of all the iconic stories to emerge from the League of Legends World
Championships a few are as memorable as the Taipei Assassins run in 2012 the
Taiwanese outfit became overnight sensations not only for their incredible
play but for decisively overcoming arguably the three strongest teams at
the tournament in a series of history-making upsets this is when
assassins ruled the world
heading into the 2012 World Championship everyone's
eyes were fixed on a pair of teams to win it all there was Moscow 5 the CIS
juggernaut who had dominated the scene thanks to their innovation and
aggression and Korea's Azubu Frost a team whose fearsome reputation caused
opposing teams and their fans across the world to quake in their boots this
fanfare was not the case for the Taipei Assassins in fact they were a massive
question mark heading into the tournament a total dark horse they're
all but non-existent experienced against international competition caused many to
view them with uncertainty and although they had utterly dominated their home
region thanks to strong team coordination and creative play it was
unknown how that would translate against the world's best on league's biggest
stage but as we all know assassins work best with the element of surprise as
champions of their region the Taipei Assassins were seeded directly into the
playoff bracket and their first opponent wasn't going to be an easy one
they were slated to face Korea's second representative the intimidating
NaJin Sword who had steamrolled their group while
TPA were coming in cold
Lead by Lau "Toyz" Wai Kin and his now legendary Orianna
game 1 was a statement of intent proving that the Taipei Assassins
going to back down against anybody
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Game 2 started with NaJin in the lead
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but the Assassins crawled its way back into it with some ferocious team fighting
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By it's end the Taipei Assassins superior map control team fight execution and coordination
Overwhelmed their Korean adversary
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the sweep over NaJin caught the world's attention the Taipei
Assassins passionate celebrations and infectious energy captivated viewers
just as much as their unexpectedly high level of play
"we said earlier you can only be as good as the competition you're playing against"
"TPA kind of proved us wrong there"
"TPA proved to everybody that we are not only the king"
"of South-East Asia, and we will play even better"
while the win brought cautious optimism to their new fans there was still much work
to be done why because Taipei Assassins next opponent was going to be an even
bigger test the love or hate them Moscow 5 taking down a tournament
favorite like Moscow 5 would be no easy task and after getting torn apart
in the first game of the series the obvious question was weather or not
TPA were up to the challenge
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but that question was answered definitively in game two
can lock them down with the turrets damn that gets out of that and it's just huge
pressure from Taipei Assassins right now Darien is however able to clean up a few
kills for his team it's now three two three four two three now finally the
last Auto Attack and double kill for "toyz" aces on the Moscow 5 they're gonna
gain some huge ground here as they turn Moscow 5 face in to shambles
Moscow 5 not exactly flustered but I think this is the first time we have
seen them not be able to answer a strategy "toyz" just back down to his team
and it's gonna be that second at first Nexus turret the second Nexus turret the
Nexus now a game three Moscow 5 forced to defend on the fountain and
it's going to be a huge matchup your first semifinal match going into a best of three Taipei and Moscow 5
in a deciding third game the Taipei Assassins
continued their onslaught by mixing up their strategy, focusing on objective
control instead of teamfights and by the 20-minute mark they had a 5 to 0 tower
lead over Moscow 5
"and I'm surprised actually they played it as a split push it's working out"
emboldened by their sizable gold lead the
Assassins went for Moscow fives jugular
out he can't even alter the crescendo stopping them from using the abilities
diamondprox goes downs inhibitor is open the double kill comes out Moscow 5
looking very grim right now Taipei Assassins look to take down the last
nexus turret and they will drop Moscow 5 from the League of Legends Championship
playoffs and would you look at that the cheers the yells at the look of relief
all makes at the same time on their faces Taipei Assassins are the first team
to make it to the world finals
after two dramatic upsets that Taipei Assassins
had made it to the finals only to have to face the final boss Azubu Frost who
had been living up to their terrifying reputation
a push lane instead of a stone comes illusion from behind the dust bringers
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it was going to be a slugfest of the dark horse that had toppled two Titans enroute to the finals
against the expected champions but the Taipei Assassins did not care for
expectations armed with steadfast self-belief and
backed by a legion of ravenous supporters they charged into the game
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however Azubu Frost would begin to turn things around off the back of a
now-famous Quadra kill by rapid star on Karthus
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eventually the Koreans would seal game 1
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despite giving up the lead in the series the Taipei Assassins
would bounce back in game 2 thanks to Sung "Lilballz" Kuan-Po's
jungle Dr. Mundo which caught as Azubu Frost completely off-guard
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in Game three "Toyz" Orianna would make a triumphant return
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"they know the game was over Azubu Frost they just wanted to get on to the next game that could be a"
"smart call they knew that lingering in that game was only going to demoralize"
"them so they decided to end it early"
the Taipei Assassins were one went away from
the unlikeliest of world titles and in game four they showed Azubu Frost no mercy
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with total map control and a 17 K gold lead the Taipei Assassins went for the killing blow
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they had done it the Taipei Assassins had an emphatically taken down three of the
world's best teams to become world champions
"they took down the cream of the crop NaJin Sword looked unstoppable out of group stage Moscow 5 was the"
"favorites coming into the tournament lose the first one against the"
"champions of Korea and then take three games in a row"
the Taipei Assassins run has become something of a legend it comes from a time when league of legends
was still growing and theirs was easily one of the most exciting storylines to
grace the game up to that point sure looking back on the games now we can see
how far the competitive scene has come the macro decisions team fighting and
execution are far more developed today but the Taipei Assassins story at Worlds
2012 still embodies the amazing spirit of league's early days
the passion
the fun
the triumphant underdog how can you not love that