DAMWON Gaming topple over Suning in thrilling Worlds 2020 final, capture Korea’s first title in 3 years

In what might go down as one of the great, if not the greatest, League of Legends World Championship finals of all time, DAMWON Gaming took down Suning with a score of 3-1. 

Coming into the series, there hadn’t been a meeting between a Korean and Chinese team in a Worlds finals since 2014. Additionally, an LCK representative hadn’t won Worlds since 2017, when Samsung Galaxy raised the Summoner’s Cup.

That was, of course, until today, when DWG secured victory in emphatic fashion over a tougher-than-expected Suning team that played with heart and muscle throughout the course of today’s final four games.

The tone of the series was set early. Suning showcased unconventional picks like Wukong, Fiora, and Rengar to supplement an aggressive, fight-focused playstyle. While DWG had insisted on winning through objective-focused gameplay, Suning made it clear they would be bringing the fight to the opposition. 

And at many points in the series, it worked wonders for the LPL’s third seed. Players like SofM and Bin, the latter of whom recorded the first pentakill on the stage of the Worlds finals, were able to stand out for Suning thanks to the team’s aggressive approach to this series. But even still, DWG’s control of the map was too much for Suning to handle during the series. The first game of the night saw DWG stretch Suning thin in a 45-minute affair—the longest game of the tournament—that saw three barons and six dragons (including two elder dragons) get taken on both sides. 

But even after the two teams traded victories to start the series off, locking the best-of-five at one win apiece, DWG revved the engines in the later stages of the day. Games three and four saw the LCK champions concoct a lethal combination of precision and methodical gameplay, ultimately resulting in two decisive victories to close out the series, the tournament, and ultimately the season.

As the series winded down, DWG relied on major contributions from players like Ghost and Nuguri as the team shifted its playstyle to focus more on teamfighting in response to Suning’s aggression.

In true “anything you can do, I can do better” fashion, DWG took Suning’s teamfighting abilities to task in the final game of the night, closing out the final contest of the year with a kill-score of 24-7. 

With today’s result in mind, DWG have reached the pinnacle of professional League of Legends while simultaneously returning the LCK to the top of the professional world. The 2020 tournament marks Korea’s first title in three years and the region’s sixth title all-time.