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