League of Legends news » Olaf reigns in Worlds opener

Europe drew first blood. A timely dive in the top lane resulted in Counter Logic Gaming’s Darshan falling under his own turret on home soil. The American crowd was silenced.

Rewind, though. Rewind for a long while. Remember the first time you held a controller. Or a mouse and keyboard. The first time you shifted into a digital world. How it held you and pushed your imagination.

That’s what it felt like to stand among the crowd during the Worlds 2016 opening ceremony. Thousands of players gathered in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in downtown San Francisco and roared as the teams were introduced. When the hometown North American teams were introduced, it seemed as if the building itself might stand to its feet and hold its heart—now beating with pride. A lot of nerdy pride, maybe, but the kind of nerdy we've come to embrace!

On stage stood the greatest League of Legends players in the world. These were the 16 teams who were closest to the top of the world. The crowd reveled in their presence and what they represented. Every hour and every day grinded on the Summoner’s Rift -- these were the players who symbolized those moments of glory and heartbreak. Every small triumph players experienced in privacy would now manifest on the grandest stage.

Darshan understands the moment and why it’s special. He says, “I think a lot of people imagine themselves and fantasize about being in front of a crowd -- and people are cheering for you and your team -- and it just feels very empowering and really cool to have all that adoration and respect from all the fans.” Even if some of them, well, misplaced their faith.

And so the crowd crescendoed -- louder and louder yet until CLG and G2 slowly loaded onto the rift. Each champion blinked in one by one. The casters laid out what was at stake -- on one side was Europe’s greatest hope -- G2, a team that sought redemption after an embarrassing performance at the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational. They rebounded with a new roster, though, and crushed their opposition in the Summer Split. They had no peers at home. For fans and pundits alike, this was a team to be wary of at the 2016 World Championship.

And on the other side was a team reeling from tough defeats at the North American Summer Split Playoffs. They limped into the World Championship thanks to victories from their rivals. Such was the narrative. Jokes about them being the 4th best team from America are sure to continue throughout the tournament.

But CLG's hopes for Worlds wouldn’t have even been possible if they didn’t secure first place in the Spring Split. And maybe the expectations would have been lower if they hadn’t won back-to-back NA LCS splits before MSI 2016, where they stormed their way to a 2nd place finish. This was easy to forget in the wake of their Summer failures. But the most diehard fans knew that somewhere -- maybe too deep -- laid a team capable of rising up to contend against the best foes in the world.

Then the game started and Europe’s back-to-back MVP Trick made the first move. G2’s jungler continued his dominant rookie year by immediately crawling into the top lane. On Elise, one of the prized picks for the tournament, he managed to secure an early advantage for his top laner, Expect.

CLG fans pulled out their little spin wheels and tried to find something to console them. You could almost hear the little arrow whizzing around the board. And fans of other North American teams started to sweat.

They reeled in their fishing lines just a little a bit. Their little expectations bobbled just a little slower.That lull in the waves, though, turned out to be the calm before the storm. And the storm-bringer took the form of a viking god -- -- old Olaf re-summoned from his, uh, “Olaf-ed” days.

Long praised for consistency and adaptability to his team, CLG’s Xmithie is rarely the first name brought up when fans think of dominant junglers. He’s not even the second. Or the third.

But Xmithie has always been good -- at least by Darshan’s standards. “If things are going poorly, it’s hard to make yourself look good as a jungler, unless you’re playing carry junglers every game, which you can’t always do. He understands his role very well and is a very consistent player."

And then, on Olaf, he struck at the 8:00 minute mark with a calm dive on G2’s Zven. The quick and easy kill, though, opened the gates for the rest of the map to collapse. Teleports were channeled. Aphromoo and mithy channeled their champions’ -- Nami’s and Braum’s -- elemental ultimates to tear into the map. A series of chasing and being chased culminated in CLG shuffling away with a kill advantage. They wouldn’t be caught again.

Darshan felt CLG had control the entire game. “Even though I died,” he says, “With a strong and focused mindset, any bad things that happen won’t stop me from playing my best.”

The crowd experienced its first team fight—this is the height of tension and excitement for most League of Legends games. The North American squad continued to find ways to return two punches for every jab. Every haymaker thrown by G2 could only nick CLG as they returned blow after blow.

And if the team was the boxer, then Xmithie was the glove. Only the glove was shaped more like an axe than a glove. Throughout the game, he controlled the river. He clamped into the crabs. He warded and cleared wards. And he was there for every major fight and exchange.

True to their name, CLG flipped the early narrative at the 2016 World Championship. At least for now, the North Americans wouldn’t be embarrassed on their home soil -- a far cry from the story three years ago, when the World Championship last toured the states. This was the supposed worst representative from the NA LCS.

This was a team that saw its embattled top laner – one who had been criticized so much over the summer – feed first blood. And they deflated their home crowd’s lungs, which were ready to burst after a boisterous opening ceremony. And their own hopes were dented at the start to League of Legend’s biggest event of the year.

But this wasn’t a team that would be deterred by any setbacks. They persevered just as they have all year long. And jab after jab -- kill after kill -- they blew air back into their fans. And the faith returned -- breath by breath. CLG fans could breathe sighs of relief. And probably unzipped their Cloud9 hoodies to reveal their CLG jerseys once again.

And on the first blood, Darshan says, “I told my teammates, ‘It’s fine, guys. I can still farm. I’ll still have pressure.’ I wasn’t phased by the death at all.”

This was Counter Logic Gaming. And this was an American crowd being lifted to its feet on the international stage on their own turf. That CLG fed first blood before turning the tides, possibly, was the perfect way to dispel the region’s ghosts. This game, perhaps, will serve as a peek at the weeks to come.