The Art of Disappointment: Biggest Worlds Chokes

5. TSM, Worlds 2020: Despite its long list of successes in the (NA) LCS, TSM has not had the easiest time abroad in recent years. However, 2020 promised to be a return to greatness. The team reunited its stars Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and Yiliang "Peter" "Doublelift" Peng and lifted the cup for the first time since 2017, coming to Worlds as the NA first seed. However, Worlds would prove to be a bitter end of the season. TSM landed in a group with LGD Gaming, Fnatic and Gen.G and looked absolutely outclassed. Six games and no wins later, the NA Champions looked quite deflated as they booked the plane home (© Riot Games).

4. G2 Esports, Worlds 2016: The team that would become G2 Esports had many tries to break into the EU LCS - but when it finally did, it was all the more dominant for it. G2 took Europe by storm, becoming only the third team (other than Fnatic and Alliance) to win a EU LCS title until MAD Lions did it this year. A poor MSI was seen as teething problems and after a dominant summer split, G2 fans were hyped for Worlds - and this is when G2 earned their spot on this list.

The group they went to featured LCK Champions Rox Tigers, NA LCS finalists Counter Logic Gaming and Russian wildcard Albus Nox Luna, leading many to expect an easy second place for G2. Instead, they were beaten time and again, barely managing a single win against the CIS team that only served to further inflame opinion against them. Fans savaged the team and it took G2 until 2018 to shed its reputation for choking at Worlds (© Riot Games).

3. Royal Never Give Up, Worlds 2018: Few teams had ever looked as dominant as Royal Never Give up in 2018. Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao had finally won his first championship and was playing like a man possessed - and around him, the bodies were piling. RNG won the Mid-Season invitational, took down a very strong Invictus Gaming to win the summer LPL split as well and were deservedly see as a favorites for Worlds. The group stage already showed they were shaky, however, as they lost a game to both Team Vitality and Cloud9. Still, they exited as first seed and faced off a G2 Esports that had barely managed to get out of groups. Yet in a five-game series marked by phenomenal play by Luka "Perkz" Perković, the European team crushed RNG’s dream of a perfect year and send them back home in shame (© Riot Games).

2. Samsung Ozone, Season 3 Worlds: In 2013, most fans looked to South Korean teams as the favorites to win Worlds. As the spring champion and their second seed, Samsung Ozone was one of the teams to beat. Samsung boasted top players in every role, led by mid laner Bae "dade" Eo-jin, who many saw as a tactical mastermind. However, their group stage performance fell short of what was expected, as they lost games to EU LCS teams Fnatic and Gambit Gaming - and in the end, a tiebreaker for second place sent Gambit to the quarterfinals and Samsung home. The squad was not just the only Korean team (until 2018) to not make playoffs at Worlds, but dade's poor performance under pressure prompted the unofficial “dade award”, awarded to superstar players who choked at Worlds (© Riot Games).

Honorable mention: Alliance, Worlds 2014: The original European superteam, Alliance was designed to be a star-studded roster with top talent in all roles. The squad was led by mid laner Henrik "Froggen" Hansen, who was seen as one of the best mid laners in the World at the time and one of the three original EU LCS superstars in the mid lane. After some teething problems in the spring, the squad won the summer split by besting Fnatic. At Worlds, the team delivered some stunning ups and downs - defeating South Korea's NaJin White Shield with a perfect game, then losing against the wildcard team of KaBuM! e-Sports - and ended in third place. Despite the magnificent win against NaJin, Alliance's reputation never recovered from the loss to KaBuM! and not advancing to the quarterfinals (© Riot Games).

1. Gen.G, Worlds 2018: In 2018, the LCK saw itself as a cut above all other regions. It had good reason to do so: its representatives had maintained an iron grip on the title for five years in a row. Few teams had ever taken a win off a LCK team, never mind a playoff series. Even coming in as the third seed, Gen.G was expected to do well in a group with two western teams. What followed was an unmitigated disaster, where the team lost its opening game to Team Vitality and proceeded to rack up a total record of 1-5, becoming the first LCK team to be eliminated in groups since Samsung Ozone. The worst part? It all happened in front of a very judgemental home crowd. Ouch (© Riot Games).