I did not see a thread about this so i thought there might be some interest here to have some discussion even though i know this community is more DOTA centric.

First things first, for those wondering what the hell this is about. "Worlds" is biggest League of Legends tournament of the year. It is "The International" of LoL if you will, though i would argue Worlds are much more important for League than International is for DOTA.

If you are new, or looking for some information, there are people that done far better job explaining than i ever can here.

Knockout Stage:

Group Stage:

If you are looking for a schedule, here it is on lolesports website in your local time. Now to the actual discussion...

Any day where TSM loses is a happy day for me. EU looks doomed, but it's only the first day so I wouldn't rule out day one jitters.

@mylifeforaiur: I would attribute Splyce performance to jitters, they did not play to their standards, they were making desperate plays when they actually would have been fine playing passive. But G2 and H2K just looked lost, macrowise especially. And TSM yeah, i actualyl predicted them to not make it out of groups, maybe even ending up last behind Splyce.

@kubqo: If they didn't allow Crown to have Viktor it's entirely possible they win that game. Pretty big oversight.

As a European, it was definitely worth staying up all night to see China getting KaBuM'd. Watch out, Korea, you're up next year.

Fun Worlds so far. A lot of different picks in all lanes, some fantastic Lee Sin plays, upsets and Europe shitting the bed with terrible macro play. Also, the Aurelion Sol disable was so fucking hilarious.

Hyped for tomorrow, I think SKT vs C9 could go either way.

@benderunit22: yeah, one thing i think Rito is not getting enough credit so far is the whole change of meta away from lane swaps into tower FB. so far all games, especially in the early game involve lot of proactive plays and and people shying away from meta picks into comfortable picks

Well, C9 crashed and burned. Sneaky and Smoothie did pretty well against Bang and Wolf, but Jensen was outclassed by Faker, which gave Bengi absolute jungle control. Also doesn't help that Meteos couldn't land a Q if his life depended on it and Impact overheated a lot of times and couldn't use his ult.

I have tickets to finals and will honestly be bummed if there isn't a NA team, however unlikely that will be. I just don't want another SKT skin set.

Lots of games yet to be played in the group stage so we'll see how things pan out!

This has been the most enjoyable league of legends competition in a while. That tower trading meta was horrible and stuck around way too long (we're talking years) glad they've finally addressed it succesfuly

CLG TOP NA TEAM, #FAITHAGE BOYS!

In all seriousness, its interesting to see how diverse this World's spread actually is. Besides ROX every team has some exploitable weakness. Yes, even SKT; Bang didn't look as amazing in that C9 game as he could have. Shame to see INTZ not be able to ride the wave for longer though; I have no love for H2K, and would have really enjoyed seeing Brazil make a run.

I am absolutely loving this worlds so far. TSM and RNG in particular have been a delight to watch. I can't see people allowing Svenskeren to get his hands on Lee Sin much more, he's been massive in both games.

Sadly, I don't think it's looking as good for the rest of NA. I'll be curious to see how CLG shakes out, but I'm worried about Darshan and Huhi. And unfortunately, I don't think this meta favors C9. I think Jensen's champion pool will be fine, especially with the prevalence of Syndra, but I'm a little worried about everyone else. Their game today against Flash Wolves is going to be very important.

Updated the thread with day 2 results, a bit late, but hey, i have to wake up in the middle of the night to watch the games and i wanted to sleep in for a bit so could watch F1 too. Also reformated it as a table and added all week 1 matches.

Day 2 opinions: This day was polar opposite of yesterday when all games with an exception of IM vs FW were basically stomps. C9 hype died so fast, Faker in solo Q mode after 15 minutes and very weird comp over all from C9. Beautiful steal from Avoidless and weird hesitance from FW not trying to close up the game when ahead. The biggest surprise of the day was how easily TSM beat SSG, i expected the koreans to top the group, but TSM finally delivered on hype. I wonder if they can continue like that. RNG basically made a practice dummy out of SPY, i feel bad for my lovely wunderboys, but hey, this is a learning experience for them. Still, if they want at leats one upset, it has to come through Wunder on Top, put him on a carry and let Kobbe safe pick. Last 2 matches of the day evening out the group make yesterdays matches even more baffling. Why didnt H2K do the same yesterday? Is ITZ actually good or was that just a one in a lifetime match? Is Westdoor or Chawy gonna play next? So many questions about that group.

Day 3 quips: The most interesting (impactful/telling) match is definitely going to be C9 vs FW. I feel like FW can get rid of the issues they had today and bring fight to the NA squad who are definitely going to be a bit down after that defeat. Also, is CLG going to continue the tradition of underestimating the wildcard teams? I think they got really lucky with their draw in a sense that all midlaners in this groups with the exception of Kira are the weakest point in their teams right now.

General thoughts: Take this with a grain of salt since i'm european, but i hate the fact that this LoL crowd is continuing the tradition of NA crowds being kind of shit at esports event. I've seen this with CSGO majors. Unless an NA team isnt doing any kills at the moment, that place feels like a library. When i compare it to the last year chilling atmosphere, as well as with the CSGO crowds that can be insane in Europe, that will cheer for good plays whichever team does them. Of course there was heavy biad towards EU teams, but still. Uzi also might be making a case for him being the best player in the worlds on this patch. Theres a true style carry i havent seen in a while.

Wow! It must be so hard to be a CLG fan :D But to give credit where credit is due, that was probably the best pick/ban of the tournament so far with ANX baiting CLG into Syndra first pick, taking nidalee and trundle.

You didn't even mention how insufferable TSM fans can be.

G2 pisses me off so badly. Well played game by Trick, but that Karma build was appalling. Perkz literally finished Luden's Echo instead of buying a Quicksilver Sash, went to bot lane, got flash-ulted by Malz and cost his team 2nd drake.

You can also credit Peanut for the baron steal, but in a 5 vs 2, the winning team shouldn't even allow a situation where a smite steal is possible. Just turn on them and kill them, recall and set up baron again for a 5 vs 3.

Let's go C9 *claps* So glad they were able to pull off the comeback against Flash Wolves, was worried any hope of quarterfinals were going to die today. Cheering for Albus as an underdog after today, they seem like pretty cool dudes.

@benderunit22: Nailed it. I'm trying to stay positive for western teams, but they are making it difficult.

Day 3 opinions: Not that much to take away from this day. Group D is shaping up to be REALLY interesting. I think the deciding factor will whos gonna slip a game to SPY. They are gonna play the spoiler child here as the rest of the teams are gonna be heavily preparing for each other. I take back what i said about Wunder earlier, Sencux is the real deal. Also TSM has to do something about their botlane, specifically Doublelift cant keep getting caught out like that. G2 finally showed what they are capable of and then they throw so f*ing hard at baron. That should never ever happen, but it was also pretty smart comp from ROX with that kennen/noct combo. And then theres Perkz... Maaan, someone needs to walk up to him, slap him really really hard in the face and tell him he is costing his team the games. Or on the other hand, let him pick Zed. Just do something about him. And what the hell happened with FW shotcalling. I dont get it. If they are gonna play this super slow methodical game why not pick lategame comp then? Getting outscald when ahead 2 times in a row now. Going 0-3 is gonna be tragic after games like that. Whoever advances from this group behind SKT is doomed in the quarters with this level of play.

General thoughts: It is interesting to already see this tournament meta shaping into a form. Seems like Kennen will become the most contested pick by the end of the tournament. Nidalee on the other hand is gonna be ignored more and more i think. I wonder what Aurelion Sol is gonna do to midlane which sees dominance of Cass after Syndra turned to ban material on blue side.

Does the Earthquake warning affect this event in any way? because it sounds pretty serious, but i dont know if this is in the same area.

I only managed to fully catch CLG vs. ANX but man am I glad I did. Likkrit was maybe the best Tahm Kench I've seen and their mechanics were far above what I've come to expect from wildcards. I really really hope ANX or INTZ makes it out of groups.

The crowd so far looks pretty small, but it's a shame if they aren't bringing the hype. This has been the best competitive League of Legends in a long time. I have my favorites, and a TSM vs. ROX finals would be my ideal, but the matches have been so enjoyable that I haven't been deflating when my favorites are losing.

I just wish they did a double elimination bracket instead of group stage into single elimination. Double Elimination is the single most hype tournament format and watching runs through the losers bracket is always the best.

Skarner seems incredibly strong right now. Ambitions Skarner last night looked terrifying

@yi_orange: I just wish they did a double elimination bracket instead of group stage into single elimination. Double Elimination is the single most hype tournament format and watching runs through the losers bracket is always the best.

See i am of a complete opposite opinion. Every time i watched double elimination tournament, finals were super boring. Team that already lost to another team 1-2 matches before is now expected to win even more. It just kills the hype for me. Bo5s are enough.

Day 4: None of this makes sense anymore. All teams are bad. Everyone is beating everyone, and then there's EU.

INTZ showing that the first day might have been just a fluke. EDG might have won again, but they sure don't look like contestant for a tournament winner. But then again, nobody does after today. ANX pull out another fantastic P&B, and the biggest thing for me was that they did not show anivia wall/poppy E combo until very late. How did people not think of this combination sooner. G2 is done after week 1, they would have to pull a miracle on 2nd week and have a bit of luck with results of other teams. But more importantly, i don't think they have it in them. CLG staying true to their name, beating ROX, truly counter logic. I don't even know what to take away from this game other than Huhi is not going to get ASol again. Flash Wolves - the korean slayers - did it again. I feel so happy for them, it would be awful if they went 0-3 after those performances. Also, after seeing RNG/ROX lose, i thought for sure SKT is gonna be handily taking the Summoners Cup home, not so sure after today. I did not watch C9 game in its entirety, i fell asleep.

@kubqo: The C9 game was great, the whole team played very well. Smoothie on Alistar had great engages, Impact had a great 2v1 top lane, Sneaky and Jensen put out a ton of damage. Oh, and Meteos did alright as well. It was a solid, clean game from start to finish.

I think SKT looks the strongest right now, but it's nice to see that no team has come out without a loss after the first week.

The both the Spring and Summer split, I look at EU teams and think "wow, these guys have absolutely no clue how to set up plays and be proactive around the map. All they do is farm up and look for a fight to hopefully slowly grind out an advantage." Then, I go "well, maaaaybe all the EU teams are actually pretty good at macro, so they know how to cancel each others' proactive plays and it only looks like a shit show? Maybe?" Then these international events come around and you realize you were right to doubt them and the entirety of the region has regressed to a point where it's barely above solo queue. To top it off, G2 has some of the most smug players you'll ever see and is basically a meme-factory at this point.

I don't know how the bracket plays out, but my money is on SKT to win it at this point, either against ROX, RNG or TSM in the finals.

@benderunit22: Because NA doubled the amount of matches this split with the Best-of-Three format I wasn't able to watch as much EU. When I did catch a match and the series was tied 1-1 I was excited to see the third game only to realize the series was only two games...

I wouldn't think this format really had anything to do with the EU meta, but I can see where you're coming from.

• I really didn't see lee coming back so strong in the meta, and that isn't a play on words.
• EU is amazingly behind on almost every single aspect for all 3 of their teams. Its pretty sad and honestly I feel like the only example of a major region falling completely out of meta.
• Before this worlds I felt like they shouldn't let IWC teams play at worlds (I wanted them to let them play in a pre tournament and earn their spot against unqualified teams so we didn't just have 'free wins') and boy I've never been more happy to be wrong. God I hope one of them makes it out of groups.

@slyspider: i would even argue that ANX matches have been some of the most fun competitive matches even without being high-kill or extremely late game nexus backdooring. they were just "fun" to watch.

@kubqo: I agree. They were just some solid game, even though it was easy to tell they were very nervous when they had the lead and had some issues closing out.

Best first week of worlds since I started in season two honestly

Well, what do you guys think will happen today in Group A, putting faith aside? I feel like lot of it will be decided right in the first match. If G2 can win against ROX, i think they will gain enough momentum to force some tiebreakers. Hopefully they either had a hard talk with Perkz or they gonna let him play Zed.

I, for one, welcome our new Russian overlords.

Seriously, that Albus Nox vs ROX Tigers game was one of the best games ever and definitely the best of this Worlds. That kiting and peeling on Lucian against Smeb was so sick.

Also, G2 is just hilarious at this point.

Jeesus fuckin' christ G2. One freakin time we want you to lose and they beat ANX. Are you kidding me? If people hated them before, now they are just straight up villains. It would have been super awesome to see wildcard as a 1st seed.

Though i can't not but think that the deciding factor of thosel ater games was the fact that ANX was exhausted after that 66 min game and then jumping immidiately into another match. I wonder what clusterfuck have other groups prepared for us after this crazy day.

I am in a pickle today. Im still at work and will come home at 11pm. Games start at 1am. Do i stay up and watch them live as i did up until now? And also Formula race is at 8am in the morning. Fuck me.

Who am i kidding?! Sleep is for weak! I am ready for ITZ to top this group today!

H2K! No more barons unless you ace the other team first.

Just saw than anx and roc game and boy howdy anx look good. Shame about G2 rocking up and winning as a direct result of their team having no heart and falling over in games so quickly meaning they instantly had the edge as I imagine anx were exhausted. G2 finally win due to their awfulness is a fitting end to that shitshow.

Wow, H2K coming out of nowhere. If someone told me they would go 4-0 in second week (and two of those against EDG of all teams), i would recommend him nearest mental hospital. And there was no weak link in their team. Everyone stepped up in those game, first Ryu earning himself Ryze bans, then Jankos holding off Clearlove pressure while Odoamne crushes and last but not least Forgiven in the last game. How funny it would be if they get ANX in quarterfinals :D We would either have wildcard or EUs weakest team (pre-tournament) in semi-finals :D Even funnier would be if NA wouldn't make it that far after all that BM. But i'm just dreaming here.

PS: Road getting 1 game ban, putting Flash Wolves into a good position to challenge C9 for quarters spot.

Oh god I hope tsm lose so the obnoxious cheering for every little champion select and chanting stops

Edit: SSG SSG SSG SSG

Muh Pick'ems! I'm so donezo.

Today is a good day as I no longer have to watch world's with the sound off :) now I can go back to appreciating good plays and not irrationally hating a team.

After all the shit Eu got from NA fans it would be hilarious if by tomorrow no NA team advances whilst H2K topped their group. Today showed the real issues with TSM and NA LCS (you could probably say the same about G2/EULCS), in that when they make plays in their region, it rarely gets challenged/punished, but here on worlds stage teams know how to respond and fight back. I am happy for Splyce though, winning against RNG playing their gamestyle perfectly and not through the other team throwing. One game is probably what they realistically had in them comign into this tournament. This was basically a learning experience for them and i wonder whether they hit their ceiling this split or if they still have room to improve. We shall see.

What i don't like though is another Korean team on top of their group. This sets us up for a (very) possible semifinal with 3 KR teams. On the other hand, H2K must be so happy because every possible opponent they could get in quarters looks very beatable for them with RNG being the most threatening, but they could just do the same as they did against EDG. Or we could have 2 KR-CH matches in quarters and that would set us up for possible chinese grand final, though that is much harder to believe.

Just few minutes away from games starting. I think Flash Wolves will show their strentght today and could possibly go even 3-0, though its hard to predict their game vs SKT. All things done i thing they will be the one advancing this group.

SKT1 doing a solid for old fam Impact and getting C9 to Quarters. As a C9 fan I'm glad they made it, but jeez they looked even worse than last week. Meteos on any champ but Reksai looks terrible and Jensen was very shaky the first two games. They've got a ton of work to do before Thursday and I think jungle has to addressed in the offseason unless Meteos works really hard on expanding his champion pool.

I am so disapointed in FW. Throwing such well played games last week, and today again baron throw vs IMay. SKT on the other hand proving they are the biggest tournament favourite to win.

As for quarters draw. It probably couldnt have gone better (unless you are Korean). We should onlyget 2 stomps, both involving Samsung (their QF and SF match). All other game should be really good. Som real powerhouses going up against each other. We also get at least one western team in the semis. I am afraid for C9 though, showing today how exploitable their weaknesses are. SSG will tear through them.

So after yesterday's sweep & winning over the crowd, the inevitable questions of what SSG would like as their victory skins are already starting to pop up. And now we have at least one confirmation.

A SSG Kench that would fit right in with the Mafia line... if I didn't want them to go over T1 already, I sure as hell do now.

@getter404: Gangster Kench? Yep, i'm in. Though will still be cheering hard for H2K/ANX to make the final over SSG.

SKT 3-1 tonight.

Those SSG games were something else. I was prepared to cheer for C9 so we could have an interesting semifinal, but how hard they got outplayed... And it wasn't even through some macro, they just got purely outskilled. And in the end that first game tilted them too hard. they made proactive plays that failed horribly and then the next two games they just sat and hoped for SSG mistake which never happened.

I don't know about you guys, but i am super excited for todays match. We are gonna get the first "REAL" match. Clah of kings. this has potential to be one of the best series in LoL history. Though i don't really have a horse in this race, i kinda want ROX to win just because i don't want any more SKT skins.

That was some high-level League of Legends playing we saw today. I have my doubts that the actual finals are able to top it. Also a bit bummed for ROX, especially Peanut. Bringing out the support MF as a Zyra counter was dope.

I'm just posting to say how much I enjoyed that Rumble towedive to get Ezreal, that was an amazing bit of teamwork

This series man, such a shame it was not in grand final. I don't think we can top it. It is interesting to think about the fact, that this was such en entertaining series despite the lack of individual outplays or huge throws. It was just a clash of 2 super talented teams. Almost every play got countered by other team few seconds later. Momentum kept swinging from left to right. Just some high-level ass League of Legends.