It was a pleasure to write this article and series throughout the week. You can check the rest of the pieces on ESH, if you’re interested. I had a lot of stats and Pick/Ban points for this one, but I got carried away on the frankly never-ending narrative points. Here’s a few:

- A rivalry 7 years in the making. Xiaohu’s first match against Faker was in 2016!

- Both players have a shadow of their past (distant or recent) that they’re trying to leave behind here. Faker has been on a hot-streak of Finals losses that has started to look like a curse. Xiaohu has never beaten Faker in a Worlds Knockout stage (neither has any other LPL team, to be fair).

- Xiaohu is one (if not the) best player to never win Worlds. This might be his last chance, especially with how chaotic and unpredictable the LPL is.

- Faker hasn’t won an International tournament since 2017. With most of T1’s contracts running out this off-season, it’s hard to picture him getting a better chance than this.

And much more! Their story leading to here is really interesting. I hope you enjoy it :D