2016 League of Legends World Championship- The regions
By: Regan Farney
Tags: Esports, League of Legends, Gaming, PC

2016 League of Legends World Championship- The regions

North America:

NA will certainly be looking to improve compared to last year’s World Championship. The region’s most memorable achievement was becoming a meme after the three teams, Counter Logic Gaming, Team Solo Mid and Cloud 9 lost all their games on the last few days of the tournament with 0 wins and 10 losses.

However, similar to Europe’s Fnatic last year, TSM come into the tournament as the most feared western team and rightfully so. They lost only one best of 3 throughout the regular season going 17W-1L and dominated the playoffs with a 3–0 and a 3–1 victory in their games, showing team cohesion and individual prowess above all the other teams. TSM’s Mid lane star and three time NA LCS MVP ‘Bjergsen’ will want to re-enact the dominance he’s shown in the LCS to boost his team’s chances of dethroning the otherwise untouched kings in Korea.

Counter Logic Gaming had a disappointing Summer Split (Qualifying via the point system), however many people forget their Mid-Season Invitational appearance when judging them. Being the first North American team to reach a Riot international final by playing extremely well should justify why they’re at Worlds. After recent patches basically removing the use of lane swaps it’s understandable why no one is expecting CLG to shock like they did at MSI. Lane swaps were CLG’s bread and butter; they would perform sometimes perfect map movements and you could see the time and effort put into that style. As much as I try not to be biased to the team I support, I’m more than certain CLG can make it out of groups. If CLG want to prove people wrong, they have the perfect chance as they’re placed in Group A with Korea’s first place team and favourites to win, ‘Rox Tigers’, and Europe’s number one team, ‘G2’.

Just like last year, Cloud Nine made it through the regional qualifier to make it to Worlds. They easily beat Team Envy and Immortals with 3–0 and 3–1 victories with their top laner ‘Impact’ showing complete domination. The former SK Telecom player and Season 3 world champion got many 1v1 kills against multiple teams which is why I’m personally excited to see him match up against the likes of Rox Tigers ‘Smeb’ and SK Telecoms ‘Duke’ as C9 was drawn into group B. If C9 improve from the weeks they have boot camping in Korea and Impact continues his dominance I’m sure they can get a clean second place and even give SKT a run for their money.

Europe:

As a region Europe will be looking to repeat similar success as last year. Two teams, Origen and Fnatic made it to the Semi-finals before being knocked out by the two Korean finalist SKT and Koo Tigers, now named Rox Tigers. They don’t have the same expectations however, due to Europe’s number one seed, G2, placing 5thout of 6 teams at the Mid-seasonal Invitational.

Because of this poor finish at MSI, Europe wasn’t given a first place seed placement in the group stages at Worlds, meaning G2 was placed in pool number 2 with the likes of CLG and H2K. This resulted in them being in Group A with Rox Tigers, CLG, and Albus NoX Luna. Their star player, ‘Trick’, is widely considered one of the best junglers in the world and at Worlds this year. His complete control of the jungle was something unseen in the EU LCS; as a result he won EU LCS MVP twice this year. Not only that but G2 greatly improved their team by adding ‘ZVEN’ and ‘MITHY’ in the bot lane which is what separates the current squad from the MSI squad. Their bot lane synergy is unparalleled in Europe and took G2 from strong to unstoppable, thus adding to the list of reasons to fear Europe’s number one.

The main hype around Europe’s second seed, H2K, is the ADC ‘FORG1VEN’. He’s had many attempts to make it to Worlds — at one point was nearly stopped by his home country forcing him to join the army. Now that that’s cleared we can finally see how he competes against the likes of Edward Gaming’s ‘Deft’ in the group stage. H2K has five quality players, but that’s the case with most teams. This Worlds there’s even more emphasis on team play and if H2K can get that together in the boot camp I can see them challenging AHQ for a second place to make it out of groups.

Splyce qualified for Worlds by winning the EU LCS Regional Qualifier by beating The Unicorns of Love in a close 3–2 series. Just making it to Worlds is huge for Splyce as it’s their first season and the squad is full of young talent. Being in a group with TSM, EDG and Samsung Galaxy, it’s looking like this year will be more of an experience and a chance to learn rather than a chance to take the title for Splyce.

Korea:

The one and only kings. When talking about professional League of Legends and any international tournament, you can bet a Korean team was favourite to win in the past four years, having produced teams to take the world title on three different occasions. So it’s no surprise that in the majority of predictions a Korean team is named in the top two.

Koo Tigers placed second at last year’s Worlds and will be looking to repeat and go to the finals in Los Angeles again but with a name change and ‘Peanut’ as their Jungler. The now called ‘Rox Tigers’ finished first in Korea’s regular split going 15W-3L and won the playoffs finals to earn Korea’s first seed. ‘Smeb’, their top laner, is considered the best in the world in his respected role by many fans, pros, analysts, and even myself. He’s proven this countless times and earned the LCK MVP award for the second time straight. That said, Rox Tigers have been in the shadow of SKT and will look to prove themselves as the best there is.

The name ‘SK Telecom’ has an aura that no team in League of Legends history can compare to. Season 3 they produced arguably the most dominant team in history, winning the World Championship and going unbeaten in the 2014 OGN Champions Spring. Two seasons later they won the Season 5 world championship, being the first team to win it twice. I could speak for hours about SKT’s legacy and their achievements but it would be criminal not to mention ‘Faker’. The best League of legends player ever, the ‘God of all gods’. A huge reason for their season 3 dominance was down to this man as he thrived in a Meta that supported solo play and snowballing. Judging from Korea’s split, SKT aren’t favourites, but that certainly doesn’t mean they can’t take out everything in their path. I mean, it’s SKT and Faker going for a third.

Samsung Galaxy qualified as Korea’s third seed, controversially. Many people thinking KT Rolster deserved the spot because of their second place finish in the playoffs. However Samsung Galaxy surprised and took out KT in a five game series and as a result Samsung’s junger ‘Ambition’ made it to Worlds 2016. To many people’s delight, Ambition finally has a chance to make a mark on the World championship, which so far he has failed to do. Along with him former Dignitas ADC ‘Core JJ’ has something to prove. After recently switching to the Support role he’s shown much more promise in the LCK. They’re in group D, nicknamed ‘The group of death’, so making it out of won’t be as easy for them as the other two Korean teams.

China:

China is a respected region and rightfully so, producing some of the most iconic players to ever grace Summoners Rift. That being said, when it comes to Worlds China is yet to make the mark they want. A Chinese team has never won the World Championship and the region has been second place to Korea twice.

EDG come into the tournament with high expectations, similar to Rox Tigers. Most predictions have them and Rox Tigers in the final, highlighting their strength. This is down to their dominant show in LPL, winning the playoff finals with a clean 3–0 over Royal Never Give Up and holding an unbeaten record in the LPL Regular Season. They have an MSI win under their belt and will be looking for a step up this year to prove China can perform on the biggest stage of all.

Royal Never Give Up have their old ADC back, ‘Uzi’. He is one of the greats. After taking the same team, formerly know as Royal Club, to the season 3 World championship final at the age of 16 and again the next year, only to fall short against the unstoppable SKT and Samsung White. The team this year has the potential to repeat past success but it seems unlikely. The squad is jam packed with talent but it depends on RNG’s ability to play as a team, the cause of their downfall recently.

I May showed resilience and grit to make it to where they are. In similar fashion to Europe’s Splyce they came all the way from China’s second league, the LSPL. Their regular season finish would be worse than expected for a World’s team, placing joint 3rd in group B. But all of that was laid aside after playing five best of fives in the Regional and Playoff games, which lead to them being China’s third seed.

League of Legends Mater Series:

The LMS includes teams from Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong; their greatest achievement is Taipei Assassins winning the world championships in Season 2. Although a long time ago the region taught the world the meaning of an upset but they haven’t had a major impact since then.

The Flash Wolves had a strong performance in the LMS playoffs, finishing 1st after a 3–0 over J Team. Earlier this year they proved they are to be feared after beating SKT in the group stage of MSI. They are again in a group with SKT in this year’s championships and if they play to their full capacity have a good chance to make it out of the group. But it looks difficult even as the 1st place seed.

AHQ, led by mid player ‘Westdoor’ will make their 3rd appearance at the world’s championship. Last year they advanced out of groups by playing a tie breaker against Cloud9 and were beaten by SKT in the quarterfinals. An improvement on that is exactly what they’ll be aiming for in 2016.

International Wildcard:

Wildcard teams historically never have a huge impact in Worlds but that’s not to say they don’t deserve their spot. Looking at history again, the wildcard teams have pulled off major upsets, bringing attention to the wildcard teams and reinforcing their importance.

Albus Nox Luna are a Russian team who just claimed their 5th CIS title. They have little success to brag about but that will ignite the desire for them to change that.

INTZ, Brazil’s number one team, have a young squad that has picked up recent success after winning the 2016 International Wild Card Qualifiers.

While some might say the competition is a foregone conclusion, with so much talent coming from so many sources, this year’s Worlds promises to be the best yet.

Image Source: LoL Esports, ESPN and theScore Esports