San Francisco (AFP) - South Korean team DRX were crowned League of Legends world champions on Saturday after scoring a surprise 3-2 victory over compatriots T1 in a thrilling final of the eSports tournament in San Francisco.
T1, the most successful team in eSports history, started as favorites and took the lead in the first round of the competition.
But DRX took command after many upsets, in particular thanks to 19-year-old Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo.
Their win, the team's first ever, was highly anticipated for talented 26-year-old Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu, who started competing in 2014 but had only made it past the quarter-finals once, also in 2014.
No player so "old" had ever won the world championships until this year.
"I'm too old to cry like this but I'm really overwhelmed right now.Ever since my debut, every single night I've been dreaming about myself winning the world championship," Deft said on stage before brandishing the cup with his four teammates.
"It was only a dream but now I made it and I'm so happy right now," he said after the final in front of 16,000 spectators at the Chase Center in San Francisco, home to the Golden State Warriors NBA team.
It was an amazing result for DRX, who did not shine in the South Korean league this year and had struggled to qualify for the world championships.
'Crazy year'
"This year was crazy, it's impossible to describe how I am feeling right now," said Zeka.
"I feel like crying but Deft has been crying so much, so thank you Deft for crying for me."
LoL commentator Fabien "Chips" Culie praised the team's "outstanding resilience".
"It's an incredible storyline," said Chips.
"In the quarter-finals they beat last year's world champions, they were down 2-0, then won the last three games, it's only happened twice in the world championships."
The final was equally memorable, with many twists greeted by the crowd chanting the names of the two teams in turn.
"I think DRX had better concentration heading into the later phase of the series," T1's Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok told a press conference afterwards.
"Our players worked so hard throughout the year and thanks to that we were able to get this potential where we were so close to winning worlds finals," he said.
It was a particularly bitter defeat for the T1 veteran after victories in 2013, 2015 and 2016.In South Korea, Faker enjoys fame and fortune comparable to that of basketball stars.
The final, followed by millions of people online, opened with a performance by rapper Lil Nas X and Hong Kong singer Jackson Wang, a former member of K-pop group GOT7.
"We were watching it in person for the first time, it's fantastic, so much better than online," said Maddie Zhang, 24, who came from Chicago especially for the final.
"It was a very good game, very well played but we are heartbroken because our team lost," added her friend Jessica Zhou, from Los Angeles.
The League of Legends World Championship is considered one of the most prestigious eSports tournaments.
