I rewatched 2017 Worlds final and Faker did make a mistake not reacting with flash and having a flash Ruler next fight. However, that cold have been a crucial game winning fight and mistake.

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In the moment Ruler flashed, Bang should have not kited and used E there (He seemed to be scared of Cho Q). Lulu was not even in range and his aa does more dmg than the animation for the full stacked E took and that before the shields are active. He would have killed Ruler super fast or at least in this fight for sure.

If he had killed Ruler there, everything would be fine for the moment. However, they would have need to win another fight and whole 2 games, so who knows man. Still, Faker felt so defeated as they lost 3-0 and he seemed to be the one to lose the game. I will cut that play from his mistakes man. That had even more potential than an open fight face on face as he took Cho Q, Ruler Flash Ult, Sej Ult and AA aggro all while Sej, Cho, Lulu, Malz were behind, which should be focused on enemy adc instead of a Karma supp.

Harder to defend is his Cassio Flash after the baron steal. Ruler zoned Bang, rooted Huni with one e there. He kited a weird way too because he saw Kennen, so the fight was doomed anyway. Bang’s flash in the Dragon pit is another meme.

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Maybe they should have respected Ruler’s late and gone full early game banning Kalista, Xayah, Malz, Janna or Lulu. Lee Sin + Faker Leblanc are always too broken. LeBlanc, Ryze, Yasuo are all bad into Malzahar but that would mean only one loss by surprise or they counter it with unusual QSS and gapping. They can ban it or play another early game champion as any counter would fit good enough. https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/de/champions/counters/malzahar listing some.