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          Stats & Info

          Faker's SK Telecom T1 to meet Samsung Galaxy for Worlds title

          A rare smile from a normally calm, cool and collected Faker. Robert Paul for ESPN
          • ESPN Stats & Information
          Oct 29, 2016, 06:27 PM

          The 2016 League of Legends World Championship, more commonly known as Worlds, will conclude with a finals matchup between South Korean teams SK Telecom T1 and Samsung Galaxy on Saturday night.

          Worlds is an esports tournament containing 16 of the top LoL teams worldwide. The teams who participate come from different regions in the world.

          • North America: Team Solo Mid, Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud9

          • Europe: G2 Esports, H2K, SpIyce

          • Korea: ROX Tigers, SK Telecom T1, Samsung Galaxy

          • China: Edward Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, I MAY

          • Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan: Flash Wolves, e-Sports Club

          • International wild cards: INTZ E-sports (Brazil) and Albus NoX Luna (Russia)

          All teams involved will take home cash prizes with a prize pool over $5 million. The champion will take home 40 percent, which is totaling over $2 million. Fans can still make contribution to the prize pool up until November 6. Second place takes home 15 percent, third and fourth place will 7.5 percent each and the rest of the field split the final 30 percent.

          The matches are decided in a best-of-five series on Summoner's Rift (the name of the map on which the finals are played).

          There are five positions each LoL team fields:

          • Top Laner (blue arrow)

          • Mid-Laner (red arrow)

          • Jungler (purple shapes)

          • AD-Carry (orange arrow)

          • Support (on orange arrow)

          Game play

          The object of the game is to destroy the enemy's nexus, circled in green on the map. There are turrets that line each lane, in addition to when you enter either team's base. Prior to destroying the nexus, teams must also destroy at least one inhibitor, circled in yellow.

          Players will have the option of selecting from a pool of 132 champions. Champions' methods range from melee-based attacks to magic-ranged attacks and more. Players improve their champions through purchasing items with gold acquired throughout the game.

          SK Telecom T1: The odds-on favorite

          South Korean team SK Telecom T1 (SKT) defeated the archrival ROX Tigers in the semifinals, 3-2. SKT is looking to capture its third Worlds title since the tournament began in 2011.

          According to Oddschecker, SKT is the odds-on favorite at 8/15 (Samsung Galaxy 11/4).

          SKT T1 features, arguably, the best competitive League of Legends player, Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok. Faker is a mid-laner whose stardom rose quickly in 2013 when a clip of him against a rival player, KOO Tigers' Ryu, went viral.

          He has drawn nicknames such as "God" and "The Demon King" in his native South Korea because of the quality of his play. ESPN esports writer Tyler Erzberger wrote about Faker in a piece titled "Esports' Michael Jordan: the global Faker phenomenon."

          Faker has drawn those comparisons in esports because of his dominance and ability to fluidly play multiple champions at a high level. The 20-year-old has played eight different champions during this tournament, tied for most in the field. Despite the variety of champions, Faker has won at least one game with each of those champions, most at Worlds.

          However, Faker is likely not the Most Valuable Player this tournament; SKT's AD-Carry, Bae "Bang" Jun-sik, has stepped up. With teams targeting Faker, Bang has carried SKT, ranking first in KDA (kills+assists / deaths) and ranks in the top six in many key categories.

          Second title in reach for Samsung Galaxy

          Samsung Galaxy (SSG) has gone unbeaten in the knockout stage, sweeping both H2K (3-0) and Cloud9 (3-0). SSG won Worlds in 2014, in between SKT's two titles.

          SSG has not lost in the knockout rounds, doing so in dominant fashion. SSG has overpowered the opponent in each game.

          SSG's most significant influence comes from the top lane, Sungjin "CuVee" Lee. Among top laners in the knockout round, CuVee is second in kills (28), tied for first in KDA ratio (3.8) and has the third-fewest deaths (13) despite playing three more games than the two players with fewer deaths.

          Going up against SKT's Faker is mid-laner Minho "Crown" Lee. Lee also is among the fewest in deaths (10), like teammate CuVee. He also ranks tied for third-most kills among mid-laners in the knockout round (24) with the highest KDA ratio (5.6).

          Staples Center

          It is not the first time a League of Legends tournament will end in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. In 2013, the Staples Center hosted the 2013 League of Legends World Championship, where Faker and SKT won their first title.

          Tickets are going anywhere from $93 for upper levels to $500 for against the stage on StubHub. The Staples Center has sold out for the final, according to its ticket box office.