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          Recapping League of Legends' #SuperSaturday

          Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
          • Tyler Erzberger, ESPN EsportsApr 13, 2019, 08:55 PM
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            • Staff writer for ESPN.com
            • Covered esports since 2011
            • Worked with biggest teams across titles like League of Legends and StarCraft II
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          It's a huge day in League of Legends with finals or semifinals taking place in leagues all over the world. With the action starting just after midnight Friday and continuing through Saturday afternoon, our own Tyler Erzberger stayed up for all the action on a day he dubbed #SuperSaturday. Here's his recap:

          12 a.m. PT: It's time for the biggest day of League of Legends ever! We have a slew of finals across the world with teams qualifying for the Mid-Season Invitational and some semifinals to boot. While there are a few big matches throughout the day, it's foolish to say that the day isn't bookended by the two biggest matches with Griffin facing SK Telecom T1 first off for the South Korean championship and ending with a North American title showdown between possible three-peating Team Liquid and TSM.

          1:02 a.m. PT: The South Korean final has begun! From the pro-wrestling-esque opening video to the fiery trash talking, nothing is better than a big South Korean matchup between two heavyweight teams. I think Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok is still the GOAT, but I really believe this is the night that Griffin's starting mid laner and league MVP Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon ascends to megastardom.

          2:17 a.m. PT: During Griffin and SKT's war for the ages, three other matches have just begun on #SuperSaturday. The highlight match is the China semifinal with FunPlus Phoenix with that league's MVP Kim "Doinb" Tae-sang against Cinderella story JD Gaming. We also have the Vietnam final and the LMS semifinal between longtime rivals AHQ Esports and Flash Wolves.

          2:50 a.m. PT: Chovy died.

          2:54 a.m. PT: Chovy died again!

          3:06 a.m. PT: Chovy died again, and so did Griffin. They're down 2-0 and Faker is fighting like Mike Tyson in his prime compared to Chovy who resembles himself trying to fight a prime Mike Tyson in the boxing ring. Griffin still has the tools to pull this back, though. Reverse-sweeps are a thing in League of Legends lore. Some of the greatest matches end in reverse-sweeps.

          4:00 a.m. PT: It's over in South Korea. Griffin just got completely embarrassed in the biggest match of their lives. This wasn't even close after the first game. Wow, for the second-straight season, Griffin makes the South Korean final and loses.

          4:20 a.m. PT: "I will win worlds," says Faker in the postmatch interview. I'm done betting against him ever again. This is Faker's seventh domestic championship. You can't even call him the Michael Jordan of video games anymore, "Air Jordan" only won six titles. Maybe if he hadn't gone off to play baseball he'd be more like Faker.

          5:54 a.m. PT: For the first time since midnight, it's calm. The Turkish and Vietnamese finals are plodding along, LMS is in the pick/ban phase and the Chinese semifinal is preparing for the fifth and final map.

          6:13 a.m. PT: In Turkey, SuperMassive couldn't pull it back against 1907 FB and are one game away from getting Griffin'd. Over in Vietnam, it's all over. The reigning champions PVB looked a little sloppy in the series but showed their class in the end by taking the series by a scoreline of 3-1. They will join the Bombers from Oceania, SKT T1 and DFM at MSI in a few weeks. Luckily for them, the opening rounds are held in Vietnam, so PVB should expect a huge home-crowd advantage.

          6:47 a.m. PT: Wow, it's over. JDG's top lane Zhang "Zoom" Xing-Ran falls behind FPX and barrels through them (literally) on Gangplank to win the series for JD Gaming. For the second time today, a league MVP has fallen. First it was Chovy, and now Doinb and has fallen short in his quest for a championship. Could this be foreshadowing for either North American MVP front-runner Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg or Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in?

          8:03 a.m. PT: We are off in Rotterdam, Netherlands and the crowd is fully behind Fnatic. It feels like the crowd and the pundits all want to see a clash between Fnatic and G2 Esports in the final, and it's going to be up to Origen, who lost in a 3-0 sweep to G2 last week, that they deserve to be playing for the trophy on Sunday. In Brazil, in a much smaller venue, highlights are being shown before Flamengo and INTZ fight for the league title.

          9:32 a.m. PT: As Origen and Fnatic trade blows with Fnatic zeroing in on a 1-1 tie, Flamengo blew out INTZ in 21 minutes. Lock of the century. No doubt. Put your life savings on it. Brazil started an hour later than Europe and I'm confident it'll end well before the LEC match ends. And once more, the Taric and Sona bottom lane is about to lose again. Happy days are here again.

          11:39 a.m. PT: Fnatic is out. All the storylines and narratives and fantasies are gone. G2 and Origen will face off in a match we saw a week ago where G2 swept them. The world finalists from 2018 will not be at MSI.

          12:25 p.m. PT: We're five minutes away from our final match of the day -- the North American final, the LCS, with reigning back-to-back winner Team Liquid facing the winningest franchise in league history, TSM. In St. Louis, either Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg or Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng will become the first six-time champion of the LCS. The stakes have never been higher.

          1:56 p.m. PT: WOW! We began the night with a barnburner Game 1 in South Korea and we have another in North America. Sergen "Broken Blade" Celik's Vladimir simply got too big to handle and the teenaged rookie finished TSM's Game 1 win with a Quadrakill. Doublelift got caught out around Baron, and without a late-game Sivir on the map, it all fell apart for the defending champs. This is the first time TL has ever lost a game in an LCS final, having swept both 100 Thieves and Cloud9 in 2018.

          2:10 p.m. PT: Flamengo lost 3-2 to INTZ. I'm going to ask you to forget every single prediction I ever made about anything. The team that went 20-1 in the regular season and was the heavy crowd favorite to lead Brazil back to glory has lost. I'm at a loss for words.

          2:55 p.m. PT: The NA reigning champions are shaken, down 0-2. Same story: TL got out to an early lead but didn't have the necessary tools to shut the door. Bjergsen and Broken Blade have been the superior solo lanes and come to the late-game. TL's back is firmly against the wall, needing a reverse-sweep to go to MSI.

          3:59 p.m. PT: I'm going on my 16th hour of watching League of Legends, and I'm at the point where I want TSM to win so I can go to bed. Guess what happened? They didn't win. They lost. They played an extremely long game, but Liquid won, forcing a fourth game. This is going to Game 5, isn't it?

          5:09 p.m. PT: The picks are in and the stage is set for an epic finale in Game 5. I've been watching League of Legends for 17 hours and I'm wondering why this couldn't be the first thing I watched instead of the quick smashing of Griffin by the hands of SKT It all comes down to this. A chance for Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen to exorcise the demons of losing in Game 5 to Bjergsen two years ago in Vancouver.

          5:44 p.m. PT: Jesper "Zven" Zvenningsen gets caught! Zven gets caught as Ezreal at the Baron pit and Liquid get Baron! How does that happen?

          5:50 p.m. PT: Zven gets caught again at Elder Drake with a Braum ult! How! How again!?

          5:55 p.m. PT: It's over. Team Liquid has completed the three-peat. Zven has his head in his hands. Jensen is being ushered by his teammates to be the first to lift the trophy. TL is the best team in North America, but TSM will feel like they gave away a series they had under lock and key. Madness. After 18 hours of wall-to-wall League of Legends action, there is no series that could have been a crazier climax.

          6:00 p.m. PT: My watch is over. Now, like Jensen, finally, I rest.