DAMWON Gaming Is the Champion of Worlds 2020

Worlds 2020 is finally over and nobody is surprised by the result. DAMWON Gaming entered the race as the number 1 favorite in most pundits’ eyes and their performance throughout the tournament was stellar. Apart from one Bo1 against JD Gaming, Nuguri and his crew demolished all opposition and looked like they had no real rival. Let’s have a look at the details of their success.

Worlds 2020 Group Stage

In the Group Stage of Worlds 2020, DAMWON had a fairly easy task: finish in the top 2 of a group that featured 2 modest competitors and the 2^nd best team in China. PSG Talon had to win the Play-In to be there and Rogue simply had the best Split in their history. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been present at Worlds at all. Needless to say, DAMWON crushed both of them. They also won their first match against JDG. But then, in the very last match of the group, the Chinese squad managed to beat them. Some people worried because of this, but the defeat ultimately proved to be irrelevant.

Playoffs

In the Playoffs, DAMWON had to start against its LCK rival, DragonX. The previous time they had met, the match ended with a decisive score: 3 – 0 in favor of DAMWON Gaming. In the Quarterfinals of Worlds 2020, the situation was identical.

The Semifinals match was difficult. Or at least, it should have been, simply because G2 Esports was the strongest team in Europe this season and had finished 2^nd at Worlds 2019. But DAMWON lost a single game against this opponent. Furthermore, they won the last game of the match in under 20 minutes. It’s not clear what happened there but the most probably reason for that disaster was G2’s inability to cope with the pressure. After losing game 3, its cores started to tilt and DAMWON quickly took advantage of that.

Grand Final

I think thee Grand Final of Worlds 2020 would have been a lot more interesting if Top Esports would have won the Semifinals against Suning. Prior to the tournament, the two big favorites to play in its last match were DAMWON, the strongest team in South Korea, and Top Esports, the strongest team in China. Unfortunately for the fans, Suning had an amazing run and played much better than everyone expected. But DAMWON did not fall into their traps.

The reason why Suning did so well in this tournament is simple: they had to face two Chinese teams in the Playoffs, which they knew very well. And because they had better nerves, the skill difference was small enough to become irrelevant.

The match against DAMWON went back and forth in the first two rounds. But then, just like they had done against G2 Esports, DAMWON made some excellent drafting and playstyle decisions and managed to end the series in just 4 games. What we still don’t know is how much money they earned as a result of this victory, but one thing is clear: DAMWON Gaming is the new Worlds champion. And I must add, they totally deserved it.

 

Photo credit: Riot Games