Kai'Sa and Evelynn dancing and singing for the cheering crowd.
* The 10 Year Anniversary celebration was one bit, long CMOA for Riot Games, League of Legends and it's community in general. In just one day they announced a massive Overhaul to the Elemental Dragon system which would let them ''permanently alter the map itself'', letting them do stuff like burn down walls of the jungle or make more patches of brush, their new Social Impact Fund where any Skins released under it would get 100% of their revenue donated to certain charities, and the announcement of '''several new games with the League of Legends IP''' (Finally putting an end to the "Riot only has one game" meme in the process), including Legends of Runeterra (A card game), a fighting game, a top down dungeon crawler and Mobile ports of both League of Legends ''and'' Teamfight Tactics. All of this was then topped off with the announcement of the return of Classic URF and '''an animated series based on the League of Legends universe!''' In just one day Riot threw everything they've been planning for years straight at it's playerbase, and it couldn't be any happier.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Gameplay examples]]
* '''[[TotalPartyKill PENTAKILL!]]'''
** Even more so when it's happening by the Pros in the LCS. The background shouting and the commentators going apeshit adds a whole new level to the awesome.
* Using Pantheon's ultimate, Grand Skyfall, and [[ItsRainingMen literally dropping in on a fight.]] Bonus points if you kill someone on impact.
** Along the same lines, using Shen's ultimate on a low-health ally to save them, then appearing at their side to reverse the situation. The shield and the "incoming ninja" sound that it makes can cause a MassOhCrap as bad as anything Pantheon does.
** The best way to mop up a weakened enemy team? Have Karthus sing them the song of his people.
--> '''Karthus (casting Requiem):''' SING WITH YOUR FINAL BREATH!
* Any time you escape from a gank. Bonus awesome if it was against a champion who could change your positioning, like Singed or Blitzcrank. More bonus points if post ganking, you escaped a global ult that would've killed you (such as Ashe's, Draven's or Jinx's).
* ''Every single summoner'' (yes, that includes '''you''') will have a crowning moment in game. It could be your first Pentakill, it could be an amazing game-saving play you made up on the fly, it doesn't matter. Some had 5 of them last week, some will get theirs years after starting. But at some point or another, you WILL feel like a legend.
** Which, [[ShapedLikeItself in and of itself,]] is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome- [[SugarWiki/SoCoolItsAwesome A game that makes you feel]] ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly]]'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin how it says it will.]]
* The newest graphical rework for Garen gives his ultimate attack an impressive effect on a successful execution. And by impressive, we mean a ''gigantic'' shockwave that ripples almost an entire screen's worth of area. As if using it the right way wasn't satisfactory enough.
* [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Doom Bots]] [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of Doom]]. This game mode grants a twist to the Coop Vs AI gameplay for people who say [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor it is too easy]]. After picking your champions and entering the loading screen, you see that all bots have selected the same icon, which is Ziggs with a supervillianesque look. You then enter the game into a darker Summoners Rift, where the music got replaced with the Twisted Treeline Theme. Did we mention that every champion bot has gotten a gimmick that no normal champ has? Lux's abilities are split up in multiple projectiles, [[BeamSpam including her Ultimate]], [[NoSell Karthus gains invulnerability randomly even when he is not dead]] [[HomingProjectile and Ziggs bombs home in on you.]] Additionally,they can get Bonus Dooms that grant them small bonuses like [[BackFromTheDead Anivia's Rebirth]] or Garen suddenly being in nearby bushes. However [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The Computer is a Cheating Bastard]] does not apply fully, as they still are limited in vision and intelligence as their normal counterparts, what grants for an extreme satisfaction should you take them down.
** However, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The Computer is a Cheating Bastard]] is slightly mitigated by this mode being NintendoHard. And, as many players have noticed, most of the Doom Bots are Ability Power champions. As such, some players believe playing [[MageKiller Veigar]] or [[AntiMagic Kassadin]] are good ideas. [[MassOhCrap And then you run into a Doom Veigar]], and watch in terror as his Primordial Burst [[OneHitKill one-shots]] the Kassadin or Veigar on your team, and then he proceeds to rain down a KillSat level Dark Matter on you and the rest of your team.
* Regardless about how one may feel about Mordekaiser's rework, it cannot be denied that being able to ''enslave the Dragon'' is nothing short of awesome. Nothing beats securing dragon with your jungler then using its ghost to siege a tower with impunity.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Community examples]]
* While not offical Riot animation or artwork, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtAbmHvJlHg Stick Figure Spotlight 2 - Demacia vs Noxus]] is mind-blowing, even though it's stick figures.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06xF46tIkmA There is now a third installment]]. It's just as awesome.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzxjGEPTPZw What, no love for the original?]]
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMJo3vaijx4 4th installment]], 'Final Eclipse', raises the bar yet again, with a particular highlight being the battle between the tiny Kennen and a ''[[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever gigantic]]'' Nautilus.
** The long-anticipated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hbd8BoFNJs Stick Figure Spotlight V: Will of the Blades]], features a huge combo of surprise appearances of champions, including Annie, Gragas, Jhin, and a ''[[AnimationBump fully animated]]'' Aurelion Sol.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb6NI0AQ7k0 Summoner Showdown]] 1-4. Another unofficial animation series. The main difference is that instead of Stick Figure animation, the animator drew them in Full-Body, which is not only more time consuming, but more difficult as well. What's awesome is that both the main animators of Stick Figure Spotlight and Summoner Showdown, Hyun, and Terkoiz, respectively, are fairly good friends, and another animator and friend of theirs, Miccool, did the effects for Spotlight 2-4 and all the Showdowns.
* In a post that became legendary on the ''[=LoL=]'' forums, Rioter Kades [[http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?p=29123780#29123780 laid down the most almighty smack]] on [[InternetJerk the toxic minority of the community]] who were attempting to ''[[InsaneTrollLogic defend]]'' the merits of InternetJerk in response to a moving and mature post by a sufferer of social anxiety disorder about dealing with cyber-bullying:
-->'''Kades:''' Don't ever whine and rage like an obnoxious little kid and then assume the subject of your anonymous, cowardly 'cyber bullying' is not a 'man' because he takes offense.
* While this is more in line with ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'', the community of that game and ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' [[DuelingGames aren't exactly majorly good]]. So, an indie 3D animator named Swordz, who is heavily more on making Dota animations... proceeds to give his attempt of uber awesome: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvpHThakNwU When Heroes Meet Champions]], AKA, finally Dota and [=LoL=] will have their UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny!
** What's more, while people may complain the rendering about [=LoL=] champion models, Swordz proceeds to give the [=LoL=] Champions high quality models on par with Dota heroes. That itself is nothing short of awesome in modeling for the champions.
** This was unfortunately discontinued thanks to CreatorBreakdown kicking in the worst timing possible, but props for trying.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsZulwF0uFE This video taken from League of Fucktards]], while old, chronicles just how awesome the Pantheon player goes, taking on 3 champions at once, winning with a single digit of HP, all with epic music and footages and clips (and sounds) from Film/ThreeHundred. Because Sparta.
-->''OH MAMA. Leave me alone, you monkeys! ... Fuck that shit, IMMA SPARTAN! (scores a kill, and that's just the beginning)''
** This eventually ends in Pantheon, down into ''1'' HP, against Jarvan who used to have full HP, but he's backed with turret and minions...
-->''Yo, Trynd, [[WhyWontYouDie am I doing this right??]]'' *cut to the '''[[Film/ThreeHundred "THIS! IS! SPARTA!!"]]''' scene, then Jarvan got killed off while Pantheon walked away alive.*
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXUNA9DaQrk The story of Street Jimmy]], a Pantheon player who happened to be a god in the jungle, knowing where the enemy jungler was.
--> [=BrickyOrchid8=]: "Street Jimmy had an anti-Rengar tracking device installed into his crotch guard. Oh look, Rengar's top lane? So is Street Jimmy. Oh look, Rengar's diving mid? Street Jimmy flashes from raptors and W's him under tower. Rengar ulted bot lane? [[DeathfromAbove Prepare the Mandrop]]."
** Then the enemy team (sans their Ezreal) decides to do the Baron Nashor fight while Street Jimmy was the only one alive on the narrator's team, which [[CurbStompBattle leads to the enemy team's eventual defeat]].
-->[=BrickyOrchid8=]: "Four members of the enemy team, all about 1/3 health, and the best action was to Baron. So out they went, trying to take the big purple worm and make a comeback against the horrifying and deadly [[TheDreaded Street Jimmy]]. But like always, Street Jimmy foresaw this. He was already back to base with Homeguards boots, he had hit Level 16 from that last fight. [[OhCrap Oh God, he was going to do it]]. He got close enough to where his [[DeathFromAbove Ult]] was in range and soared up into the air. The vision of Baron became clear as Street [[PrecisionFStrike MotherFucking]] Jimmy prepared his [[DeathFromAbove Mandrop]]. The enemy team didn't decide to back off. They would take this Baron regardless of Pantheon's intervention. But it didn't matter. Street Jimmy had a full Level 3 Ultimate, he was 2 levels above Rengar for Smiting, and he also had Spirit of the Elder Lizard[[note]] this was before the changes to jungle items that replaced them with the branching jungle items[[/note]] which increases damage to monsters. When Baron had reached 1500 health, he slammed onto the ground with more force than [[WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids Fat Albert's shoe soles]]. 1200 damage Mandrop thanks to the jungle item, plus a 900 true damage Smite. No man can out-Smite Street Motherfucking Jimmy. He landed, took the Baron, killed Rengar as he was at the center of the drop, chucked a spear at Leona who had dropped below 15% health; it crit, killed her. The Akali used her W shroud, but Street Jimmy just threw his E into it and killed her as well. Then he turned his attention to Rumble..."
* Disco Heat, a Youtuber who breaks the Meta and exposes flamers and toxic people in the League community, made it to the front page of the League client with his video of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgOygYVJSJY Rengar and Thresh botlane]] and wrecking house. The Kicker? Disco is from Australia, and this is in the NA Client. Just goes to show how badass this guy has come.
* After Riot (rightfully) surprised the world by releasing "[=POP/STARS=]," Filipino [=YouTuber=] Aruvn did them one better by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktacymKTpUI putting out a cover]] ''six days later''. Most attempts at "Male [=K/DA=]" simply pitch-shifted the song down; Aruvn sang the entire thing, including the Korean, which he does not speak.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Competitive plays]]
* First, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLqfaRr7y0 a brief montage]] (several moments here are expanded on in-depth below).
* In the final match between pro teams Fnatic and SK Gaming at the IEM Katowice tournament, one of the closest and most nail-biting pro games ever is decided when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4bdDWt9Jfw xPeke executes the most incredible Nexus backdoor in the history of LoL]].
** It's worth noting that this is the '''#1''' moment on the top 20 pro-[=LoL=] moments list above. It's [=LoL=]'s equivalent of [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Daigo's legendary full parry]], for many of the same reasons. It is regarded as '''the''' defining moment for competetive League of Legends play (in the montage video its description is simply "You know what it is...").
* European League Champion Ship series 2013 Spring split, week 4, day 2: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Rd2hByRyc#t=45m42s Fnatic vs the Copenhagen Wolves]]. One of the best, most intense and closest matches in ''[=LoL=]'' history; about half way through the commentators start yelling with excitement during a close teamfight and practically ''never stop'' until the end of the game as the action rages non-stop and the advantage swings from one side to another with incredible plays all around. Suffice it to say that if anyone ever says that ''[=LoL=]'' is a boring game, just show them this match and they'll shut up forever. But the most awesome thing? [[DavidVersusGoliath The Copenhagen Wolves were at the bottom of the ladder, having only gotten their first win the night before after 9 consecutive losses while Fnatic were the top team, having won 9 out of 10 games and on an unstoppable win streak.]] ''The Wolves take the victory!''
** It's worth noting that the main reason the Wolves had registered their first win of the series the night before (and beat Fnatic)? That game had been the debut[[note]]Actually he'd debuted in a game against EG earlier that same day, which had been their 9th loss, but shut up OK?[[/note]] of '''Bjergsen''', the player who would take the EU scene by storm, becoming one of the most feared midlaners in the region before transferring to America to sign with TSM. He'd been ineligible to play for the first 3 weeks of the season due to his age, forcing the Wolves to run a substitute, but once he was finally allowed onto the rift he made an ''immediate'' impact, with a [[TotalPartyKill Pentakill]] on Syndra (a champ at the time not considered competitively viable) in his ''first game!''
* North American League Championship series 2013 Spring split, week 5, day 1: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/complexity-vs-team-dignitas-na-lcs-week-5/ [=compLexity=] vs Team Dignitas.]] Another DavidVersusGoliath matchup surprisingly similar to the Wolves vs Fnatic match listed above- [=coL=] were near the bottom of the ladder, Dignitas at the top and on an almost unstoppable winning streak. Another highly intense, well-played game sees ANOTHER incredible upset as [=compLexity=] deal Dignitas a defeat that NO-ONE expected!
* NA LCS 2013 Spring split, week 6, day 1: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUV34AMb_k Team [=SoloMid=] vs [=compLexity=].]] The weekend prior to this match saw Chaox, TSM's AD Carry, getting benched due his attitude, forcing the team to bring in [=WildTurtle=] as a substitute. This match would be TSM's first test, to see if they could mesh with their substitute carry. The match itself proceeded to turn into a 46 minute tug of war, both teams going back and forth, with the results standing on the edge of a knife, all while [=WildTurtle=] held his own throughout the game. The final teamfight ended with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUV34AMb_k&feature=player_detailpage#t=4229 WildTurtle getting his fist Pentakill in the LCS,]] not only earning TSM a victory, but also cementing his spot as a permanent member of the team.
* EU LCS 2013 Spring split, week 6, day 2: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/wolves-vs-lcs-2013-eu-spring-w6d2/ Copenhagen Wolves vs Evil Geniuses]]. The Wolves seen to have a tendancy to create high-tension, explosive-action, edge-of-your-seat-close matches, especially when they're the underdogs. Over 45 minutes of high-intensity clashes which leave the commentators hoarse from yelling and in the end the underdog Wolves do it ''again!''
* EU LCS 2013 Spring split, week 9, day 1: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/aaa-vs-gambit-lcs-2013-eu-spring-w9d1/ aAa vs Gambit]]. Nearly a ''full hour'' of battle from what most people would have expected to be a CurbStompBattle by Gambit. Incredibly close all the way through with amazing plays by all parties. The underdogs don't win this one, but they sure give Gambit a run for their money.
* EU LCS 2013 Spring split, week 10, day 1: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/aaa-vs-lcs-2013-eu-spring-w10d1/ aAa vs Evil Geniuses]]. Another lengthy, tense, exciting clash, although by now [=aAa=] have proven they're not so much the underdogs and Evil Geniuses have been shown to be mortal. A ''masterful'' performance by [=aAa=] carry Nono with a bizarrely unconventional Ezreal build is the highlight, leading to a thrilling victory by [=aAa=] when they pull a KansasCityShuffle by rushing past EG to storm their undefended inhibitor, forcing EG to launch an uncoordinated assault on ''their own base,'' leading to their defeat, Nono ending the game on a score of 14/1/13.
* Again on EU LCS 2013 Spring split, week 10, day 1: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/fnatic-vs-sk-lcs-2013-eu-spring-w10d1/ Fnatic vs SK]]. A grudge match between the two arch-enemies turns into another bruising, drawn-out 51-minute slugfest. Fnatic's unconventional composition, including an Urgot/Blitzcrank bot lane and an AD Ezreal mid goes head-to-head with SK's Irelia who is "channeling his inner Creator/ChuckNorris" to quote the commentators. Another close match ends in "one of the longest teamfights in competative ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' history", with Fnatic finally defeating SK again to go 4-0 against them in the LCS season.
* NA LCS 2013 Spring split, week 10, day 3: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/mrn-vs-clg-lcs-2013-na-spring-w10d3/ MRN vs CLG]]. You have not seen a miraculous comeback until you've seen this game. CLG steamroll MRN mercilessly for the first 20 minutes before slowing down and eventually stalling, while MRN slowly turn the pressure back on them off the back of Nientonso's '''unbelievably''' powerful Tristana and [=ClakeyD's=] fearless HeroicSacrifice initiations on Jarvan IV. However, with only a single turret left in MRN's base after a near-disaster mid-game it remains INCREDIBLY close right up to the end when MRN wipe CLG out in a furious fight and blitz up through the middle to take the CLG nexus with literal ''seconds'' to spare until CLG can respawn and crush them on the counterattack!
* On the flip side of the coin from all these tense, close, underdog upset games, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/gambit-vs-sk-game-2-lcs-2013-eu-spring-playoffs-semifinals/ SK vs Gambit match 2]] in the EU 2013 Spring semifinals. Gambit ''[[CurbStompBattle annihilate]]'' SK without mercy, crushing them so decisively that SK actually ''surrender the match'' less than half an hour in, even though this will see them knocked out of the tournament (or at least reduced to the 3rd place playoff). As a fine example of the sheer power of a truly skilled and coordinated team in high level play (Gambit play like a well-oiled machine and despite their loss here SK are no pushovers) the match deserves its place on this list.
* NA LCS 2013 Summer split, week 1, day 2: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/counter-logic-gaming-vs-team-dignitas-lcs-2013-na-summer-w1d2/ CLG vs Dignitas]]. The very ''definition'' of the word "epic". 71 minutes. Over 70 kills. Over 200,000 gold across both teams. A nail-biter right up to the finish. The longest match in LCS history and one of the longest games in recorded pro ''[=LoL=]'' history as well. The advantage swings back and forth until it reaches the endgame where ''both'' teams are [[ViolationOfCommonSense both winning and losing at the same time]].
* NA LCS 2013 Summer split, week 3, day 1: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/velocity-esports-vs-team-curse-lcs-2013-na-summer-w3d1/ Velocity eSports vs Curse]]. Another epic, close game where the lead swings back and forth. Velocity takes an early lead by sabotaging Curse's jungle, Curse responds with first blood, Velocity grabs early turrets, Curse score more kills and take dragon control, Velocity steal Baron from Curse, Curse split push down Velocity's bottom inhibitor, it just goes on and on. At the end of the day only one team can win and Velocity finally man up and force their way through Curse, using their superior carry strength to let them smash down the Curse nexus while simply IGNORING Voyboy's Shen who is trying to race them for their own.
* NA LCS 2013 Summer split, week 3, day 3: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/counter-logic-gaming-vs-team-solomid-lcs-2013-na-summer-w3d3/ CLG vs TSM]]. The penultimate match of one of the most thrilling weeks in LCS history sees these two veterans slugging it out for a full hour. CLG's early domination begins to spin its wheels in the face of TSM's stoic base defence, as Doublelift's pick of Urgot lacks the siege potential to directly crack TSM's base towers, TSM's item choices largely negate Link's Zed and Reginald's Karthus is ''monstrously'' powerful. In the last minutes, CLG abandon their usual strategies, throwing caution to the wind and sacrificing their players to backdoor enemy inhibitors, while TSM leverage their raw power to bull straight through CLG's defences that they'd been kept away from all game. At the very final moment, Nientonsoh on Elise becomes the hero of CLG as TSM's all-or-nothing bullrush slams into him like a water balloon into a brick wall, Nien picking up a triple kill while CLG's super minions smash down TSM's last turret and nexus, Dyrus on Kennen helpless to stop the endless wave of minions from winning the game for CLG.
** Props to the crowd at MLG Anaheim, as well, who were so hot during this match, which at its peak drew chants for both TSM and CLG.
* EU LCS 2013 Summer split, week 3, day 2: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/sk-gaming-vs-fnatic-lcs-2013-eu-summer-w3d2/ SK vs Fnatic]]. '''19-0.''' That was the result of the last 19 matches between Fnatic and SK at the start of this match. SK hadn't beaten Fnatic in a professional match in ''2 years'' and were understandably eager to change this, especially after beating League leaders Alternate the previous day. An epic slugfest erupted- for most of the game SK held an advantage over Fnatic, but a blundered engagement in midgame cost them dearly, losing almost their entire team, allowing Fnatic to snatch Baron buff and several turrets. Despite SK's superb play allowing them to reclaim the advantage, the game remained balanced on a knife edge as SK could never reach the stage where Fnatic were no longer a threat to them and one misstep could cost them even worse than the last one. After more than an hour of play, SK finally broke their 2-year drought, surmounting Fnatic's rally to make it a round 20 wins in a row.
* OGN Champions League, which is the Korean equivalent of the LCS, had CJ Entus Frost's Madlife, known for being one of the best support players in the entire world and is a Season 3 All-Star to boot, pull out [[http://youtu.be/kcdg9n3avWA?t=26m6s an absolutely mind-blowing Thresh hook]]. Against an Ezreal, he read that he would Arcane Shift ''seconds'' in advance, threw the hook out to where he thought Ez would go, ''and caught him'', securing the kill in what would end up being a total CurbStompBattle in favor of CJ Frost.
* EU LCS 2013 Summer Playoffs match 1: Alternate vs Evil Geniuses. This best-of-three playoff between the new blood of Alternate and the old guard of Evil Geniuses is one of the bets you're going to see. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDzMAxR6zA#t=23624 The first game]] is fairly close, with both teams looking good at different points, until Alt take control and secure the hard-earned win. After some serious discussion, EG come back with a new plan in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDzMAxR6zA#t=23624 game 2]] and ''[[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]]'' Alternate in return, winning the game in less than 30 minutes. The decider, with a guaranteed position in Season 4 and potentially their Esports careers on the line, is ''the closest of all.'' The advantage swings back and forth as the teams clash head-on again and again. The close match is ''finally'' decided when EG take an amazingly quick Baron behind Alternate's back and use the surge of power to become unstoppable, dismantling Alt's defence, smashing their base apart and securing themselves a safe place in Season 4.
* Intel Extreme Masters season VIII - Cologne 2013. The tournament in general is one big crowning moment for Gambit Gaming, their first major event since reuniting with their former support [=EDward=] (who had left for America for the Summer Split of the LCS). Gambit, once one of the most feared European teams, had been on somewhat of a slide, but IEM Cologne showed that, with [=EDward=] back on the team, [[HesBack They're Back!]] No enemies at the tournament could really even slow them down, culminating in [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/gambit-gaming-vs-fnatic-game-2-finals-iem-season-viii-cologne/ the final match against Fnatic]] where Gambit went ballistic on poor Fnatic, ''completely annihilating'' them in a CurbStompBattle so brutal that the commentators couldn't believe it. After an unfortunate first blood when Diamond got caught scouting out the enemy jungle before the minions spawned, Diamond responded by going on an absolute ''rampage'' with his Evelynn, ending the game 11/1/10 and leading Gambit to a '''crushing''' 30-5 victory in barely 22 minutes.
* OGN's HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 had an amazing finish where in the grand final between SKT Telecom T1 and KT Bullets when it came down to a 5th game tiebreaker, unlike other leagues, OGN stipulates that that the 5th game in a final is a blind pick instead of the normal tournament draft. This resulted in a mirror match of Zed vs Zed for the midlaners, SKT Telecom T1's Faker playing Zed against KT Rolster Bullet's Ryu playing Zed. Despite not doing too much else where in the game but providing gank assistance, FAKER demonstrated that he could outplay anyone else in the world in a Zed vs Zed duel by killing a 100% HP Ryu, from only 25% HP. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da09LgzA0sY This is the duel here, broken down with a slow motion replay just to underline how incredible FAKER's reflexes and mechanics are.]] To further emphasize how big a deal this is: that Shadow Slash he uses to finish the duel is activated within 1/8th of a second of it being available after he uses Living Shadow to switch places.
* NA LCS 2014 Spring split week 1, day 1: [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/cloud-9-vs-team-solomid-week-1-na-lcs-2014-spring-season/ Cloud 9 vs Team Solo Mid]]. '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Cloud. 9. Pick.]] ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Teemo!]]''''' Like ComicBook/NickFury showing up at the end of ''Film/IronMan'', like [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Derpy]] [[EnsembleDarkHorse Hooves]] [[AscendedExtra getting a plot-relevant, name-checked, voiced appearance]] in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup "The Last Roundup"]], Hai locking in Teemo ''completely'' [[SpotlightStealingSquad overshadowed every other detail of this game]]. As stated on the [[Memes/LeagueOfLegends memes page]], highlighting ButtMonkey JokeCharacter Teemo on champion select before switching to the champ you're ''really'' going to play is a popular form of audience trolling by the LCS players, but in the first game of the new LCS year Cloud 9 do it ''seriously'' and ''[[LethalJokeCharacter make it work!]]'' Despite C9 being unstoppable champions in the 2013 Summer split and defeating Fnatic to clinch the Battle of the Atlantic for NA, the majority of the crowd were betting on old favourites TSM to take the win, largely due to their acquisition of EU star mid laner Bjergsen. While Cloud 9 got off to a slow start, as the game wore on it became increasingly apparent that TSM simply ''did not know how to deal with an AP Teemo mid,'' the champion's unpopularity meaning that they had simply NO experience playing against something that quirky and irritating. Cloud 9 smothered TSM, grinding them down and barring them from their own jungle with the threat of Teemo's invisible mushroom bombs keeping them to the lanes. Eventually, Cloud 9 finished ''dissecting'' TSM and winning the first game of the new year... ''[[RefugeInAudacity with a TEEMO!]]''
** This is likely a CallBack to TSM's own epic moment, with team owner Reginald picking Teemo at the ''World Championship'' in 2013 [[http://youtu.be/-h0qQ5aYCBw?t=5m4s against Gaming Gear]] and getting a partial standing ovation for it. This pick caused what may have been the loudest, most enthusiastic cheer during the entire World Championship and totally overshadowed the game. Making it better, Teemo wasn't even useful then due to Oracles (removed in Preseason 4) and pink-ward spam (nerfed hard in preseason 4) negating his stealth and his mushrooms entirely. TSM lost this one, but it seems Cloud 9 didn't forget it.
* NA LCS 2014 Spring split week 1, day 3, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/team-dignitas-vs-cloud-9-week-1-na-lcs-2014-spring-season/ Dignitas vs Cloud 9]]. A tall order for Dignitas, facing off against [[TheDreaded the most powerful team in NA]]. Cloud 9 had only lost 3 games in the entire 2013 Summer split and were already off to a flying 3-0 start to the 2014 Spring split going into their last match of the Super Week. Almost no-one gave Dignitas a prayer against such powerful opponents, with the online poll showing 90% of viewers expected a Cloud 9 victory and a straight 4-0 sweep. The reality was startlingly different as Dignitas ''crushed'' Cloud 9, starting by focus-banning mid-laner Hai in champ select to force him onto Riven, then counter-picking him with Scarra's Gragas and bullying him mercilessly in lane. Scarra and ADC player Imaqtipie played a blinder of a game, Dignitas wiping the floor with Cloud 9 19-3 and ''exploding'' with excitement as soon as the Nexus fell.
* EU LCS 2014 Spring split week 2, day 1, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/team-roccat-vs-supa-hot-crew-xd-week-2-eu-lcs-2014-spring-season/ Team Roccat vs Supa Hot Crew]]. In week 1 of the NA competition, Cloud 9 made history by playing and winning with Teemo. In week 2 of the EU split, Team Roccat matched them for audacity by picking '''Mordekaiser'''. Another TierInducedScrappy, Morde had never been picked in the LCS and was broadly considered competatively inviable thanks to his obsolete kit- while Teemo at least received a strong stealth buff with the vision changes in Season 4 that made his shrooms much harder to detect, Morde had just been forgotten. But like Teemo, Morde was something that the pro players simply weren't used to seeing and they paid for it. An immovable brick wall in mid lane, Overpow's Morde farmed and pushed and farmed and pushed, while Moopz on Morgana (itself an unconventional mid pick) struggled to find any relevance. Late game, Morde's [[YourSoulIsMine Children of the Grave]] ultimate was stealing -as the commentator's pointed out- up to ''56%'' of the maximum HP of whoever it was cast on and turning the victim into an enslaved ghost when they died. It didn't all go Roccat's way as jungler Jankos struggled early game with his Pantheon, but by the late game the pressure was just too much and Roccat bulled their way through Supa Hot Crew to victory, proving once again the effectiveness of an unexpected champion selection.
* NA LCS 2014 Spring split, week 2 day 2, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/xdg-gaming-vs-evil-geniuses-week-2-na-lcs-2014-spring-season/ XDG Gaming vs Evil Geniuses]]. EG, former contenders from EU who had jumped the Pacific to play in America, had not had the greatest season up to this point and were starting to get desperate. So in a season that had so far largely been characterised by [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome the same team compositions over and over again]] they did something ''radical-'' they went back to one of their classic compositions from season '''2''' and ran an Urgot/Soraka bottom lane (additionally, while they picked the omnipresent Mundo, they dared to run him in the jungle rather than the top lane). After a shaky start where [[CrutchCharacter Urgot]] uncharacteristically failed to dominate the bot lane, EG eventually managed to claw a respectable lead, until an absolute ''disaster'' of a teamfight at dragon saw them lose 4 members for no return kills, giving XDGG an uncontested Baron. But EG stood their ground with their fearsome siege/poke team and turned the pressure back on, mid-laner Pobelter in particular playing out of his ''mind'' on Gragas. Eventually EG's pressure was too much for XDGG to withstand and they were split wide open, EG closing out a comfortable, very impressive and well-deserved win with their unconventional composition- ''especially'' gratifying for the fans who were tired of [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome the same Lucian/Thresh vs Jinx/Annie vs Leona/Caitlyn matchups in every single game]].
* SK Telecom T1 K winning OGN Winter 2013/2014, becoming the first team to win an OGN tournament twice and ending the season with a perfect 15-0, not having dropped a single game. Faker also got the MVP award, thus being the only player to win the award twice.
* EU LCS 2014 Spring split, week 3 day 1, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/team-roccat-vs-fnatic-week-3-eu-lcs-2014-spring-season/ Team Roccat vs Fnatic]]. Arguably the biggest and closest slugfest of the season to this point. Fnatic are an undefeated 5-0, while Roccat are showing themselves to be highly favoured underdogs. Despite a shaky start, Roccat push Fnatic to the limit, turning teamfights around on them, dropping [[DeathFromAbove Pantheon]] on them, managing to ''evaporate'' a tank-built [[StoneWall Mundo]] and playing the map superbly to counter every advantage Fnatic try to take with one of their own. An incredibly close match more than 50 minutes as the advantage see-saws back and forth, but in the end Fnatic get another sneaky Baron and crucially catch out and assassinate Roccat's ADC, allowing them to power through Roccat's base and end it.
* EU LCS 2014 Spring split, week 3 day 2, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/gambit-gaming-vs-fnatic-week-3-eu-lcs-2014-spring-season/ Gambit Gaming vs Fnatic]]. With Fnatic still undefeated after their narrow brush with Roccat above, the League leaders are still looking strong, but if anyone can beat them, Gambit can. With Diamond on his fearsome Evelynn and Alex Ich playing Zed (on his own birthday no less), Gambit looks set to take it to Fnatic, but Fnatic put the mighty Xpeke on Fizz to meet Zed head-on in the mid lane while Soaz picks a highly unconventional Gragas top. A horrible start for Gambit as [=EDward=] facechecks the Fnatic blue buff results in both himself and Genja going down before they even reach lane, but Gambit rally as Alex repeatedly dominates Xpeke and Diamond catches a 1v2ing Soaz out to let the bot lane get a bit of revenge. An intense slugfest erupts as Gambit surge ahead before starting to slow as Fnatic adopt counters to Alex's Zed and Darien's Mundo is repeatedly overwhelmed by sheer force. The game sees many brilliant plays, especially one ''legendary'' Super Mega Death Rocket from Genja that picks up Xpeke -''blind''- from clear across the map. After a long and closely-fought match, Gambit finally grind Fnatic down to nothing and topple the League leaders, ending their 7-game win streak. Happy birthday, Alex!
* EU LCS 2014 Spring split, week 4 day 1, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/fnatic-vs-alliance-week-4-eu-lcs-2014-spring-season/ Fnatic vs Alliance.]] This smelled of a mismatch. It'd been a rough start to the season for Team Alliance- an all-star team masterminded by Froggen made up of the best players he could find with huge expectations behind them coming into the season, they'd so far turned out to be a massive disappointment. The only team not to pick up a win in the first week and, despite winning both games in their second week (albeit against other comparatively low-ranked teams) they'd slipped to 2-6 by the end of the 3rd and were now faced with the daunting propect of the 7-1 League leaders Fnatic. The audience vote saw 90% of fans predicting a Fnatic victory and even the commentators lampshaded what a DavidVersusGoliath matchup this was. As it turned out, Alliance seemed to have ''finally'' found their form- where their first week's losses stemmed from poor team coordination and their 3rd week's from poor individual performances, here they did everything ''perfectly''. The laners won matchups they really should have lost (Wickd on Trundle in particular doing INCREDIBLE work to stay even with Soaz playing, of all things, a top lane ''[=LeBlanc=]!''), the team coordinated spectacularly and they simply outplayed Fnatic again and again, leading to a hard-fought but decisive victory that stunned everyone. The all-stars looked for the first time like they finally might be living up to their potential.
* NA LCS 2014 Spring split, week 4 day 2, [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/xdg-gaming-vs-team-dignitas-week-4-na-lcs-2014-spring-season/ XDG vs Dignitas.]] XDG (the former Vulcan) had not had the greatest of seasons and were on a bit of a losing streak when they came up against Dignitas (at the time the 3rd place team). Fan support was behind Dignitas as well, with 88% of fans predicting their victory. Despite XDG getting the highly-prized Olaf pick for jungler Zuna they found themselves up against it very early in the game as Dignitas effectively won all 3 lanes and rapidly took control of almost the entire map. Dignitas got a little overconfident and XDG started to claw back some space in the mid-game with a number of well-placed pickoffs, but were still playing from behind... until Dignitas took the classic SchmuckBait and made a badly-timed attempt at Baron. Benny applied pressure and was even on the verge of driving Imaqtpie's Lucian off altogether and then the rest of the team arrived. A ''perfect'' Leona ultimate from Bloodwater later and Xmithie had himself a triple kill on his Sivir, XDG had themselves a Baron buff and control of the game and from there they never put another foot wrong. Dignitas, demoralised from their blunder, folded like damp cardboard and XDG executed the greatest comeback so far in the season, a pointed reminder NEVER to underestimate the underdog in the LCS.
* NA LCS 2014 Spring split, week 10 day 1, [[http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/split1/matches/week-10/team-dignitas-vs-evil-geniuses Dignitas vs Evil Geniuses.]] Both teams experienced a bit of a shakeup with goldenglue replacing long time midlaner Scarra for Dignitas and Ken filling Krepo's support shoes for EG. EG bring the main surprise this game by going back to Nautilus as their jungler, to make a very pick-heavy team comp, capable of blowing up anyone they catch but weak in teamfights compared to Dig's more all-around lineup. The match gets off to a manic start as lane swaps result in both of Dig's bottom lane and EG's top lane turrets all going down in rapid succession. However, Dig start to rapidly pull ahead as they pick up multiple kills against EG. EG's only bright spot in Innox on his top lane Lee Sin, able to drive Cruzer's Shyvana back until he's taken both of Dig's top lane turrets as well. Still, things are looking dire for EG, eventually being beaten right back to their inhibitors, losing the middle one before they can drive Dig off. However, EG begin to claw ground back with a succession of well-played teamfights, culminating in a ''decimation'' of Dig when they catch them at Baron. The previously one-sided match becomes an intense, closely-fought slugfest as the game draws on and Dig's gold lead becomes less and less relevant as everyone gets closer to a full build (of special note is Kiwikid's Karma who uncharacteristically for a support picks up ENORMOUS amounts of AP until he's doing devastating amounts of damage to the MR-lacking EG team with his Inner Flames). In the end though, the pressure becomes too much for Evil Geniuses and they fall off the knife edge, Dignitas overwhelming them and taking the hard-earned win in the more than 50-minute game, the commentators full of praise for Evil Geniuses' stoic defence against the odds.
* NA LCS 2014 Spring split, week 10 day 1, [[http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/split1/matches/week-10/counter-logic-gaming-vs-team-solomid-0 CLG vs TSM.]] Another clash of the old rivals, but CLG have something to prove; with 1st and 2nd place being effectively a 2-team race between TSM and Cloud 9 and TSM beating CLG 3 out of 3 games so far this season, CLG (who have already defeated Cloud 9) want this win to show they're still a team to be feared. The odd pick this time is [=WildTurtle=] on Twitch, an uncommon choice that proves its power during a devastating teamfight near Baron where he picks up a triple kill. Both teams go at each other with bloodthirsty abandon, butting heads all over the map, but CLG seize a critical advantage when they turn around what looks like a lost teamfight with ''masterful'' play by Dexter on Lee Sin and Doublelift on Lucian. After grabbing an incredible Baron, CLG seem to stall, putting all their effort into trying to grind down TSM's top inhibitor turret with little success. Just as the Baron buff wears off and the commentators are talking about how CLG missed their chance CLG make a ''vicious'' engagement which they play to absolute ''perfection'', wiping out TSM without dropping a man (just ''barely''), letting them power down the turret they'd spent the last 2 minutes futilely chipping at and use the 40 second respawn timer to smash through TSM's Nexus turrets and win the game in one ''shocking'' play!
* NA LCS 2014 Summer split, week 8 day 1, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F3Tl-m_MlM compLexity vs Curse]]. The longest LCS game ''ever'' as these 2 teams fight to the finish. Curse use early aggression with their Rengar/Orianna combo to take an early kill lead, but [=compLexity=] fight back with superior map control to gain objectives and maintain the lead in gold. The advantage swings back and forth and the gold becomes less and less meaningful as both teams pass 100k and almost every champion ends up with a full item loadout, turning it into a game of pure skill. The tension ratchets higher and higher as [=coL=] pressure in to try and take Curse's inhibitors and the commentators start to crack up under the strain. Right when the game is balanced on a knife-edge, Curse go all-in in a last ditch attempt to stop the pressure, starting the teamfight guaranteed to end the game. While Prolly on Ziggs and Westrice on Renekton get locked down and murdered, marksman [=ROBERTxLEE=] on Lucian and support Bubbadub on Morgana manage to slip away from the fight and head straight for the vulnerable Curse Nexus, kez on Elise barely managing to break free from the melee to join them. Curse desperately try to get back in time to save the game, but are just a hair too late and [=compLexity=] become the well-deserved victors of this record-breaking game!
* EU LCS 2014 Summer split, week 9 day 1, [[http://na.lolesports.com/eu-lcs/2014/split2/matches/week-9/sk-gaming-vs-millenium SK Gaming vs Millenium]]. With the two teams separated by only a single game, this mid-table clash is of pivotal importance to both of them. The game swings wildly backwards and forwards all the way through- although MIL get first blood and a couple more early kills before SK can strike back, SK play the map better and control the objectives, staying ahead on gold until they start winning the teamfights. fredy122's split-push Nidalee is doing a superb job of pressuring MIL's bot lane and [=CandyPanda=] on Lucian is doing considerably better than his counterpart in the game's featured matchup, Creaton's Corki. Just when it looks like SK are on the verge of taking control, however, Millenium get their hands on an impressively well-planned Baron and strike back. The game remains incredibly close all the way through, to the point that at the 40 minute mark the teams are more or less ''exactly equal'' on kills, towers and total gold. After a close teamfight that comes out in their favour, SK try to rush Baron to secure their hold on the game, but a DARING suicide steal by Kottenx's Elise puts paid to that plan and after holding SK's 5v4 push off until he can respawn, Millenium push again. Heavy poke from Jesiz's Twisted Fate brings Kottenx critically low and SK pounce, only for Millenium to play the ensuring teamfight PERFECTLY, wiping out SK and taking the well-deserved win, with special props for the way they shut down EVERY attempt by Jesiz to use TF's teleporting ult to catch them out by meeting him with perfectly-timed stunning skillshots the second he rematerialised, sealing his fate.
* NA LCS 2014 Summer Split Playoffs, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzswqiEz1N0 TSM vs Dignitas, game 1.]] The first game in this best-of-five series at the start of the playoffs was a masterclass in how superior strategy can let a player single-handedly win the game for his team ''without actually carrying.'' In a drawn-out and highly tactical 55 minute match, Dignitas put their hopes on a single, unconventional pick- [=ZionSpartan's=] Nasus top lane against Dyrus on Maokai. It was a bizarrely low-kill game, ending 15-6 in TSM's favour, but all game long Nasus farmed his [[EvolvingAttack Siphoning Strike]] until by the end he was getting more at ''600 bonus damage'' off each usage (on a skill with a cooldown of 2.4 seconds once CDR is maxed) and the low-damage tank Maokai couldn't hold him off forever. Nasus forced his way along bottom lane with agonising slowness, taking down the inner turret with a few devastating blows, eventually driving enough minions into the inhibitor turret to allow him to repeat the performance and repeatedly bringing down the defenceless inhibitor- even teleporting to a ward placed near it for a cheeky backdoor where he took a Nexus turret! Meanwhile, TSM and Dignitas poked and probed at each other, Dignitas having to give way before TSM's deadly catch potential, but TSM held back by the threat of the Nasus in the bottom lane if they called up their Maokai to help then engage a fight. Finally, after Nasus was eventually caught and killed following another inhibitor kill, TSM pushed hard up the mid lane while he was respawning... When he finally respawned, [=ZionSpartan=] watched and waited for the right moment then, when TSM surged at Dignitas' turret and it was apparent that the defence would hold, he teleported straight down to TSM's base and headed straight for the last remaining Nexus turret. Facetanking it while he smashed it to powder, the only member of Dignitas to be able to escape the fight was an already critically wounded Maokai, who desperately threw himself at Nasus only to be casually dispatched. With almost no HP left after tanking so many turret shots, all alone in the midst of a sea of enemy minions and with Amazing on Lee Sin desperately trying to protect his crumbling Nexus by killing the Nasus, [=ZionSpartan=] brought his massively farmed Q down one more time to destroy TSM's Nexus and basically ''single-handedly win the game'' for Dignitas, despite ending on a score of 2/1/0. Even though Dignitas would go on to lose the series to TSM 1-3, this game entered into legend.
* NA LCS 2014 Summer split Grand Final, [[http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/na-regional-2014/matches/round-3/cloud9-vs-team-solomid Cloud 9 vs TSM]]. At the end of one of the most intense seasons the NA LCS has seen, it all comes down to the 2 favourites in a best-of-5. But while the fans are backing old favourites TSM, Cloud 9 have never lost a split and in fact have ''never lost a match'' during a finals series to this point. And indeed, in the first game C9 take the win, breaking what was at one point a fairly close match into a dominating victory. However TSM don't lose focus and during the second game they strike back viciously, with C9 carelessly letting Dyrus get Alistar and Bjergsen get his infamous Syndra, a mistake they come to regret when Bjergsen puts Hai on tilt, leading to a sudden and brutal win to even the series. In the 3rd match TSM make a team selection mistake of their own by letting Hai have his Zed back and he makes them pay for it- while the ensuing game is very passive, with only 12 total kills across both teams, Hai gets ''six'' of them and Sneaky's Kog'Maw just provides too much long-ranged pressure, letting Cloud 9 take the series lead again, 2-1. With everything on the line, Bjergsen reaches deep and pulls out the secret weapon, Xerath, and Dyrus gets his hands on the formidable Ryze. TSM come out ''strong'' this time, scoring early kills in a bloody level 1 jungle skirmish and crushing C9 with 15 kills to 3, including a late-game quadrakill on [=WildTurtle's=] Tristana. It comes down to the wire going into the deciding game, with C9 on the red side in a series where the team on the red side has so far won every game. In another INCREDIBLY close match TSM look shaky after an alarmingly early series of trades sees early inhibs go down and a devastatingly bad teamfight (where Bjergsen uncharacteristically whiffs his Orianna Shockwave) costs them the Baron, but they strike back decisively to limit the damage, hold Cloud 9 off with cautious play and eventually it all comes down to one final, lethal teamfight. After the chaos settles, TSM have ''smashed'' Cloud 9 4 kills for 1 as [=WildTurtle=] goes on ANOTHER rampage, racking up his second Tristana quadrakill and Team Solo Mid blitz into C9's exposed base to take the nexus, the game, the series and the title of NA Champions, finally dethrowing the undefeated Cloud 9!
* 2014 World Finals Group D, day 4, [[http://na.lolesports.com/worlds/2014/worlds-2014/matches/week-2/kabum-e-sports-vs-alliance KaBuM e-Sports vs Alliance]]. Yet another case of {{David Versus Goliath}}, this time in Worlds. [=KaBuM=], as a Brazilian team with close to no international experience, lost all their other five games and had last place assured on the group. However, they were showing some improvement, playing fine versus Najin White Shield and Cloud 9 on their second games. Alliance was carrying the EU pride on their backs after SK Gaming's (and later Fnatic's as well) elimination from the tournament, and defeated the favorites Najin on the day before without surrendering a single kill. People that expected a crushing win from Alliance got what they wanted... just not from Alliance. Starting by picks and bans, where [=KaBuM=] banned out Wickd's Irelia then first-picked Ryze, forcing him to lock in Kayle, and later getting their well-known Jinx-Morgana bot lane as well. After that, midlaner [=TinOwns=] as Ahri goes on a ''rampage'', getting amazing kills while on the other side Froggen, even playing Fizz, [[LeeroyJenkins made a lot of suicide plays that didn't end well for Alliance]]. The casters pointed out after the match that not only Alliance lacked good wave clear, Wickd did nothing with his Interventions, going to the point to use it on a Froggen [[EpicFail THAT JUST ACTIVATED ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS.]] At the end, while the kill score was very close, the control of the game fell easily on [=KaBuM=]'s hands and they got the first win for a Latin American team on the Worlds history, on what people called "the biggest upset of [=LoL=] history". Even better, that result, combined with Cloud 9's later win against Najin, [[SpannerInTheWorks eliminated Alliance from the tournament]] and turned their single win into a tournament-defining win!
** Just to show how awesome was this: nowadays, the upsetters had been verbified, and ''"to [[SpellMyNameWithAnS kaboom]]"'' now means "to pull an upset", specially if the team is a wildcard.
* 2014 World Quarterfinals, Day 1, Samsung White vs Team [=SoloMid=]. Samsung White went into the Quarterfinals as the favorites to beat TSM in an expected clean sweep, expecting the Korean squad to roll right over the NA LCS Champions, and they proceeded to do just that for the first two games of the series. In the third game, however, Samsung White's arrogance came through in Champion Select, allowing TSM to punish the Korean Squad for their poor composition, giving TSM their first win off of any Korean team, and marring Samsung White's perfect record up until this point. In game 4, Samsung White shaped up in champion Select and took their revenge, beating TSM 3-1 overall.
* 2014 World Quarterfinals, Day 2, Samsung Blue vs Cloud9. Just as their sister team was the favorite against TSM, Samsung Blue was the favorite to beat Cloud9, but what nobody expected was for Cloud9 to take control of the first game of the series and beat the Koreans soundly. After that, Samsung Blue proceeded to best Cloud9 for Games 2 and 3, proving the descriptions of being better at C9's game than C9, but Cloud 9 did not make it easy for them, with several memorable moments from the series, of particular note C9 Hai's attempted Ninja Stealth Mission as Zed to try to backdoor Blue's Bot inhibitor. Game 4 looked like it was going to once again be a stomp for Samsung Blue, when by chance Cloud9 caught out Blue's Mid, AD Carry, and Top laner in back to back kills. With no guarantee that they would get to take out Blue's Heavy hitters again for the rest of the game, Cloud9 rushed down the Mid Lane and pushed for Samsung Blue's Nexus in a base race, with only Blue's Jungle and Supports standing to fend off the NA squad while waiting for their team to respawn in the most intense 40 seconds of the series. Cloud9 had succeeded in exposing the Nexus and had brought it down to thirty percent of its health when Dade, Acorn and Deft respawned and aced the low health NA squad, before rushing to finish off C9's nexus to win the series 3-1.
* 2014 World Quarterfinals, Day 3, Star Horn Royal Club vs Edward Gaming.
* 2014 World Quarterfinals, Day 4, Najin White Shield vs [=OMG=]. It's not just that OMG beat Najin White Shield that made it a CMOA, it's that they did it in a 3-0 clean sweep.
* 2014 World Semi-Finals, Day 1, the much awaited match between the two Korean powerhouses was about to happen. Everyone knew it would be an epic to witness. What no one expected as that SSW would end up destroying their sister team in another 3-0 clean sweep, the same sister team that always beats SSW.
* 2014 World Semi-Finals, Day 2, Star Horn Royal Club vs [=OMG=]. inSec's Fiddlesticks and Pantheon plays ensured crushing defeats on OMG at games they are present at.
* NA LCS 2015 Spring Split, Week 2, Day 1 had an odd case in which the crowning moment of awesome wasn't for a game, team or player, but for one champion: ''Kalista.'' One of the most extremes cases of DifficultButAwesome in the game, Kalista was being called broken since her release due to her amazing [[HitAndRunTactics Martial Poise]] passive, however, her [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter different and strange mechanics for a marksman]] [[labelnote:explanation]]her W has a passive that only triggers when her chosen ally attacks the same target as her in a small time window, her ultimate outright TOSSES the linked ally, and she can't cancel her basic attacks, making last-hitting with her harder. Also, while it's tempting to use her passive all the time, she loses a bit of her potential attack speed when she dashes.[[/labelnote]] and lack of a defined build made her entrance into competitive scene a hard task. Then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuSLfq4qgro&t=10m25s Cloud9's Sneaky]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDzlvqA8Ibc&t=15m13s CLG's Doublelift]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg7I5mct5RU&t=7m39s TSM's [=WildTurtle=] ]] all picked Kalista in their consecutive games and DESTROYED their opponents with her slippery and amazing teamfight potential. Special props for Doublelift and his support Aphromoo for pulling the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECxMS2UCYBA Ballista combo]] (Rocket Grab from Blitzcrank into Fate's Call to pull the grabbed enemy to Kalista) to destroy [=TiP's XiaoWeiXiao.=] ]]
* NA LCS 2015 Spring Split, Week 4, Day 2. Counter-Logic Gaming vs Team Solomid. Undoubtedly one of the most hyped up matches in LCS history, CLG and TSM had up to this point, won 6 games and lost 1, tying them both for first place. To increase the stakes even further, the respective owners of the teams had agreed to a bet, stating that the owner of the losing team would have to dye his hair pink. The game starts and CLG have an early lead, with Doublelift and Aphromoo killing Dyrus in a 2v1 in the top lane. That lead continues when CLG keep getting dragons uncontested by TSM. This comes back to bite them later when they manage to push TSM into their base and destroy one of their inhibitors. Then, the dragon respawns for the fifth time. TSM goes to fight CLG off of it, and CLG completely whiff the fight, letting TSM have a free dragon and even a tower. (Note: the fifth dragon gives an extremely powerful buff to the team who kills it. If CLG had gotten it, with their advantage, the game likely would've been over.) After this point CLG seem to lose their footing as TSM manage to win a second teamfight in the mid lane, guaranteeing them another tower. CLG seem to completely lose their cool, with their main damage dealer using his only escape ability into the enemy team and their midlaner whiffing his ultimates on numerous occasion. TSM win a second teamfight, (again, near the mid lane) allowing them to rush the base and the towers and win the game, executing one of the most amazing comebacks in LCS history. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2r-j9V_wOo Here's the loser's pink hair in action, for the curious]].
* IEM Katowice, Semi Finals. China's 12th seed WE Vs. Korea's 1st seed GE Tigers. GE Tigers were not only considered favorites for this match, they were considered the favorites for the entire tournament. They had been dominating in Korea, which is largely considered the best region, and after having crushed opponents Cloud 9 from NA, they were considered a sure-in for the finals at the very least. On the other hand, Team WE from China was considered one of, if not, the worst teams in China at the time. They had just suffered several roster swaps and were considered out of the tournament, and the fact that they had made it to the semi-finals was a miracle in itself. What followed was the second largest upset in pro League of Legends history, second only to [=KaBuM=] upsetting Alliance at the World Championship the previous year. WE toppled GE Tigers, and with that, not only put themselves into contention in China, but threw the whole notion of Korea being the strongest out the window.
* IEM Katowice, Finals. China's 12th seed WE Vs. North America's 1st seed Team Solo Mid. The match itself isn't much of a CMOA, but rather the fact that TSM won and brought North America to the real spotlight. It has been years since NA won a big international tournament against Korea or China. Not only did TSM win, but they won in an extremely convincing fashion. After the first game, which was a bit shaky, TSM proceeded to systematically dismantle WE in games 2 and 3, making it look as though TSM was a whole step above Team WE. Considering WE had just beaten the 1st ranked team from Korea, this is quite an accomplishment. The end saw TSM Lustboy crowned the MVP of Katowice and TSM taking the IEM championship, something NA hadn't been able to do against Korea and China in quite some time. Really a CMOA for their entire region.
* NA LCS 2015 Spring Split, Week 8 Day 1. TSM Vs. Gravity. TSM comes in fresh off their winning IEM Katowice and plays Gravity, one of the mid-tier teams. Gravity has a fairly normal comp until they go to their last pick, locking in their mid-laner's favorite solo-queue pick... Urgot. Who is, at the time, widely considered [[JokeCharacter the worst champion in the game]]. The commentators stop talking mid-sentence and stay speechless for a good five seconds. Gravity WINS, too, meaning Urgot now has a 100% win rate in the NA LCS.
--> '''Riv''': No, that's in the middle-
--> '''Kobe''': Don't say anything, yeah well of course it's in the middle, this is Keane! But I'm still stunned they let him ''play'' it!
--> '''Riv''': Oh dear...
--> '''Kobe''': I- ''They finally unleash the Urgod!''
** Over the next few weeks after this game Urgot became one of the ''strongest'' picks in the current meta and is now picked or banned with some regularity in multiple regions. The Urgod has truly been unleashed.
* EU LCS 2015 Spring Split, Week 8 Day 2. UOL Vs. Fnatic. Even from the pick-and-ban phase, you know a match will take a turn for the epic when flavor picks start showing up (i.e. Vizicsacsi unveils his pocket pick Yorick, PowerOfEvil his Cassiopeia, YellOwStaR his ''Nautilus support''). While the first 31 minutes of the game are nothing more than a mindless kill-fest, the real kicker doesn't come until Fnatic nearly aces the Unicorns at the 32-minute mark before rampaging through their base, with Kikis on Nunu and a recently-revived Hylissang's Annie being the only ones alive to defend. Now, having their previous backdoor attempt against OMG foiled last year at Worlds, surely they should have their victory in the bag now, right? '''''NOPE.''''' Through Kikis' magnificent turtling, he managed to stall the low-health Fnatic for his teammates to simply mop them up. Fast forward to nearly a minute later, Huni's Lissandra oneshots Vardags' Caitlyn, stripping UOL of their physical DPS output while he and the rest of the team proceed and kill Cassio and Annie. With only Huni, Reignover's Sejuani, YellOwStaR and the blue nexus on the half of its health, shouldn't it pretty much game over for the Unicorns? '''''NOT AGAIN.''''' When Huni [[EpicFail Zhonya'd at the worst possible time]], he gets shot down right after the active, and Sejuani and Nautilus are forced out of the nexus, the latter dying few seconds after! Cut to two minutes later, the Unicorns were ''now'' the ones doing the pushing, starting a brutal teamfight that slaughtered almost everyone in both teams. With all the tanks dead but DPS machines like Lissandra and Steeelback's Graves on the other side, maybe they'd be able to stop POE and Vardags from taking down their nexus? '''''NEIN'''''. The two remaining Unicorns effortlessly clear out the Fnatic resistance, '''finally''' destroying their nexus and taking home the victory!
** [[https://youtu.be/eH5UpAXejJU?t=26 Perhaps the most succinct summary of this game made by anyone.]]
* EU Challenger Series 2015 Spring Split, Week 5. You tend to see different things in the Challenger Series... and then you have teams like Mousesports. Completely winless, out of the running entirely and in a two-game series vs. second-place Gamers2, they chose to go out with a bang and unleash some serious ConfusionFu on Gamers by picking utterly asinine, bizarre team compositions consisting almost entirely of bottom-tier off-meta champions. With the two games they played featuring picks like Gangplank, Varus, Olaf, and Teemo against hot meta picks like Kalista and Nidalee the commentators completely gave up trying to figure out what Mousesports were even doing and could barely speak about Mouse's team without making fun of it. Gamers never figured it out either, dropping both games to Mousesports and falling to third, giving Mousesports their ''only'' two wins of the entire series.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOWZ8ldoFJs CBLoL 2015 1st Phase, Semifinals, INTZ e-Sports vs [=paiN=] Gaming, Game 1]]. The semifinals from the Brazilian LCS were pitting two of the top teams in the country against each other. INTZ was the season's flavor, having 5 wins and 2 draws in 7 games on the group stage and impressive plays after impressive plays, instantly skyrocketing and being called "the best Brazilian team in 2015". On the other side, [=paiN=] Gaming has a lot of experienced players and has been on the top teams of the Brazilian scene for years, even almost making it to the 2013 Worlds. However, they were on an inconsistent phase, whiffing games to teams they shouldn't despite having a strong line-up with the most known Brazilians in the ADC and midlane roles, [=brTT=] and Kami, and former Millenium support Dioud. Lots of people were expecting INTZ to win by a close margin, but when the first game started, [=paiN=] managed to hold INTZ's jungler Revolta amazingly, controlling the pace of the game and slowly taking their turrets, to the pont the score was 12-5 for [=paiN=] when the Nexus turrets in INTZ's base fell. However, a single milissecond of lapse by [=paiN=] costs them hard as Tockers on Azir and Jockster on Janna make great use of their ultimates to zone they from the open Nexus and kill the entire team blitzing into their base. The camera cuts out to a replay, and when it's back, Yang on Maokai, Revolta on Nidalee and Micao on Ezreal are [[DeathOrGloryAttack destroying]] ''[[DownToTheLastPlay [=paiN's=]]]'' [[DownToTheLastPlay Nexus]], in which they suceed mere seconds before [=paiN=] can respawn and answer, pulling one of the most amazing comebacks the League of Legends has ever seen! INTZ then proceeds to win a close [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVl7U09H32s game 2]] and curbstomp the already apathic opponents on the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgYl2OKO4ec game 3]], winning 3-0 on what most people expected to be a close series.
* NA LCS 2015 Spring Split Playoffs, Quarter-Finals. CLG Vs. Team Liquid. CLG was considered the heavy favorite coming into this match, having just barely lost the second seed and first-round bye to Cloud 9. Team Liquid, on the other hand, had been struggling all split with communication and attitude issues, mostly focused around their world-champion AD Carry, Piglet. They had just barely managed to get into the playoffs on a tie-breaker against Team 8. The resulting three matches were dominating performances from Team Liquid, with Piglet finally coming into his own, and the rest of the team playing out of their minds. Game one was fairly close, game two even less so, and game three was absolute domination, with both Quas and Fenix getting solo kills in their lanes against ZionSpartan and Link respectively, something that almost never happens. Team Liquid swept CLG aside and looked like the team they had been formed to be.
* EU LCS 2015 Spring Split Playoffs, Semi-Finals. Unicorns of Love Vs. SK Gaming. SK had been dominating all split and looked poised to enter the playoffs, as they had been looking strong all split, thanks in large part to their ADC and Jungle. What followed was a brutal 5-game slug fest ''and'' one of the greatest BO5 series on the LCS only second to OGN Summer Finals 2013's SKT T1 vs KTB, with Unicorns of Love and SK gaming trading games and advantages. Game 3 had the Unicorns utterly smash SK '''without surrendering a single kill.''' Game Four saw a magnificent carry by Svenskeren on SK gaming with his Lee Sin, going legendary during the game and truly putting the team on his back. Game 5 looked to put SK into the finals, as they got two crucial catches and went for baron. What followed was one of the best baron steals ever seen, as PowerOfEvil managed to steal baron from a double smite team with his Orianna's shockwave. The resulting baron steal helped shift the momentum, and after two powerful teamfights and UOL's teamfighting growing stronger thanks to their scaling ADC, UOL finally landed the perfect teamfight that they wanted at the river, resulting in a 5-0 cleanup of SK's members, allowing them to drive down the lane and destroy the Nexus, unseat the first-place SK Gaming, and go to the finals in their rookie split.
--> '''Quickshot''': "The Unicorns of Love prove that unicorns do exist!"
* EU LCS 2015 Spring Split. After the 2014 season, 4 members of Fnatic left the team; only Yellowstar stayed to rebuild the team, picking up 4 rookies: Huni, Reignover, Febiven, and Steelback. The new Fnatic went on to place second in the regular season and won the Spring Playoffs, not to mention what happens in the Summer Split, in detail below.
* NA LCS 2015 Spring Split Playfoffs, Semi-Finals. Team Liquid Vs. C9. C9 was, again, considered the heavy favorites in this match. They had a near perfect 18-1 record against Team Liquid, and last year had beaten them in the Semis with pure ease, having never lost a playoff match to them. The first two games were like a nightmare for any C9 fan. Not only did C9 lose the first two games, they were completely dominated. Team Liquid looked in control for the entire match both games, and refused to let up. Not only was C9 in danger of losing, they were in danger of getting completely swept. During the pre-match talk before game three, C9 Meteos actually walked away in anger from the team. The next two games both favored Liquid in the early game, but C9 finally returned to their old selves, bringing the series to 2-2 with a final game to decide it. The 5th game opened with a beautiful triple kill at level 1, courtesy of a god-like flash-body slam from Meteos' Gragas. With their confidence broken, Team Liquid received the reverse sweep, ending the series 2-3 and C9 moving to the finals.
* NA LCS 2015 Spring Split Playoffs, Semi-Finals. Team Impulse Vs. TSM. TSM was considered the favorites, but a couple anaylsts actually felt that Impulse could beat TSM due to their powerful carry top-laner Impact and their high-pressure jungler Rush. TSM's coach, Locodoco, predicted that TSM would lose the first game, but then win three games in a row. What followed was exactly what Locodoco promised. Game 1 was a dominating performance from Impulse, but it seemed more like TSM was scouting out what Impulse could do. Games 2, 3, and 4 were an evolution from TSM. Every game they played stronger and faster. They shut down Rush's signature aggressive-style play, forcing him onto Nunu, a champion which doesn't have strong play-making potential. The real CMOA however comes from TSM's homework that they did for the game. Not only did TSM's jungler Santorin pay close attention to Rush's jungle style and memorize his paths for the game, they also realized that Impulse tried to take red-side during their games sometimes, and that most of their strategy revolved around that. As such, TSM made sure that at least one of their sides was red-side, so that they could disrupt any plans that Impulse had. The amount of homework from TSM was truly surprising, and they proved themselves worthy to move to the finals as they absolutely decimated Impulse in the last two games.
* Little late but TSM winning IEM Season IX - World Championship Katowice. No one gave TSM the chance to win the tournament but TSM ended up dominating the whole tournament. First they defeated the 11th place LPL Team World Elite and then moved on to defeat CJ Entus the 2nd-3rd place team from SO Korea in a sub 30 minute game and advancing to the semi-finals as the top seed from Group B. After that TSM dropped their only game all tournament when they lost the first game in a BO3 to Yoe Flash Wolves. After that TSM proceeding to destroy them in the last 2 games and moved into the Grand Finals. In the finals TSM had a hard first game against Team WE (who had done their own CMOA by defeating the heavily favorite and undefeated GE Tigers) but were able to turtle it out and turn the game around in a late game team fight and then won it. After that the rest of the BO5 series was a white wash for TSM who steam rolled Team WE in the last 2 games and swept them 3-0 to win their first International LAN win. The sight of the whole team holding up the IEM trophy was itself a CMOA too as it showed on their faces (Lustboy especially) showed just how much hard work they had put in and how it had paid off for them on an International stage.
* EU LCS 2015 Summer Split, week 8, day 2, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOvjqRe8D7Y H2K-Gaming vs Copenhagen Wolves.]] The Wolves were looking like the unquestioned losers of this split up to this point, only winning 2 games out of their first 15 and dropping to the bottom of the ladder. Compounding their woes, 2 of their players had left the team recently, forcing them to bring in new players Lenny in the top lane and je suis kaas in the support role. If they lost this game, they faced automatic relegation from the League; unfortunately for them, their opponents were the split's #2 team, [=H2K=], putting them in a ''terrible'' underdog position. Desperate times call for desperate measures and CW opted to go for an Elise jungle, an Irelia mid and a Caitlyn ADC (with a more conventional Rumble top and Thresh support to round out the comp). The Wolves take an early lead (despite [=H2K=] top Odoamne barely managing to escape a 1v5 facecheck at the start of the game without even burning his Flash), playing with heavy aggression, using strong rotations to put Odoamne behind and get a turret lead. However [=H2K=] fight back hard, leading to a brutal and exciting fight at Baron where [=H2K=] come away with the buff and punish the Wolves, in what was starting to look like yet ''another'' Baron Bait-based throw. Both teams are left in a very vulnerable position, with open inhibitors and the Wolves even losing both Nexus turrets. The game is balanced on a knife edge as the death timers get longer, with the Wolves knowing that they could forfeit their LCS position if they made the SLIGHTEST mistake. But at the end, [=H2K=] blink first, the Wolves pounce and run them down, killing 4 for the loss of only Shook, then charging down to the bottom, forcing the lane up and taking the [=H2K=] Nexus despite ADC Hjärnan's best efforts, to pull off what the commentators declared the biggest upset of the split, keeping their dream alive.
* EU LCS 2015 Summer Split. Fnatic pulls off a perfect split, ending with a final score of 18:0. That means they beat every other EU team ''twice''. Their last game of the split was against the Unicorns of Love, who were seen as the only team who might be able to end Fnatic's winning streak. UOL was the only team to win both games against Fnatic in the 2015 Spring Split regular season and took Fnatic to all 5 games in the best-of-5 final. Fnatic not only kept their perfect streak, they crushed UOL in one of the shortest games of the split. Fnatic then went on to crush UOL again in the semifinal best-of-5 with a 3-0 clean sweep.
** And, despite being unable to stop them in the finals, Origen deserves a mention ''just for breaking the 21-win sequence''. They may have lost, but damn did they gave Fnatic a run for their money with the 2-3.
* NA LCS 2015 Summer Split. After 3 years of competition, 6 individual splits, never before placing higher than 3rd, Counter Logic Gaming, [=LoL=]'s poster boys for EveryYearTheyFizzleOut, ''flatten'' TSM to ''finally'' come first in the NA LCS!
* In 2015, both NA and EU adopted the gauntlet system for the last Worlds spot in their leagues. Teams score points through their positions on both splits, and the 3rd to 6th teams with more points fight through single elimination for the last spot. Cloud 9 got 70 points thanks to the 2nd place on the first split, but right after that, midlaner and shot-caller [[TheSmartGuy Hai]] retired due to a wrist injury. Even with mechanically strong players in all roles, Cloud 9 couldn't keep with the pace of the other teams without Hai's brilliant tactical command, thus having 5-12 in 17 games even with an emergencial return by the midlaner replacing Meteos in the jungle for the last few games. At this point, they [[IncrediblyLamePun cloud]] only hope for a miracle, having to defeat their biggest rivals TSM on the last game of the split and even then needing a win from CLG over Team 8 to ''try'' to avoid relegations. And so it happened - Cloud 9 won, CLG won, Cloud 9 played a tiebreaker against Team 8, won that too and not only saved themselves from relegations, but also got the chance to play the gauntlet.[[labelnote:*]]Playing the relegation series would automatically forfeit Cloud 9's 70 points and kick them out of the Worlds race.[[/labelnote]]
** And then? They had to face Gravity, Impulse and Liquid in the gauntlet, three of the top teams in the second split. After losing two games to both Gravity and Impulse, they managed to pull reverse sweeps over them and finish with a 3-1 win over Liquid, coming back from almost-relegation to ''freakin' Worlds!'' Ladies and gentlemen, Cloud 9!
*** It's noteworthy that, in various games, Cloud 9 brought out some old meta picks like Shyvana, Kha'Zix and Amumu in their jungle, basically saying "screw the meta, we can win because we have the skill and the players to do so". Incarnation, Hai's replacement for the future of the team, also demonstrated a HUGE improvement, hard-carrying the team in various games, including the very last one against Team Liquid.
*** Just as awesome as it is [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]], Hai's words to the team at the end of Game 4 of the Regional Qualifiers Finals to celebrate Cloud 9's entry as the last seed of the NA region, cementing their third consecutive year in the international stage: "Alright, I held my promise. I brought you to Worlds." In and out of the Rift, there is no denying Hai's legacy in the history of Cloud 9.
* Ohh, Worlds 2015. Where we start...
** Group A was called the Group of Life due to the teams that fell there: [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut CLG from North America]], [[OvershadowedByAwesome KOO Tigers from Korea]], [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Flash Wolves from Taiwan]] and [[WeakButSkilled Pain Gaming from Brazil]]. While at first it sounded like the most boring group possible for the Worlds, two results called otherwise: Flash Wolves upsetting KOO Tigers, showing that Korea is no favorite just for being Korea, and Pain Gaming [[FanNickname kabooming]] Flash Wolves, showing that Brazil is no longer a free-win at Worlds.
** Remember the aforementioned Cloud9? They were the underdogs of the Group B: they were matched against [[TheAce Fnatic, ahq e-Sports Club, and Invictus Gaming, the former two being the top teams in their regions, and the latter being a very powerful team nonetheless.]] So when Cloud9 gets matched up against ahq, what do they do? Prove that they came to World to KICK SOME ASS and [[CurbStompBattle utterly crush ahq.]] For those who doubted Cloud9 before, [[HesBack they have certainly proven you wrong.]][[labelnote:For example,]] Looking straight at you, Montecristo. And you, Yamatocannon.[[/labelnote]]
*** Oh, and they defeated Invictus as well. And Fnatic too. Yes, that team that barely avoided relegations to claim a spot is 3-0 in the Group of Death, and no amount of memes mocking Balls for being stuck in so-called Elo Hell could stop him from getting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQVZIuWhAzM the first Pentakill in the Worlds.]] As someone in Reddit said:
---> ''[[HilariousInHindsight "It's just like everyone said, AHQ, FNC and IG are tying and fighting for spots while C9 watches from a distance."]]''
*** [[EpicFail ...Then they fell flat on the final week, losing ALL of their 2nd week matches, getting kicked out of the tournament in one fell swoop.]] The first of those loses? A Crowning Moment of Awesome for Team Fnatic, who achieved the fastest Non-Surrender match during the Groups Stage for the 2015 Worlds at 22 Minutes and 3 seconds. The last of those loses? A tie-breaker match for the 2nd slot to advance, against ahq e-sports Club, which ahq secured despite falling behind on kills mid-match by instead focusing on objectives.
** What about Group D? For everyone, this group was [[TheDreaded LGD Gaming]] + 1 advancing, since LGD were the Chinese champions and the remaning teams in the group (TSM, Origen and KT Rolster) weren't nearly as impressive as them. Cue EpicFail as LGD found themselves upset in all the three games in the first week. [[labelnote:For that matter, only Bangkok Titans in the Group C went winless in the first week besides them, and they are the [[DavidVersusGoliath David against three of the biggest Goliath ever seen]] in League.[[/labelnote]] Origen also defeated KT to claim first place during the week one, cementing that Korea and China are no longer invincible.]]
*** And just in time, how can we forget [=sOAz=]'s redemption after failing to backdoor the Nexus in the last year when he ignores LGD's Baron attempt and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUa6EzjLLVg proceeds to backdoor their base?]] Awesome, indeed.
** [[TheDreaded SK Telecom T1]] were the heavy favourites coming into the tournament and demonstrated why. With the other Korean teams pulling ahead but still proving themselves beatable, SKT demolished everyone they came up against in short order[[note]]Having faced [[TheRival Edward Gaming]], H2k-Gaming, Bangkok Titans, ahq e-sports Club, and Origen[[/note]] and have reached the Finals, with a combined Group and Brackets stage total of 12 wins, and 0 losses. The Final results after facing the KOO Tigers in the Finals? 15 wins, 1 loss, the best record yet for a World Championship and the first team to have two League World Championship titles. And with players Faker and Bengi becoming the first players and kkOma the first coach to have two Worlds wins, all for the same team.
* NA LCS 2016 Spring Split, Week 1 Day 2: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEFvDiA8DYU Immortals vs Impulse]]. The single most '''brutal''' CurbStompBattle in the history of the NA LCS. Immortals absolutely ''dominate'' every aspect of the game from beginning to the end, walking over Impulse like they're not even there. It's an absolute '''massacre.''' In the end the Nexus goes down at '''18:16''' and Immortals do so with a ''perfect'' game, not ceding a single kill, tower or map objective to Impulse. As Phreak points out, Impulse couldn't even surrender if they wanted to[[note]]the surrender option is disabled for the first 20 minutes of the game[[/note]] and Immortals live up to their name, making a ''statement'' to the NA region about their intentions for this split.
* NA LCS 2016 Spring Split, Week 7 Day 1: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghOGBXUze_g Immortals vs Counter Logic Gaming]]. With Immortals on a seemingly unstoppable winning streak, it looks as if Huni and Reignover are on track to replicate Fnatic's Summer Split dominance in NA LCS. However, Counter Logic Gaming finally put a dent in their records. Xmithie's Udyr makes sure that Darshan, on Fiora, is capable of outplaying Huni in laning phase while keeping Reignover from being able to effectively do his work for the team. It is a long-term plan with Fiora eventually getting the kills needed to start snowballing. Counter Logic Gaming then forces Immortals into a split-push game that is tilted in favor of a fed Darshan, but CLG's hold on the lead is still very shaky with some mistakes made along the way by both sides, up to a miracle Baron steal by Xmithie which then buys Darshan enough time to backdoor his way into Immortals' open Nexus, giving a well-earned victory for CLG. [[EarnYourHappyEnding "The undefeated split is not to be!"]]
** At some point during mid-game after a brief skirmish, Wildturtle's level 11 Lucian moves to mid lane and uses his E to flash forward and duel against another player. Said player is Huhi on a ''level 12'' [=LeBlanc=] with Morellonomicon and Abyssal Scepter.[[note]]Abyssal Scepter lowers surrounding enemies' magic resist which makes burst mages like [=LeBlanc=] hit harder, especially against a GlassCannon ADC like Lucian who doesn't have his power items or magic resist, while Morellonomicon not only boosts [=LeBlanc's=] mana regeneration and AP, but also reduces the champion's skills cooldown, allowing Huhi to use them more often. On top of that, Morellonomicon has a unique effect of dealing extra magic damage to an enemy champion below 40% health and inflicting Grievous Wounds, which reduces healing effectiveness on enemy champions, for 4 seconds.[[/note]] [[EpicFail No points for guessing]] [[CurbStompBattle who comes out on top]]. Adding insult to injury, Huhi annihilates Wildturtle [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill in only 2 seconds]] and escapes unscathed [[https://youtu.be/ghOGBXUze_g?t=1416 (Skip to 23:36 for a display of what an assassin is supposed to do to a lone ADC who hasn't had his power items yet)]].
--> '''Riv''': I blinked, I'm sorry. That's my fault."
* NA LCS 2016 Spring Split, Week 8, Echo Fox Vs. Team Dignitas: While otherwise just a standard farmfest throughout most of the game, it's considered one of the most memorable games of the split for 2 reasons: 1) It was the game in where Froggen broke the professional League of Legends world record for highest creep score at 768. 2) '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO5RVFBT7ms The ending.]]''' Dignitas had reached a huge power spike with 8 dragons, 4 barons, 2 inhibitors down at one point, and a remaining outer turret that lasted for ''more than an hour.'' Despite this, they somehow throw the teamfight at Echo Fox's base, leading to a mad mid-lane dash in where they proceeded to bust down through multiple towers all the way up to Dignitas' last nexus turret, [[HopeSpot up until they finally respawn, kill off Kfo and Froggen, and causing Echo Fox to back off.]] [[DoubleSubversion That is,]] until Froggen shotcalls Keith and Big to backdoor, managing to take down the tower until Keith gets killed, [[BigDamnHeroes then out of nowhere Hard shows up to kill the nexus,]] until Big is the only team member left alive, who finally manages to take down Dignitas' nexus. The chaos lasts so long that shoutcaster Phreak's voice starts audibly straining, and when the nexus falls, Froggen becomes so pumped he breaks his camera!
* NA Spring Playoff semi-final, CLG vs Liquid: At the very last moments of a knife-edged game 5, Piglet's Caitlyn, while pushing minions off the remaining inhibitor turret, is taken down by CLG after both Darshan and Huhi simultaneously teleport onto the same minion. Piglet tosses a trap under the minion thinking that only one opponent was there. Darshan gets caught in the trap, but Huhi runs in and proceeds to kill Piglet. Piglet's [[OhCrap realizing he had been tricked]] caps it off.
* In the second semi-final match of the 2016 Spring Playoffs TSM pulling off the '''biggest''' DavidVsGoliath upset victory in NA LCS history when they not only beat the near invincible 17-1 Immortals, but do so in a surprise 3-0 sweep.
* Mid Season Invitational 2016, Day 4 of the Group Stage, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6jbyiJYLvo CLG of NA Vs. RNG of China.]] RNG has been sweeping the other competitors off their feet and going undefeated coming into the match with 7 wins under their belt while CLG has just recently won a miracle match against SKT (before losing to them in the subsequent rematch). The hometown team looks poised to add another win to their ongoing streak and is firmly in control of the game for most of the match with '''17k+ gold lead''', a significant lead by all stretch of the imagination, but a fight in front of CLG’s exposed base and a mistake by RNG finally gives CLG a way to claw their way back to victory. From that point, [[FromBadToworse everything goes downhill for RNG]]: 1) A following dragon attempt goes awry because Xmithie manages to use Kindred’s ult ''on the dragon'', keeping it alive long enough for it to be secured by CLG instead while Huhi punishes RNG for not peeling away after the fact by dividing RNG’s team in half with Azir’s ult and letting CLG pick them off one by one. 2) A final flank attempt by Looper’s Ekko is foiled and CLG even caught xiaohu’s Zed and then wuxx’s Lucian out of position. Needless to say, this is fully taken advantage of into an [[TotalPartyKill Ace]] by CLG to end the game in a miraculous fashion. The hometown crowd is promptly silenced as [[BreakTheHaughty their seemingly indomitable team is defeated]] by [[ButtMonkey a team who has been the butt of many jokes]] coming into the Mid Season Invitational tournament.
* NA LCS Summer 2016, Week 8: TSM ended up in the receiving end of a DavidVsGoliath when they were facing [=Phoenix1=], a team who has a record of ''3-11'', while TSM has [[CurbStompBattle crushed everyone in their path with a record of ''14-0''.]] The first game went exactly like you'd expect, with TSM stomping P1, but the next game, with nothing to lose, P1's jungler Inori pulls out a pick that hasn't been seen in a long time: '''Rengar'''. TSM had ''no idea'' [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome how to deal with a Rengar]]. Despite a shaky start, once Inori got the ball rolling, he became an unstoppable force that could easily annihilate all of TSM's carries at once in the teamfights, and at the end, he simply ignored his opponents and went straight for the base. When TSM realized that he could end the game with his Baron buff and Rift Herald, it was already too late, and P1 got the honor of spoiling TSM's ''17-game winstreak!''
** And not only that. In the third game, Rengar gets unsurprisingly banned, only for Inori to don't care at all about this and pick Rek'Sai. Then he got the score to 5-0 with two ganks on the midlane (and with the second one being a 2v3!). While TSM managed to recover, P1 also played their cards perfectly and gave TSM [[CrackDefeat the biggest upset of the NALCS]], ending the dream of a perfect split!
*** Something has to be said about that game. The most impressive thing wasn't that P1 won. It was that TSM didn't play a bad game at all. Maybe they've made some mistakes in their draft by letting Pirean get Malzahar twice in a patch where the Void Prophet was a ridiculous GameBreaker, but what really made P1 win was their players, with every single one of them playing out of their mind. Two of the best highlights were [[https://youtu.be/ZrMXipEUKXQ?t=4m14s ADC Mash juking Hauntzer's Trundle]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard through his own Ice Pillar]] and [[https://youtu.be/ot-PjAXOyDk?t=3m8s Zig killing Biofrost with a perfect chain of barrels plus Baron Nashor's aggro]].
* Not even one full day of 2016 Worlds and we already have a huge [=CMoA=] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4eis9TQpBc&t=13m16s INTZ e-Sports vs Edward Gaming]]. Edward Gaming was constantly being slapped on the top 3 of every single Power Ranking due to an extremely convincing win in the Chinese League. On the other side, INTZ was heavily criticized for their constant chokes in Wildcard tournaments and was heavily expected to be dead last from the beginning, even if their group was one of the easiest in the tournament. However, their top-jungle duo of Yang and Revolta had other plans. After a shaky start where support Jockster slipped up and gave two kills to EDG's botlane in exchange for a spoil kill, Revolta decided to camp Mouse's Irelia and make his life a living hell. Ganking mercilessy the Chinese toplaner, he managed to give a small but dangerously snowbally advantage to Yang's Gnar. From there, they proceed to play their teamfights with perfection (with special props to Revolta constantly hitting deadly insecs with Dragon's Rage), and when they didn't, Yang made sure to answer the advantage clawed back by their opponents with kills of his own. With their toplaner tilted out of this planet, their jungler nullified and the entire team being constantly out-rotated and out-macroplayed, EDG could only watch in shock as Brazil manages to defeat the first seed in their group for the third time in a row, and with a very convincing performance to boot.
** This game was specially awesome for Revolta, who is a '''huge''' fan of Clearlove. Not only he managed to play against his idol, he outsmarted and beat him solidly.
* Wildcard teams, in general, are [[TookALevelInBadass taking several levels in badassery]] each year. When they first went to Worlds, at 2013, they did absolutely nothing threatening to any team and were only remembered thanks to two joke games they played (see the Mineski Pain Train and the "pick Teemo" memes in the Memes page for more informations). At the 2014 Worlds, there were even people asking Riot if they were worth the slots, only to eat their words when an already-eliminated [=KaBuM=] [[SpannerInTheWorks dragged the European seed 1 out of Worlds with an upset win]]. Fine, but still not relevant enough, right? Wrong, as [=paiN=] Gaming proceeds to grab two wins in the 2015 edition, and they nearly got a third one that, had it happened, would make them the first wildcard team to advance to the bracket stage. At this point, most people thought that it was only the Brazilian teams that had this potential, since both [=KaBuM and paiN=] were from Brazil, only for the Turkish Supermassive [=eSports=] to defeat Counter Logic Gaming at the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational (which is huge, seeing that CLG ended up as the runner-ups of the MSI). And then, come Worlds 2016, they snatch '''five''' wins on the groups. INTZ defeating EDG turned out to be their only win in the tournament, but just like [=KaBuM=], their win threw a SpannerInTheWorks of the team they beaten, since the extra loss forced EDG to play a tiebreaker for first place against an inspired [=H2K=] that had just won the last three games and proceed to beat EDG again, sending the #2 ranked team in the tournament to the second place. As for the other four wins, they came from the Russian team Albus Nox Luna, which became the first wildcard to advance to the Bracket Stage. Granted, their group was arguably easy, with G2 crumbling from international stage pressure and CLG [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut fizzling out]] ''[[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut again]]'', but they're still powerful teams, not to mention the last team in their group being the [[TheDreaded huge tournament-favorites ROX Tigers]]. Not to mention the above game.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCe_XasqbEY The game between Albus Nox Luna and ROX Tigers for the day 5 of 2016 Worlds]] was one of the best (if not the very best) games of the competitive scene in the last years. Despite ROX being clear favorites, the match clearly '''''wasn't''''' a DavidVersusGoliath since, as just said, the 2016 wildcards were way better than the previous ones. The context for the match is that both teams are 3-1 in the group, and the one to win this match is the first team to assure their spot in the quarterfinals. The first awesome moment comes right in the pick&ban phase, when ROX, which were supposed to be ''the best team in the world'', proceed to fully respect ANX's support Likkrit as a huge threat to them and waste all the three bans plus one early pick on limiting his choices. Let that sink in for a moment: ''the best team of the world wasted, effectively, 4 bans on a single wildcard player.'' Likkrit then went for a Taric pick. As the game started, ANX abused ROX's weak early game and, after an awesome 1v3 play by toplaner Smurf, they put their hands on the Baron, extending their gold lead. From there, ANX uses their advantage to grab as much turrets as possible, while ROX decides to play the patience game and slowly but surely neutralizes the deficit. ANX attempts Baron after opening an inhibitor, but ROX's midlaner Kuro proceeds to miraculously steal it with Syndra's Dark Sphere. ANX didn't flinch, and after the Baron wears off, they catch ROX by surprise when they kill the Elder Dragon behind their backs, using it to full advantage and opening inhibitors again. ROX answers with their second Baron to hold on, and after some minutes and a shaky fight, ANX risks Baron again only for Peanut to pull '''''another''''' steal in favor of ROX. But that didn't matter to ANX at all, as they managed to use the poke from Stejos' Nidalee to send Pray's Caitlyn (which at his point has long achieved her MagikarpPower with her criticals hitting for over 900 damage in 90% of her autoattacks) to the base and take the inhibitors [[RuleOfThree for the third time]] despite ROX having Baron. As the clock reaches 61 minutes, a teamfight that could end the game starts. ANX quickly dispatches Pray and are poised to win, only for ROX to pull outright INSANE plays, stopping the game-ending push and instantly threatening a game-ending rush of their own, which is foiled by ANX answering their awesomeness with even more awesomeness of their own, peeling for their AD Carry Miracle until both teams ran away from the fight with only their toplaners and one of their carries alive. At this point, it becomes clear that ANX will not win by fighting, so they grab the game's ''fifth'' Baron and march into ROX's base. ROX's jungler Peanut is baited into an offensive play that fails, and ANX forces ROX to come to them, leaving the super minions beating down the last Nexus turret. As soon as it falls, ROX retreats, and ANX goes for an AllOrNothing attack. One of the most chaotic teamfights ever seen in professional League of Legends follows, with Baron-buffed minions, super minions, ROX's Zz'rot Portals, Guardian Angels and a lot more happening amidst of the fight. At the end, ANX's carries end up dead, so ROX wins, right? '''WRONG''', as [[ChekhovsGunman LIKKRIT]] keeps beating on the Nexus while buffing the nearby minions with his Baron buff, and proceeds to use Taric's Cosmic Radiance and a [[IncrediblyLamePun dazzling]] 3-man Dazzle to buy just enough time for the empowered minions to finish the Nexus, not only defeating ROX [[HoistByHisOwnPetard thanks to the very pick they locked him into]], but giving the Wildcards their first Quarterfinals spot in the Worlds history ''and'' [[DarkHorseVictory beating the tournament's favorites at the same time!]] Words cannot describe how awesome the game was. Just look at the size of this entry.
* Worlds 2017, Group Stage day 1, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHR9kPCKrc4 Fnatic vs Gigabyte Marines]]. The matchup between the Vietnamese underdogs vs the legends from Europe is thrown into ''complete'' disarray from the start when the Marines lock in Nocturne as their jungler, take Ignite+Heal on their support Lulu to allow Tristana to take Barrier (a ''maniacally'' aggressive selection, as Lulu subsequently has no Flash) and start with a 2016-style lane swap/double jungle, with Tristana and Lulu going top to bully a nonplussed Soaz on Maokai, while Galio accompanies Nocturne through the jungle (''without'' taking any gold or exp for himself, in defiance of how double jungle is supposed to work) to help Nocturne power level. While it initially seems to have backfired on them as Fnatic collapse with 4 men onto the bottom lane to kill the helpless level 1 Galio, GAM's crazy strategy results in Levi's Nocturne hitting level 6 (and getting access to his terrifying ultimate) at ''5:10'' into the game, the fastest of ''any'' champion in the tournament, while the unhindered Tristana and Lulu rapidly tear down the top-lane turret, despite the early-game resistances Riot added to it ''specifically'' to invalidate lane swap strategies! Levi goes off like a claymore mine, tearing Fnatic apart whenever he sees an opportunity to ult in, and while Fnatic score kills back (with poor neglected Archie on Galio being a constant sacrificial victim), the Marines begin snowballing out of control. Ultimately, though, the deciding factor ends up being Noway on the Tristana, who with the support of Nevan's Lulu absolutely ''rips shit up.'' After an attempt by Fnatic to collapse on them while they're pushing up the bottom lane goes south thanks to a timely Heroic Entrance from Galio, Noway absolutely tears Fnatic asunder, blitzing into their base and fearlessly leaping forward again and again, killing every Fnatic player as they desperately throw themselves at him one after another. The game ends in barely 24 minutes, with Noway's Tristana ending on a score of 11/0/4 and a Quadra Kill (with midlaner Optimus on Kassadin stealing the last kill on Caps' hapless Ryze at the last second). While it may have been a cheese strategy, the Vietnamese wild cards used it to ''break'' one of the oldest and most-experienced teams in [=LoL=] over their knee and staked their claim as serious contenders!
* Speaking of Worlds 2017, Samsung Galaxy's run over the tourney is full of wonderful moments. To boot, [[HistoryRepeats the same roster that managed a second-place finish last season qualified once more as the third seed of Korea via the Regional Qualifier match against KT Rolster]] [[OverlyLongGag and got seeded in the same group as Chinese team Royal Never Give Up]]. This is however where the similarities end. RNG stomped through their group, giving them first seed, and although Samsung advanced, their first group stage match is against Longzhu Gaming. Despite a couple of early kills from LZ midlaner BDD onto Samsung's midlaner Crown, Samsung manage to clean-sweep the team that was heavily favored to make it to finals, and the first seed from Korea. Their semifinal match versus another Chinese team, World Elite ended up with one game to WE, but Samsung still advance to the finals. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, reigning champions SK Telecom T1 end up advancing to the finals after two 3-2 sets between EU team Misfits and the aforementioned RNG. In the epic rematch series (the first ever rematch series in a Worlds Final), Samsung manage to cleanly take game 1 thanks to excellent map control despite a couple of early kills by SKT midlaner Faker onto Crown, and despite SKT managing to take the early game, they take game 2 as well. In game 3, SKT top laner Huni manages to get fed with the aid of his team's jungler Blank, putting Samsung at a hard place. A teamfight at baron gives it to Samsung allowing them to push all the way to destroy both of SKT's nexus turrets, but a bad teamfight afterwards causes SKT to once again regain the upper hand. However, as SKT are pushing into Samsung's mid inhibitor turret, Samsung manage to win the critical teamfight thanks to a ''really risky'' flash forward by Ruler's Varus and the followup damage to kill Faker. They push to the nexus, clean-sweeping the three-time world champions, and denying SKT their third consecutive World Championship.
* NA LCS 2018 Spring. Team Liquid, constantly at the butt of "cursed to be fourth place" jokes, finally deliver their comeuppance by being [[BaitAndSwitch the fourth team... to win the NA LCS Regular Split championship.]]
** And what makes this all the sweeter, Team Liquid's owner was mocked for allegedly paying a $1 million contract for former world champion Impact. Who's laughing now?
** And prior to the split, TSM (arguably NA's most successful team with 6 championship wins) unceremoniously dumps their bot lane duo (Biofrost and Doublelift) for EU duo Mithy and Zven, only to not even make it to semifinals, whereas Doublelift was subsequently picked up by Team Liquid and became the first player in NA to win the championship with three different teams (CLG, TSM, and TL)
** Not only did TL win, but none of the three previous champion teams even made it into semifinals. TSM was knocked out by Clutch Gaming 1-3 and C9 lost to TL 0-3 in the quarterfinals. CLG ended the regular season in 7th place. The reign of the old guard TSM, C9, and CLG has been toppled.
* At Worlds 2018, Group B was considered that year's 'Group of Death' due to the fact that both 2018 LPL Champions Royal Never Give Up and defending champions Gen.G (formerly the SSG 2017 roster) were seeded in the same group...[[HistoryRepeats again]], with the 'unfortunate' West teams grouped up there being EU 2nd seed Team Vitality and NA 3rd seed [=Cloud9=] (who had one of the most difficult roads to qualify for Worlds), and many predicted that Gen.G and RNG would dominate the group and would meet in the Finals...until Team Vitality made the first of many upsets at Worlds by defeating Gen.G. Things got worse for Gen.G as they were knocked down by RNG, but they did manage to win against [=C9=] to ensure themselves tied up against Vitality and [=C9=], and you'd think they'll bounce back better, right? '''WRONG.''' Gen.G went ''0-3'' in the Group B decider day, becoming the first Korean team in ''five years'' to be eliminated in the Group Stage from Worlds! It's worth noting too that in the decider day for Group B, ''both'' West teams managed a winning record, while RNG struggled before defeating Gen.G and [=C9=] in the tiebreaker to get first. In one day, Group B went from being the most predictable group to the most heart-stopping one yet, with epic games played by the Western teams. With [=C9=] taking second place in their group, qualifying for Quarterfinals for the ''fifth'' time in six years, and with Team Vitality having made upsets against RNG and Gen.G in ''their first Worlds appearance,'' many fans had decided then and there that the West had truly caught up to both China and Korea.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyogR2lfy88 [=Cloud9=]'s journey to Worlds (covered by [=theScore=] esports)]] and their performance there so far is something of note. At the NA LCS Summer Split, the team had decided to do some roster switching/experimenting between their main squad and their Academy squad, benching their Midlaner Jensen, their AD Carry Sneaky, and their Support Smoothie in favor of their Academy players, and this had resulted in them at one point becoming ''10th'' [[note]]i.e. ''dead last'' [[/note]] in the LCS by Week 5. However, that was when things started to click when they brought back Jensen and Sneaky, with with their subs Goldenglue (switching for Jensen from time to time), Zeyzal as their permanent support for the main squad, and Jungler Blaber (for Svenskeren from time to time as well) doing spectacularly in their games along with their main squad members, managing to claw their way back into contention. But while [=C9=] did get knocked out by TL (the same TL who knocked them out in the Spring Split as stated above) in the Summer Split Finals, they didn't lose their form, and it came down to the Regional Finals where they had to face NA arch-rivals TSM to determine the last NA representative at Worlds. [=C9=] won and qualified for Worlds for the sixth time and into the Play-In Stage. There, they dominated their group, but nearly had their chances to play in Groups ended due to Gambit Esports playing their best game in Round 2, but they won Game 5 to advance. And of course, the phenomenal decider day performance that got C9 their fifth Quarterfinal berth. [[{{Irony}} While [=C9=] had the toughest journey to even make it to the Group Stage but got to Quarterfinals anyway, their other NA representatives, Team Liquid and 100 Thieves, had already qualified much earlier but were both eliminated in Groups. [=Cloud9=], funnily enough, has truly solidified themselves as North America's best representative at Worlds regardless of their journey.]] [[BittersweetEnding In the end, they finished 3rd-4th courtesy of a 3-0 sweep from Fnatic,]] an extremely commendable finish for a team that looked so lost initially, and wasn't even expected to make it to Worlds in the first place!
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fqdtqk4LA0 Worlds 2018, Group Stage Day 8:]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMmV3EgD76U Fnatic vs. Invictus Gaming.]] After all the games in their decider day, it came down to who would take first place in Group D between FNC and IG, having decimated 100 Thieves and G-Rex. At first, Invictus took down the EU Champions in their first meeting four days prior. With IG 5-0 and Fnatic 4-1 into this last game, the Europeans needed to win both the last game to force a tiebreaker ''and'' the tiebreaker itself to ensure a first place finish. Fnatic learned their mistakes from their previous encounter and simply ''crushed'' the Chinese squad. With everyone playing their best games yet, Fnatic destroyed IG both times to win first place. Of note is their tiebreaker game, with Fnatic's Broxah on Lee Sin just outplaying the whole IG squad.
* You thought the upsets were over? [[WhamEpisode The Quarterfinals of Worlds 2018 proved that no one was truly safe from elimination.]
** First up was LCK 1st seed KT Rolster vs. LPL 2nd seed Invictus Gaming. Right from the start, it looked like IG actually had KT's number, taking a 2-0 lead already in the series. IG would've swept them if not for an incredibly heart-stopping Game 3 that saw the game come down into an insane base race, with IG's [=TheShy=] racing out four of KT in destroying the Nexus, but KT's Smeb, who had stayed in their base to defend against [=TheShy=], stalled out IG's top laner and even teleported to assist KT in ending the game, forcing Game 4! KT took Game 4 easily enough, but Game 5 had both teams in close contention until one teamfight resulted in IG's [=JackeyLove=] getting a quadra kill, resulting in IG snowballing their lead and never looked back, eliminating one of the favorites to win the Summoner's Cup!
** Then came LPL 1st seed Royal Never Give Up vs. EU LCS 3rd seed G2 Esports. RNG came into Worlds having won both the LPL Spring and Summer Split ''and'' MSI 2018, cementing themselves as ''the'' favorite to win it all. G2, on the other hand, had to fight their way through the Regional Qualifiers and the Play-In stage to make it to Groups, and won in a tiebreaker over LMS 1st seed Flash Wolves for 2nd place in Group A, marking the EU team's ''first'' ever knockout stage appearance. [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut And with a tendency for G2 to collapse in Worlds,]] many weren't favoring G2 to advance. And at first, it didn't look like they were wrong, as RNG dominated Game 1. However, G2 weren't gonna throw in the towel in the face of the strongest team in the world at that point, and went with their signature 1-3-1 play style to win Games 2 and 4 to force out ''another'' Game 5. In Game 5, G2 had drafted champions that heavily favored an early game, while RNG drafted a lineup that needed enough time to scale to the late game to overwhelm the opposition. Right from the get-go, G2 outpaced them in kills and net worth, but as time went on, RNG's champions were slowly starting to make things difficult for G2 to win fights. G2 were running out of time, but they managed to get Baron and gradually start to take down RNG's inhibitor towers. In a final teamfight that could tip the scales in either side, G2's Jankos managed to find the last hit onto RNG's Uzi, and from that point, everything collapsed for the Chinese squad, and G2, against all odds, eliminated ''the'' favorite to win Worlds!
** Up next was a series between the last hopes of the LCK (Afreeca Freecs) and the NA LCS ([=Cloud9=]). What many had predicted was that [=Cloud9=]'s miracle run would end, with their unpredictability being read and halted by Korea's inevitable advancement. [[UnderdogsNeverLose They couldn't be more wrong than that.]] Game 1 went to [=C9=] easily, but Games 2 and 3 had [=AFs=] winning the early game, but in Game 2, pick-offs from [=C9=] onto key members of Afreeca turned the game around in their favor, and Game 3 was highlighted by a 2v5 on Baron, and despite being ''three'' teammates down, [=C9=]'s rookie top laner Licorice, with the help of Jensen, '''STOLE THE BARON BUFF.''' From there, Afreeca had nowhere to go but down. The next teamfight resulted in a teamwipe in the NA team's favor, and [=Cloud9=] marched forth to destroy Afreeca's Nexus. For the first time in seven years, North America advanced to the semifinals, and more importantly, for the first time, [[WhamLine Korea has been eliminated from Worlds!]]
* [[WhamEpisode The semifinals and finals of Worlds 2018 ended with one team so thoroughly dominating their competition, they set new records.]]
** Despite all the hype over 3 Western teams making semifinals, Invictus Gaming was dismissed by Western fans and analysts as an actual threat, and most of the talk was about either an all-EU finals, or an EUvsNA finals. Instead, Invictus Gaming smashed G2 in which at the time, was the 2nd fastest best of 5 series ever at Worlds, with all 3 games not even making it to the 30 minute mark. Then at the finals, Western fans were once again all-aboard the Fnatic hype train due to Fantic coming first in their group with iG by beating them twice. (including an infamous meme that claimed Fnatic would have an 82% chance to win based on some dubious math)However, that train quickly derailed and caught on fire as Invictus Gaming once again destroyed their helpless opponents, sweeping the Grand Finals 3-0 with the 3rd fastest best of 5 series ever at Worlds, with Fnatic only lasting 46 more seconds than G2 did.
* [[WhamEpisode MSI 2019.]] History has been made.
** First, LCS's Team Liquid vs. LPL's Invictus Gaming. Team Liquid, who barely managed to escape the group stage with a 4-6 record, (also marking the first time TL's ADC Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng has advanced from the group stages in an international event) went up against Worlds 2018 champion Invictus Gaming, who breezed through TL (2-0'ing them) and the group stage with a 9-1 record. All eyes were on IG sweeping TL 3-0. But after a teamfight on the top lane that led to 4 for 1 trade in favor of TL, everything started to collapse for the reigning world champions, and they would lose Game 1. Game 2 was more of the same, with TL outplaying and making the proactive plays to bring them to the brink of eliminating the LPL Spring Champions. IG would hit back hard in return, with Rookie's Leblanc and Jackeylove's Xayah decimating the field to force Game 4. But TL would not be denied, dominating the Chinese squad in Game 4 with Xmithie's Skarner and Jensen's Lux, eliminating the Worlds 2018 champions!
** [[HistoryRepeats LEC's G2 Esports vs. LCK's SKT T1.]] The last time they met at the knockout stage of an international event SKT won 3-1 against G2 at the MSI 2017 Finals. Now, they meet once more. G2 Esports came into MSI 2019 as a favorite after having an absolutely dominant LEC Spring Split, but could only muster a mediocre 5-5 group stage record to finish 3rd, while SKT Telecom T1, who were looking to make a huge return on the international stage, notched a 7-3 record, and also being the only team to hand a loss to Invictus Gaming. It was a back-and-forth series with both teams trading wins. But the pivotal moments came in Game 4, where, after being behind for quite a while now, Faker, on Sylas, steals Wunder's Mega Gnar and unleashed it on all of G2, resulting in almost acing the European squad. Wunder, however, would retaliate in the closing moments where he and Caps went for a backdoor push onto SKT's nexus. While 3 of SKT came back to deny them the push, successfully killing off Caps, Wunder would use Mega Gnar and deal two more hits on the core, forcing Game 5! Game 5 was almost as close as the previous game, with SKT making the huge plays to try to comeback once more, even acing G2 before making the push onto Baron. But G2 would hand SKT an ace of their own, taking Baron in the process, and ultimately make the push to win Game 5. With this, G2 make their second MSI Finals!
** So, if it hasn't sunk in for you just yet: '''[[CueTheFlyingPigs IT'S AN NA VS. EU FINAL!!!]]'''
** And the winner of MSI 2019? After all the twists and all the anticipation, G2 ''[[CurbStompBattle annihilate]]'' TL in a horrific 3-0 orgy of violence, setting a new record for the shortest best-of-five series in competitive [=LoL=] history! With MSI 2019 following on from the already shocking Worlds 2018, the paradigm has well and truly ''[[NothingIsTheSameAnyMore shifted]].''
* [[WhamEpisode By the end of Worlds 2019,]] two things became clear this year: First, if the LCK was still looked at as the best region by some, both the LPL and LEC's [=G2=] Esports effectively ended that claim, with [=G2=] themselves eliminating two of the LCK's representatives, one which included ''SK Telecom T1'', marking the first time that Faker and SKT fail to advance to the Finals. Second, in their fall, the LPL has emerged as the best region in the world (despite the repeated denials by European fans), and it was evident in the Finals between LPL Summer Champions [=FunPlus=] Phoenix and the aformentioned [=G2=], who were looking for the Grand Slam (having won both Spring and Summer Splits and MSI). FPX utterly ''dismantled'' the European superteam, with all five players in top form en route to a 3-0 sweep; Gao "Tian" Tian-Liang, in particular, winning Finals MVP, and Lin "Lwx" Wei-Xiang being the first-ever player to go ''deathless'' the entire Worlds finals. Still, nothing to take away from [=G2=]'s performance all-throughout this year, in their first year with Caps and Perkz together, dominating their region and being one [=bo5=] away from earning the Grand Slam. FPX were simply just ''better'' than everyone else, despite a shaky group stage that led the Western scene to once again dismiss the eventual Chinese champions as overrated and not an actual threat.
** Speaking of FPX, they might have had one of, if not the, best single year turnarounds in [=LoL=] history. Having only recently formed a League of Legends division for [=FunPlus=] Esports on December 20, 2017,[[note]] with their initial roster of Kim "Gimgoon" Han-saem (Top), Hu "Pepper" Zhi-Wei (Jungle), Feng "bing" Jin-Wei (Mid), Lwx (Bot), and Liu "Crisp" Qing-Song (Support) [[/note]] the team had a combined 17-21 in LPL Spring and Summer 2018, and came ''very close'' to making it to Worlds had it not been for EDG denying them that in the Regional Finals. In the offseason, they added Tian and Kim "Doinb" Tae-sang. In the Spring Split, they went a staggering ''13-2'' in the regular season, only to falter 2-3 against JD Gaming, their consolation prize being a 3rd place victory 3-1 against Topsports Gaming (which has since disbanded). Undeterred at missing out on MSI, they went ''14-1'' and this time won the Summer Playoffs 3-1 against RNG in the Finals, putting themselves as the LPL favorites to win Worlds. As stated above, their shaky group stage performance didn't deter them either, defeating Fnatic and defending champions Invictus Gaming (who barely managed to even make it to Worlds after two full [=bo5's=] in the Regional Finals) both at 3-1 before sweeping [=G2=]. All in all, FPX may have had the best comeback story of the year in [=LoL=] esports.
** The entire story of FPX winning was the moment of awesome for their star mid-laner, Doinb. Jokingly known as "Super Carry Doinb" because of his utterly unique playstyle and champion pool that no other professional mid-laner has, Doinb had been in China for years, and time and time again his teams would have great success during the regular season, only to falter at the last step and be unable to qualify for Worlds. Doinb himself even considered retiring after the 2018 season, only to be convinced by his wife to give it another go in 2019.\\
He would join FPX, and after FPX rebuilt their entire tam around him, and the team immediately had instant success as they dominated both regular season splits of the LPL, successfully shedding the "Curse of Doinb" stigma by qualifying for his first Worlds. After a rocky group stage that saw them need to win a tie-breaker just to clinch first place in what was seen as an easy draw, most Western analysts were ready to dismiss FPX as overrated and predicted Europe's Fnatic, who were 2018 finalists, to easily dispatch the Chinese team. FPX would steamroll Fnatic with Doinb making Fnatic's talented rookie mid-laner Nemesis look bad. Nemesis would [[SoreLoser take this loss badly and would later publicly trash Doinb as one of the worst mids at Worlds]], but FPX would continue on and ignore their haters by beating defending World Champions Invictus Gaming in the semis and then capping off their incredible Worlds run with the dominant 3-0 of G2.
* TSM's return to glory and epic loser's bracket guantlet run during the 2020 LCS Summer Playoffs easily qualifies. First they lost 0-3 to the Golden Guardians in the winner's bracket, to then 3-0'ing Dignitas. After that they had a rematch agaisnt GG and after looking like it'd be a repeat after going down 0-2, TSM made the reverse sweep happen and then moved on to face arch-rivals, Cloud 9. TSM soundly defeated C9 going 3-1, and elimatned the 2020 Sping Champions from Worlds. Then TSM moved on to defeat the 4x back-to-back-to-back-to-back LCS champions Team Liqid in a epic 5 game series. Finally going up against the team that had elimianted TSM from the 2020 Spring Playoffs, Fly Quest. After conviningly beating them in the first two games, the underdog squad clawed backt o even the series at 2-2 and put both teams at match point. In game 5 TSM defeated FQ and became the 2020 LCS Summer Champions and NA's #1 seed for Worlds.
* It isn't even Groups yet at Worlds 2020 and we already have epic moments in from the Play-In Stages.
** Group A: PSG Talon, the runners-up of the PCS Summer Split, had to start off their run at Worlds without ''three'' of their core players due to flight and visa issues, forcing them to loan two players from ahq (another team from the PCS). For the third player, the coach of Machi Esports, the PCS Summer winners, stood in for their ADC. Expectations for them were quite low as a result. But then on Day 1, they did the unthinkable and sprinted off to a 2-0 start, defeating the LLA's [=Rainbow7=] and the ''LPL's LGD Gaming.'' After avenging their defeat to Unicorns of Love the previous day by defeating them in the tiebreaker for first place, they became the ''first'' team from Play-Ins to advance straight to Groups!
** Group B: Team Liquid finishing first was not a surprise. What ''was'' a surprise, however, was that ''Legacy Esports,'' of all teams, finished second! The representatives of Oceania only lost to the NA representatives in their group. After MAD Lions collapsed in Stage 1 after heavy losses to every other team except INTZ, it came down to the TCL representatives Papara Supermassive and the aformentioned Legacy Esports, to which Legacy won!
** Stage 2: After going 1-3 in Stage 1 and managing to defeat the LJL representative [=V3=] Esports in the tiebreaker just to keep their run alive, LGD Gaming managed to recover from their near-total collapse in by sweeping out both [=Rainbow7=] and Legacy Esports, but time will tell if this recovery translates well into their performance in Group C (the only Group that doesn't have a LPL team). On the other side, history was made when Supermassive managed to eliminate the LEC's 4th seed MAD Lions in a full best of 5 series, marking the first time that a team from the four main regions (LCS, LEC, LCK, LPL) has been eliminated in Play-Ins. But that's where Supermassive's story ends, as the Unicorns of Love finally, ''finally'' advance to Groups after falling short of advancing for years, sweeping out the Turkish organization with ease.
* LCK Spring 2022: T1, keeping 4/5 of their 2021 Worlds roster while changing to Zeus in the top lane, proceed to break their old record and go for a ''18-0'' win streak. They would then carry on to win the entire season, giving them a flawless 20-0 season, and giving the legendary "Demon God" Faker his 10th LCK title.
[[/folder]]

* Intel Extreme Masters season VIII - Cologne 2013. The tournament in general is one big crowning moment for Gambit Gaming, their first major event since reuniting with their former support [=EDward=] (who had left for America for the Summer Split of the LCS). Gambit, once one of the most feared European teams, had been on somewhat of a slide, but IEM Cologne showed that, with [=EDward=] back on the team, [[HesBack They're Back!]] No enemies at the tournament could really even slow them down, culminating in [[http://vods.leaguepedia.com/gambit-gaming-vs-fnatic-game-2-finals-iem-season-viii-cologne/ the final match against Fnatic]] where Gambit went UpToEleven on poor Fnatic, ''completely annihilating'' them in a CurbStompBattle so brutal that the commentators couldn't believe it. After an unfortunate first blood when Diamond got caught scouting out the enemy jungle before the minions spawned, Diamond responded by going on an absolute ''rampage'' with his Evelynn, ending the game 11/1/10 and leading Gambit to a '''crushing''' 30-5 victory in barely 22 minutes.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCe_XasqbEY The game between Albus Nox Luna and ROX Tigers for the day 5 of 2016 Worlds]] was one of the best (if not the very best) games of the competitive scene in the last years. Despite ROX being clear favorites, the match clearly '''''wasn't''''' a DavidVersusGoliath since, as just said, the 2016 wildcards were way better than the previous ones. The context for the match is that both teams are 3-1 in the group, and the one to win this match is the first team to assure their spot in the quarterfinals. The first awesome moment comes right in the pick&ban phase, when ROX, which were supposed to be ''the best team in the world'', proceed to fully respect ANX's support Likkrit as a huge threat to them and waste all the three bans plus one early pick on limiting his choices. Let that sink in for a moment: ''the best team of the world wasted, effectively, 4 bans on a single wildcard player.'' Likkrit then went for a Taric pick. As the game started, ANX abused ROX's weak early game and, after an awesome 1v3 play by toplaner Smurf, they put their hands on the Baron, extending their gold lead. From there, ANX uses their advantage to grab as much turrets as possible, while ROX decides to play the patience game and slowly but surely neutralizes the deficit. ANX attempts Baron after opening an inhibitor, but ROX's midlaner Kuro proceeds to miraculously steal it with Syndra's Dark Sphere. ANX didn't flinch, and after the Baron wears off, they catch ROX by surprise when they kill the Elder Dragon behind their backs, using it to full advantage and opening inhibitors again. ROX answers with their second Baron to hold on, and after some minutes and a shaky fight, ANX risks Baron again only for Peanut to pull '''''another''''' steal in favor of ROX. But that didn't matter to ANX at all, as they managed to use the poke from Stejos' Nidalee to send Pray's Caitlyn (which at his point has long achieved her MagikarpPower with her criticals hitting for over 900 damage in 90% of her autoattacks) to the base and take the inhibitors [[RuleOfThree for the third time]] despite ROX having Baron. As the clock reaches 61 minutes, a teamfight that could end the game starts. ANX quickly dispatches Pray and are poised to win, only for ROX to pull outright INSANE plays, stopping the game-ending push and instantly threatening a game-ending rush of their own, which is foiled by ANX [[UpToEleven answering their awesomeness with even more awesomeness of their own]], peeling for their AD Carry Miracle until both teams ran away from the fight with only their toplaners and one of their carries alive. At this point, it becomes clear that ANX will not win by fighting, so they grab the game's ''fifth'' Baron and march into ROX's base. ROX's jungler Peanut is baited into an offensive play that fails, and ANX forces ROX to come to them, leaving the super minions beating down the last Nexus turret. As soon as it falls, ROX retreats, and ANX goes for an AllOrNothing attack. One of the most chaotic teamfights ever seen in professional League of Legends follows, with Baron-buffed minions, super minions, ROX's Zz'rot Portals, Guardian Angels and a lot more happening amidst of the fight. At the end, ANX's carries end up dead, so ROX wins, right? '''WRONG''', as [[ChekhovsGunman LIKKRIT]] keeps beating on the Nexus while buffing the nearby minions with his Baron buff, and proceeds to use Taric's Cosmic Radiance and a [[IncrediblyLamePun dazzling]] 3-man Dazzle to buy just enough time for the empowered minions to finish the Nexus, not only defeating ROX [[HoistByHisOwnPetard thanks to the very pick they locked him into]], but giving the Wildcards their first Quarterfinals spot in the Worlds history ''and'' [[DarkHorseVictory beating the tournament's favorites at the same time!]] Words cannot describe how awesome the game was. Just look at the size of this entry.

-->[=BrickyOrchid8=]: "Four members of the enemy team, all about 1/3 health, and [[WhatAnIdiot the best action was to Baron]]. So out they went, trying to take the big purple worm and make a comeback against the horrifying and deadly [[TheDreaded Street Jimmy]]. But like always, Street Jimmy foresaw this. He was already back to base with Homeguards boots, he had hit Level 16 from that last fight. [[OhCrap Oh God, he was going to do it]]. He got close enough to where his [[DeathFromAbove Ult]] was in range and soared up into the air. The vision of Baron became clear as Street [[PrecisionFStrike MotherFucking]] Jimmy prepared his [[DeathFromAbove Mandrop]]. [[WhatAnIdiot The enemy team didn't decide to back off. They would take this Baron regardless of Pantheon's intervention]]. But it didn't matter. Street Jimmy had a full Level 3 Ultimate, he was 2 levels above Rengar for Smiting, and he also had Spirit of the Elder Lizard[[note]] this was before the changes to jungle items that replaced them with the branching jungle items[[/note]] which increases damage to monsters. When Baron had reached 1500 health, he slammed onto the ground with more force than [[WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids Fat Albert's shoe soles]]. 1200 damage Mandrop thanks to the jungle item, plus a 900 true damage Smite. No man can out-Smite Street Motherfucking Jimmy. He landed, took the Baron, killed Rengar as he was at the center of the drop, chucked a spear at Leona who had dropped below 15% health; it crit, killed her. The Akali used her W shroud, but Street Jimmy just threw his E into it and killed her as well. Then he turned his attention to Rumble..."

** At some point during mid-game after a brief skirmish, Wildturtle's level 11 Lucian moves to mid lane and uses his E to flash forward and duel against another player. Said player is Huhi on a ''level 12'' [=LeBlanc=] [[WhatAnIdiot with Morellonomicon and Abyssal Scepter]].[[note]]Abyssal Scepter lowers surrounding enemies' magic resist which makes burst mages like [=LeBlanc=] hit harder, especially against a GlassCannon ADC like Lucian who doesn't have his power items or magic resist, while Morellonomicon not only boosts [=LeBlanc's=] mana regeneration and AP, but also reduces the champion's skills cooldown, allowing Huhi to use them more often. On top of that, Morellonomicon has a unique effect of dealing extra magic damage to an enemy champion below 40% health and inflicting Grievous Wounds, which reduces healing effectiveness on enemy champions, for 4 seconds.[[/note]] [[EpicFail No points for guessing]] [[CurbStompBattle who comes out on top]]. Adding insult to injury, Huhi annihilates Wildturtle [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill in only 2 seconds]] and escapes unscathed [[https://youtu.be/ghOGBXUze_g?t=1416 (Skip to 23:36 for a display of what an assassin is supposed to do to a lone ADC who hasn't had his power items yet)]].