Invictus Gaming have become the first Chinese team ever to lift the Summoner’s Cup after blowing Fnatic away 3-0 in the League of Legends World Finals 2018. Despite losing twice to the Europeans in the group stages, Invictus (iG) were dominant in the final, winning the 834,375USD prize money much faster than many commentators had expected.
The Chinese government has put an increasing focus on esports and pro gaming in recent years — especially with esports set to become a medal event at the 2020 Asian Games — and the industry is currently booming in the country.
Shanghai in particular has been making a concerted push in the field, developing dedicated facilities and announcing that the city will host The International Dota 2 Championship, one of the world’s biggest gaming competitions, in 2019. It was also recently revealed that the 2020 League of Legends Worlds will be taking place in China.
In a sign of how serious the sector is being taken, iG is owned by Wang Sicong, son of Dalian Wanda founder and China’s third richest man Wang Jianlin. So while iG may have become the first Chinese team to win a LoL World Championship, they seem unlikely to be the last.
Here’s some footage of the iG team just after their victory was confirmed:
#Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/viRs8OaJS8
— lolesports (@lolesports) November 3, 2018
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