The Best Moments from the TFT Reckoning World Championship

From October 1st - 4th, 20 Teamfight Tactics competitors from around the globe took their shot at glory in the TFT Reckoning World Championship. The event took place over the course of four days, with each focusing on a single lobby. Day 1 featured a Play-In stage composed of the lowest seed from each region. Days 2 and 3 were made up of the Group Stage, featuring the upper seeds of each region alongside the victors of the Play-In stage. Day 4 held the conclusion of the event - the Final lobby. In addition to the title of World Champion, these 20 competitors were battling for their slice of the $250,000 prize pool.

Going into the event, many eyes were fixed on the Major Regions to win the event - North America, Europe, China, and South Korea. Fan favorites such as Robinsongz, Shircane, and QituX stood as the favorites from their respective Regions. However, the representatives from the emerging regions came out swinging, just as they did in the Fates Championship. Players such as SMBappé, Nukomaru and Escha upset the competition to eliminate multiple favorites as they carried their regions to a Top 8 performance. 

Ultimately, the TFT Reckoning World Championship was won by Huanmie, the Chinese representative. Huanmie returned to the World stage after an 11th place finish at the Fates Championship. While China failed to produce a top 8 finish at the previous World Championship, they sought and found redemption by securing a first and second place finish in the standings.

The World Championship was full of outplays, rolldowns, highrolls, and ultimately - a Champion well deserving of his title. Here are some of the best moments from the TFT Reckoning World Championship.

To say that SMBappé is a volatile player may be a bit of understatement. In the first day of competition, a player from each region battled for a top 4 position to advance to the Group Stage. While many players leaned towards a stable, top 4 style, SMBappé played for the win. In his first four games, he placed 8, 1, 8, 1. Others might have looked to play for a more consistent 4 cost out, SMBappé opted for a reroll Yasuo composition that not only netted him a top 4 finish, but his final 1st of the day to advance to the Group Stage by just 1 point.

In Day 2 of the competition, Gluetus Maximus seemed to have a magnet for 4 costs carries. The European representative had his back to the wall, knowing that a single loss would eliminate him from the game. While many players would roll aggressively to increase their placement, Gluteus patiently waited to accrue as much interest gold as possible, waiting for a final rolldown to hit Velkoz 3. With 9HP remaining, Gluteus Maximus hit Velkoz 3 and streaked for the rest of the game to win the lobby. 

Just three games later, Gluteus would do it all over again, finding his second Velkoz 3 in just four games. This time, however, it didn’t quite pan out the same.

While Escha may be known for his for-fun, meme streams, his gameplay was nothing short of exceptional. No better example can be found than his ability to out-position his way into defeating Gluteus’ second Velkoz 3 of the day. The fight itself did happen offstream, Escha’s reaction to the event tells you everything you need to know about it.

It’s also important to note that had Escha not eliminated Gluteus, Gluteus very well could have won the lobby and forced a tiebreaker with Escha at the end of the day. In a game of inches, Escha showed that he could come out on top.

Going into TFT Reckoning World Championship, Milk claimed that he would be playing Kled every game. And by the end of Day 2, it certainly looked like that was the truth. With the standings so close by the fifth game, Milk needed to secure a top 4 to move on to the next day. Things seemed dire as Milk sat in 8th place the entire game 5. By 5-3, Milk had all of the pieces he needed to succeed on his board, but only 3 HP. 

With no room for error, Milk showed that 3HP was all that he needed. For 8 straight rounds, Milk positions perfectly each fight  on his way to a second place finish and secured himself a spot at the final lobby.

If the image wasn’t clear already, let this remind you - the standings in Lobby A came down to the wire, and the top 4 actually came to a single fight between Zixingche and Gluteus Maximus in Game 5. Gluteus’s Heimerdinger Abomination board had the damage and sustain to beat most boards, but Zixingche’s 2 star Akshan was able to Heroic Swing into the backline and kill off the Heimerdinger turret before it was able to get it’s second cast off. With that win, Zixingche advanced to the final lobby and sent Gluteus Maximus packing.

The North American representative was on the edge of elimination going into Game 4 of Lobby B in the Group Stage. At 7th place, Robin needed to swing the standings with a strong finish or else he would almost certainly face elimination. Going into 5-1, Robin was dealt a devastating hand, as he couldn’t find Aphelios 2 while other players such as Nukomaru were able to secure their upgraded carry.

However, Robin used his Frozen Heart Diana to bleed out slowly, using his health advantage and strong positioning to buy himself time. This focus on positioning came to a head in his fight against Nukomaru’s 2 star Aphelios, where Robinsongz’ Diana and Lee Sin positioning were enough to secure a very important fight win for the North American. At 6-5, Robin finally upgraded his Aphelios and soon after won the lobby to extend his life in the TFT Reckoning World Championship.

By the final game of Day 3, Nukomaru and Huanmie were fighting for their tournament lives. Both players were looking for at least a top 3 finish in order to deny placements from other players in the middle of the pack and advance to the finals. Both players fought tooth and nail, and were rewarded with a bit of highroll - a 3 star Aphelios and a 3 star Lucian. With this incredible powerspike, these players staved off the competition until the final 1v1. In an intense battle, Huanmie’s Lucian was able to take out the Japanese representative and secure himself a spot in the finals.

Generally speaking, high level TFT consists of fast paced games where players are aggressively leveling and combining items in order to keep up with the tempo of the lobby. However, when players are only playing for a first place finish, they tend to play a bit greedier - they’ll save gold, wait for perfect items, and try to create the highest capacity for their boards. 

But what happens when every player does that?

Game 4 in the finals was a lobby unlike most others. Both DeliciousMilkGG and QituX utilized an open fort strategy, while the rest of the lobby refused to combine items. At the first carousel, not a single player had combined their components into a full item. While this extremely greedy playstyle didn’t reward QituX or Escha, the players who were eligible to win the event with a first, it led to some unique gameplay that often isn’t found in lobbies of this caliber.

Going into Game 5 of the final lobby, five players were eligible to take home the gold with a first. At stage 4-6, things looked grim for the Huanmie, the Chinese representative who sat at 24 HP. However, with a rolldown at 5-2, Huanmie was able to find Riven 3 who, empowered by 6 Legionnaire and Dawnbringer, brought Huanmie back into the game. Using this powerspike to find Nidalee 3 and level to 8, Huanmie and the 8 Legionnaire Golden Girls fought through the rest of the tournament to place first and claim the title of the TFT Reckoning World Champion.

With this win, Huanmie not only put China back on the map as one of the strongest regions in TFT, but also showcased how creativity in TFT can elevate players to new brand new heights.

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