I have previously touched on how esports aren't just a game, but are treated in much the same way that traditional, physical sports by their respective players and fans.
When you look at traditional sports, there usually isn't a team or country that is dominant enough at any one sport to be the "undisputed" best players of their sport. The idea that anyone country could be the dominating force in multiple sports is unheard of. Unless you count the US as being the best at those sports we have created, like Football, Basketball, and Baseball. Even then, looking at the 2016 Olympics, you can tell that the US can't keep its top spots in multiple sports at once.
In esports, the story is quite different. When you look at "classic" esports, like Starcraft and its squeal, Starcraft 2, you will begin to see hints of who the best gaming nation is. Starcraft and Starcraft 2 are typically played as 1v1 games where each player picks 1 of 3 different "species" and acts as a general, spawning and positioning units, in order to destroy the enemy base. Tournaments are often 2 teams of 5 to 8 players who will fight 1 at a time. The loser of a head to head match will be taken out of the line up, the winner will continue to verse the losing team's next player.
Competitive tournaments, even World Championship events, have been called Korea vs. The World. A team of players from Korea would face off against a team of players hailing from across the globe, the US, Spain, Russia, China, etc. Most of these events of this caliber were won by the Koreans. In the few cases where the best Korean players did not quickly dismantle their opponents, and a the tournament was drawn to the match between each team's final players, as in the 2011 Championship, the Koreans would still come out on top and be that year's champions.
Moving to the current most popular online video game in the world, League of Legends, and its on-going World Championship Tournament. It is clear that, regardless of the tournament's outcome, Korea is still the most dominant force in competitive gaming.
3 out of 4 Quarter-Final matches have been completed. Out of the 16 teams that get to travel to the World Championship tournament, any of the regions can send at most 3 teams, and Korea's 3 teams are the first 3 teams to be locked in to the Semi-Final matches.
This League of Legends dominance isn't something which is only visible in this World Championship. One of the Korean competitors, SK Telecom T1, is home of perhaps the best LoL player in world Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and 2 of the previous 5 World Championship Titles. The region as a whole has produced some star talent in the game. Like in traditional sports, teams can attempt to trade or purchase players from other organizations. Korea's top players have been purchased by the 3 other main regions, US, EU, and LPL (China), as well as "wildcard" regions like South America and OCE.
It is easy to see why Korean teams are considered the favorites to win worlds and now the top 3 Korean teams are all ready to face off next weekend.
Today we will see whether a European team or a Brazilian team will be joining the South Korean teams that were locked in as of Saturday night in the battle to break out of the Semi-Finals and do battle in the Finals for the "Summoner's Cup" and the 2016 World Championship title.
