Eight world records set at the 2016 League of Legends World Championship
The 2016 League of Legends World Championship was one for the books.
Not only did we enjoy two of the best series of all time played by SK Telecom T1 against ROX Tigers and Samsung Galaxy, there were a ton of records broken at the tournament. And we do mean a ton.
1. First players to win three World Championships – Faker, Bengi
No players outside of SK Telecom T1 have won two World Championships. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Bae “Bengi” Seong-ung have won three. The mid lane/jungle pair are the winningest team in League of Legends history, and can now cover more than half of their mouse-clicking hand with championship rings. They’ll just have to be careful to not let the weight of the hardware affect their APM.
2. First players to win two World Championships in a row – Faker, Bengi, Bang, Wolf
When SK Telecom T1 K won Worlds in 2013, most believed they were the best team League of Legends had ever produced. In 2014, they failed to even qualify for the big tournament. As a result, many speculated that the burnout caused by winning a World Championship would ensure that no team would be able to win it two years in a row.
Faker, Bengi, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, and Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan disagreed in 2015 and 2016. After swapping out just a single player from the 2015 championship roster — dropping Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-Hwan for Lee “Duke” Ho-seong — they went ahead and proved that winning two in a row was not only possible, it was a forgone conclusion for SKT.
3. First World Championship to go to five games – SK Telecom T1 vs. Samsung Galaxy
World Championship finals are notoriously stomps. Typically ending 3-0 or 3-1 (thanks to a troll Game 3 from whichever Korean squad wins the whole thing), finals matchups are often seen as purely ceremonial, with one team emerging as the clear favorites after a single game.
Worlds 2016 was different. While SKT was the obvious favorite, Samsung Galaxy put up a serious fight. There was a ridiculous comeback in Game 3 (which we’ll get to in a second), a super close Game 4, and…well, SKT ended up winning. But SSG wasn’t even expected to win a single map! Thanks for making things interesting, guys.
4. Biggest comeback in a Worlds final – Samsung Galaxy, 9.1k
If you’re down by 9.1k gold against SK Telecom, you’re supposed to lose the game. As one of the most complete and intelligent teams in history, SKT simply doesn’t lose games when they’re that far off.
Apparently, Samsung Galaxy didn’t get that particular memo.
After they dropped below more than 9k gold in the first 25 minutes of Game 3, many folks at Los Angeles’ Staples Center were leaving the stands. Clearly, the series was over. And then, Samsung began to pull it back. A bad Baron call from SKT meant four turrets for Samsung. Four Barons, three Dragons, and a ton of scrappy fights later, Samsung had pulled off the biggest comeback in Worlds finals history.
5. Longest game in a Worlds final history, second longest in Worlds history – 1:11:20
You could have watched three episodes of Parks and Recreation in the time it took to wrap up Game 3 of the World Championship finals.
6. Most objectives taken in a single Worlds series – 106, SK Telecom T1 vs. Samsung Galaxy
Over the course of the five-game series between the two Korean titans, 67 towers, 27 Dragons, and 12 Barons were taken. That’s a total of 106 objectives, and a new record to boot.
For comparison, the next highest number of objectives in a Worlds series is 96, set during SKT’s previous match against ROX Tigers in the semifinals. The closest before that was 88 in 2014’s semifinal between Star Horn Royal Club and OMG.
7. Highest number of kills at Worlds, overall – Faker, 217
Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao has long been known as the kills king of Worlds, but not anymore.
The GOAT has finally passed up the Chinese AD carry. With his 209th kill against Samsung Galaxy, Faker passed up Uzi and then proceeded to tack on eight more just for good measure.
8. Highest CS in a single game at Worlds – Sneaky, 690
Hey North America, at least you’ve got something!
In his match against Flash Wolves during the Group Stage, Cloud9’s Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi managed to nab himself 690 CS, the highest in any Worlds match ever. It was enough to sneak him into the top 20 all-time, too.
Faker thought about taking that particular record away during Game 3 against Samsung Galaxy. His 658 CS could have been much higher had the game lasted just a few minutes longer, but Samsung gracefully finished off the future World Champions in time to let Sneaky — and NA — have this one thing.
Taylor Cocke is ready for Worlds 2017. Can it happen already? Follow him while he waits on Twitter @taylorcocke.