After a long period of successive failures by veterans Expession and Impact, the two meet for the second time in major tournament play. Their history dates back to Champions Summer 2012, where Expession was playing on NaJin Shield as top lane, while Impact was with the popular Xenics Storm as support. Although they did not meet in that tournament, Expession would finally get his chance to silence Impact's perpetual trashtalking when NaJin Shield faced the upstart SK Telecom T1 #2 (also known as Judgment Day) in the quarter-final round of Champions Spring 2013. He would then proceed to be completely and utterly humiliated by the young squad as Judgment Day rolled over Shield in three easy games.

However, Expession is a changed man. Although switching to NaJin Black Sword did not do much to ease his agony (as the team failed to finish above 8th in two consecutive seasons of Champions), the marquee NaJin team turned it around to finish 1st in both NLB seasons they were relegated to, in turn giving them the points they needed to qualify for the Season 3 World Championship. His strengths remain as they were before: strong presence of mind in teamfights, disciplined playcalling, and an uncanny ability to abuse timing windows for his team to take objectives.

Although we have only seen him in three games since Sword's victory over LG-IM #2 in the NLB Summer 2013 final, Expession has already come out of the gates with strong play, even when behind. His Diana in the first game, though unable to carry out the win due to great play from Darien's Shen, showed good chemistry with Cain in locking down targets in teamfights and timing AOE spells. As Renekton in Sword's two wins, Expession reached raid boss status quickly, opting for a full tank build to soak damage for Nagne and PraY.

Impact, on the other hand, has been a bit of a surprise so far. Though SKT T1 was known as a one-threat team throughout their debut season with the entire team playing off Faker's abilities, they grew into a formidable two-threat team as Piglet improved drastically in the off-season to not only relieve pressure off Faker's back, but to also pose a large threat on his own. Impact had a shaky start to the tournament, performing poorly as Kennen against Gogoing's Renekton and being overly passive as Elise against Zorozero's Malphite. However, his game as Jax against Team SoloMid showed the terrifying reality of SK Telecom - they are a true triple-threat team. Impact has dusted off his nervous play of the group stage, and completes the deadly triangle of the SKT T1 carries.

The bottomless champion pool of the Korean top laners has been exemplified in Impact's play so far. Elise, Kennen, Shen, Renekton, Singed, Jax and Jarvan IV all came out in the group stage, while Shen and Renekton came out against Gamania Bears to crush them in two one-sided rolls. Although Impact's performance on Kennen was not particularly impressive, the fact that Kennen was picked at all suggests that Impact's old favourites remain a part of his pool and could come out at any moment. Impact's strength has always been his teamplay, and he is often seen using abilities such as Slicing Maelstrom or Cataclysm to peel for his team rather than dive in deep. However, Impact is one of the most versatile top laners in the Korean scene, not leaning towards a carry style or a tank style.

On paper, Expession is probably outclassed in this match-up. However, if Impact is known for his teamplay, then Expession has him beat on that count - next to MakNooN, Expession crafted the strong objective-based compositions of the NaJin organisation, focusing on the roaming top laners and their contribution to skirmishes. Impact is indeed an incredibly scary top laner, and probably the best top laner remaining in this tournament (with players like inSec and Shy feeling jealous that they aren't there), but his steel has not yet been tested against another Korean top laner. The match-up is not likely to swing the match too much, but the performance of the top laners in a 1v2 situation will be absolutely key to the outcome of the match.

Both junglers have lower-case names. Both junglers gank a lot. The similarities, however, end there as we see two carnivore junglers with very different goals in their meat-eating face off against each other. watch and bengi have both shown good improvement in recent months, with watch reverting back to his status as third summoner spell and fully embracing the role, and bengi diversifying his champion pool to include junglers that are usually seen being more item-hungry such as Aatrox and Vi.

It is often joked that each member of NaJin Black Sword has a third summoner spell called watch. Although MakNooN used to be in possession of this special ability, watch is no longer MakNooN's support, but rather a ganker who can appear anywhere at any time, as early as level 2, or as late as level 6. With DanDy now out of the tournament, watch's ability to track the enemy jungler will be opened up completely as he looks to gank without risk. watch is the sole reason why SKT T1 do not have a free win here, as he is able to pressure bengi and force him to play reactively rather than proactively as the SK Telecom squad would prefer.

watch's Nunu has come out twice this tournament (to screams of WHY NUNU, WHY?), utilising the Yeti Rider to deny opportunities from Diamond and to protect PraY from assassins with Absolute Zero's intense slow and high damage. His Nunu pick is an indirect challenge to bengi, who picked Nunu over six times in Champions Summer 2013, and bengi will certainly not have a fun time if Nunu is to be picked again. However, it is doubtful that watch will continue to favour Nunu, and he will probably pick up Lee Sin or even Elise (who he piloted to victory against Gambit) in order to execute more ganks and allow for a smooth mid-game transition for Sword.

bengi's play resembles that of the Chinese junglers, with aggressive dives and a focus on vision control. Picking up the Boots of Mobility and Oracle's Elixir combination often, bengi has choked out vision of enemy teams and had his way with the enemy jungler with the vision advantage. His play is reminiscent of DanDy's old style, and if we go back even further, the roaming position of Season 1 that was often seen taken by Taric, Blitzcrank or Janna. As he looks to be more and more comfortable in his role, he may be pressured finally as he must keep up with watch's ganks.

bengi's champion pool, as always, reveals a focus on aggressive gankers. Jarvan IV, surprisingly, has only been picked up twice. The addition of Lee Sin (selected four times) has been a great boon to SKT T1, as Lee Sin does not require items to gank early and synergises well with Sightstone, an item that perfectly fits bengi's vision-oriented playstyle. His revival of Vi (selected twice) in the Korean scene has spilled over to the rest of the world, yet bengi has only selected Vi twice in diving comps, favouring Lee Sin and Elise (also selected twice) as more all-purpose picks. One Aatrox pick (in which he farmed a surprisingly high amount of creeps, nearly reaching the 100 mark) fills out his revealed roster, and even drawing bans against Gamania Bears.

The two carnivores will do very well for their teams if they manage to devour of the lanes. Although watch loves to gank for Nagne, Faker has been able to escape most ganks this tournament and it will be a risk to try. It has to be expected that watch will focus on the bottom lane, and bengi definitely knows this. Both junglers have always been responsible for the successful execution of their teams' strategies - for Sword, strong early objective control into a vision-dominated mid-game and for SKT T1, a smooth early game into a decisive rotation to signal the beginning of the roaming phase. watch was able to deal with respected jungler Diamond quite easily, and may prove to be a large threat to the otherwise invincible bengi.

NaJin have not yet announced (for good reason) which mid laner will take the stage against Faker, but it will be assumed that Nagne will play due to one very good reason - SSONG's passivity will allow Faker complete freedom. NaJin Black Sword know better than any other team in this tournament just how deadly an unchained Faker is, as they lost three games to him in Champions Spring when SSONG was unable to prevent Faker from roaming. Nagne and Faker are two relative newcomers to world-level play, with Faker still in his first year of professional gaming and Nagne being promoted to the big leagues from previous amateur team n.Die Guts (incidentally, a more famous rookie mid laner Ganked by mom was also on n.Die Guts).

Nagne's play against Gambit Gaming, once tested in the first game, reverted to his level of performance in NLB Summer 2013, as he ran all over Alex Ich in the mid lane and displayed incredible presence of mind in teamfights as he played a controlled, yet aggressive game. Nagne's biggest strength against Faker will be his ego - on a raw skill level, it is difficult to say that Faker is running circles around Nagne. The young blood in Korea is incredibly talented, and Nagne is not unaware of his abilities. Every mid laner so far has fallen to Faker before the start of their games. Every mid laner fears Faker, and gives him room in order to not die. Nagne is the one player who will not, and if he is able to capitalise on his confident play, he may give the MVP of Korea a shake-up.

NaJin often boast that between SSONG and Nagne, they are capable of running any champion in the mid lane. If this is true, then Nagne's champion pool must be incredibly wide as SSONG focuses on his favourites rather than expanding to a broader roster. Throughout his career, Nagne has always been known for his Ahri play, which he faltered on against Alex Ich once (though his performance was not necessarily bad, but rather below the level we expect of him). Once Nagne controlled his play more, he was able to devastate Alex Ich's Orianna, not dropping a single death as he terrorised the Gambit squad with his assassinations. Another game on Nidalee evoked memories of Faker's debut game as Nidalee against CJ Entus Blaze, where the world was left in awe of the young talent.

Faker is a unique player within the League of Legends professional scene. Never before has any other player shown such dominance in his position in League of Legends history. Though Faker plays a team game, he draws many parallels to StarCraft bonjwas such as Flash through his young age and incredible, nearly impossible play. Faker has been on point every single game of Worlds, not buckling under the pressure (or food poisoning) like his teammates Impact and ManDu. As previously stated, he may well be a robot programmed to play mid lane perfectly. However, he has tasted defeat before. Ryu and Dade are the only two mid laners in the world to have beaten him in a best of five, and they have never really beaten Faker himself, but rather the rest of Faker's team.

Faker's champion pool is indeed infinite, with a surprising two games as Riven coming out as a counterpick to Zed against Team SoloMid and Lemondogs. Showing a preference for Deathfire Grasp and its burst potential, Faker has also piloted Ahri, Gragas, Fizz and Lissandra so far. The only champion, however, that Sword should bother banning is Zed, as giving Faker Zed after his absolutely ridiculous performance in blind pick against Ryu would be a monumental mistake. Faker's champion pool runs far too deep to ban out, though banning out specific strategies (such as banning or picking Gragas to discourage a fast push) may be of merit.

If Nagne's greatest strength is his ego, then his biggest weakness against Faker will also be his ego. It will be a very risky move to try and outplay Faker, even if Nagne is capable of doing so. Nagne must do what no other mid laner has done so far - correctly assess Faker's strength, and play with respect to that assessment. If he underrates Faker, he will be run over. If he overrates Faker, he will be unable to capitalise on his own ability. Mid lane is the lane to watch in League of Legends, and it is certainly the lane to watch in this match as we may have the greatest mid lane match-up of the tournament on our hands.

In addition to the combination of imp and Mata (who looked decidedly average in Worlds), these two bottom lanes are the most highly respected in Korea. PraY is considered by virtually every Korean player to be the best AD carry in the word, while Piglet and PoohManDu have improved to the point where teams consider banning them out to be a viable strategy. The winner of the match, however, will not find any relief until the conclusion of the Fnatic vs. Royal Club match, as there is a good chance they will be facing Uzi and Tabe, China's most revered bottom lane and the other real contender for the title of best bottom lane in the world.

PraY and Cain have been together since PraY's addition to NaJin Sword, and are the oldest and most experienced bottom lane remaining in the tournament. They have certainly not lost their shine, getting first blood against Gambit in all three of their games off calculated Thresh play by Cain. PraY is in his element this tournament, as it is being played on the patch where Trinity Force is overpowered. His Ezreal and Corki have returned to the forefront of the AD carry metagame, though he has yet to pick Ezreal. Cain's Thresh was unparalleled in NLB, and has certainly been the most impressive Thresh of the tournament in the absence of known Thresh players like MadLife.

Twitch and Corki are the stars of PraY's revealed champion pool, as he performed solidly in all three games despite losing one. In tandem with Cain's Thresh, this NaJin bottom lane is very capable of taking kills in a 2v2 situation, and with PoohManDu's less-than-stellar performance in the early laning phase, it will be in Sword's favour to force a 2v2 as much as possible. Cain's Sona remains on the bench, but is always in threat of being picked. If PraY is able to beat Piglet, he will be Sword's main hope of defeating an in-form SK Telecom, as he is so skillful that even Piglet concedes to him.

Piglet and PoohManDu, despite performing very well in Champions Summer 2013, have fallen off the radar in Worlds. Piglet is no longer carrying the team by himself (due to a gross mismatch in skill allowing Faker to dominate most games), but will still carry if ignored. Many teams have made the mistake of identifying SKT T1 as a single-threat team, and have lost to a silent Piglet in the backline. PoohManDu has still not regained his luster, as he is still caught out a few times in the early laning phase. Though his deaths are never enough to swing a game, they could spell trouble against PraY and Cain, easily their toughest competition yet.

Piglet has adopted the flavours of the month well, picking up Ezreal four times, and Corki twice (as Corki is usually taken away from him). His old flames Caitlyn and Vayne fill out his revealed champion pool, with Caitlyn being picked up three times. Piglet's versatility will not be a strong point in comparison to PraY as he will be required to play to the best of his abilities. Adopting Statikk Shiv on Caitlyn, Piglet's focus towards teamplay will bring viewers back to his performance in Champions Spring 2013, as he has mostly done away with his splitpushing. As risky of a pick Vayne is against Cain and his CC-heavy supports, if Piglet is able to play Vayne freely, it may be enough to push SKT T1 over the edge against Sword.

This match-up will be the focus for Sword - if Piglet is able to be shut down (and he has been in the past), PraY may be able to carry out a win. However, if Piglet is left to play to his team, Sword may well have to watch their Korean comrades in the grand final from the seats. SKT T1, unless confident in their bottom lane, will more likely than not send them to 1v2 Expession instead. Early game lane rotations will be key, and PraY and Cain definitely have more experience in this field. If you are a Sword fan, this is definitely the lane to cheer for.