The EWC Esports World Cup for League of Legends has concluded. T1 and GEN, the two teams that caused upsets, faced off in a bronze medal match after falling in the semifinals. After three hard-fought games, GEN emerged victorious to take third place. T1's defeat in the final game was largely due to the coach's decisions. Tom selected a composition that dealt no damage early, mid, or late game—Syndra and Orianna as the carries, with three melee champions in top, jungle, and support, lacking both engage and peel.

Against an enemy team with Pantheon and Galio for global support, Tom gave Doran the choice of Yorick to split push. How absurd must a coach be to make such a decision? The only tank on the team was Xin Zhao, who could be somewhat durable after using his ultimate, but when Oner dove in to absorb damage, he died and saw that his teammates couldn't even break Galio's shield. It seems Tom wants to get fired too.

After the bronze medal match, DK and KC faced off in the championship series. It was thought that these two dark horses would put up a fight, but DK swept them 3:0, sending the home team KC packing. It's clear that players who want their salaries are truly motivated. ShowMaker this tournament felt like a throwback to S10—one man, one city, leading four rookies to a championship. The difficulty was immense.

If DK could 3:0 KC, then how awful must T1 have been in the semifinals to lose a game while leading by several thousand gold? In this BO5, Smash in the bot lane played exceptionally well. He never fell behind in lane and carried whenever he got gold. In the first game, his Kai'Sa faced a Ziggs—a tough matchup early on—but Smash never fell behind too much in CS and stepped up in the mid-to-late game.

In the second game, his Caitlyn kept the enemy pinned under their tower, taking down KC's bot lane outer turret in just 12 minutes, with a solo gold lead of 1.5K. After getting his items, Smash gave no chances, dealt maximum damage in team fights, and led his team to a crushing victory to secure match point. In the decisive game, after the jungler helped him get a kill, Smash hit level 6 while the enemy was still level 5, solo-killing the opponent's ADC and effectively ending the enemy bot lane.

Across three games, Smash posted a stellar 22-4-18 KDA. With his outstanding performance, he earned the EWC FMVP. This AD carry, who once competed with Gumayusi for a starting spot and was then kicked out by T1, has now proven himself on the international stage. If he can maintain this form, DK can fight for a Worlds spot in the third split—provided the team doesn't disband.

After DK won the championship, the players chose the three teams they defeated in the knockout stage as the base of the trophy: BLG, GEN, and KC. The Oil Cup has been held twice, and the champion has changed, but the LPL remains on the pedestal. Although this is just a third-party event, the LPL had a favorable draw and still saw all three teams eliminated in the quarterfinals—it's really hard to wrap one's head around.

However, this Oil Cup was quite entertaining because the dark horses KC and DK gave the audience many surprises. KC defeated AL and knocked out T1, while DK sent both BLG and GEN, the two biggest title contenders, home. Before the tournament, no one expected such an outcome. This is the charm of esports—the so-called strong teams are not guaranteed to win, and weak teams can spring upsets.

Conclusion:

Ever since news of unpaid wages broke out, DK has fought harder and harder. The players truly gave it their all for the prize money. Before EWC, DK tried to sell the club but no one was interested. Now that they've won the championship, there should be buyers. I hope the new owners of DK will keep the current roster, allowing ShowMaker to lead the young players for another run.

So, what do you think of Smash's performance?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!