The Road to Worlds 2016 ( UPDATED 10/18 )
A Fan's Predictions
By: Jaskot (JazzEFiddle)
The Summoner's Cup
Riot Games is going to hold their season 6 League of Legends World Championship tournament, beginning September 29th in North America. Players from around the world will battle it out on Summoner's Rift to not only win a 1 million dollar prize but, more importantly, to hoist the 70 pound Summoner Cup trophy and have the honors of being the best summoners in the world....for a year at least. Keep returning to this blog, as I will be updating it on my predictions after each round. Good luck to your favorite team.
Group Stage
The start of the world tournament is the group stage. Each team in the tournament was placed into one of four groups (A,B,C,D). Each team will play the other three teams in their group twice and the top two teams in each group will advance to the bracket quarterfinals.
Group A
ROX Tigers (Korea), G2 (Europe), CLG (North America), and ALBUS NOX (Russian)
My predictions for this group are going to be ...
1: ROX Tigers. The Tigers have had a great season, finishing 31-5, winning their Summer Split, and falling just short and placing 2nd in their Spring Split. Not a good group to be in if you are not the ROX Tigers, as they are considered by most to be the strongest team in the tournament.
2: G2 Esports. G2 also had a great year, finishing 25-11 and winning both their Spring and Summer Splits. They have strength in the Jungle with their player Trick and with the rocky season CLG has been having I do not see them defeating Europe's best.
Group B
Flash Wolves (Taiwan), SKT (Korea), IMAY (China), and Cloud 9 (North America)
My predictions for this group are going to be...
1: SKT. SKT finished their season at 25-9, winning their Spring Split and placing 3rd in their Summer Split. This team had a rough start to the season, but has what some would call the best player in the world in midlane Faker. This team is probably the most feared team in the tournament due to their history of winning it.
2: C9. Cloud 9 will have to get my vote here, not only because they are my second favorite team but also because they are coming into the tournament hot. They did not have the best spring but placed 2nd in the summer and fought their way through the gauntlet to get into the World Championship again. Both times they defeated Immortals, who everyone thought would be a front-runner in the world tournament.
Group C
EDG (China), AHQ (Taiwan), H2K (Europe), and INTZ (Brazil)
My predictions for this group are going to be...
1: EDG. Edward Gaming went 28-4 in their season, placed 1st in their Summer Split, and 2nd in their Spring Split. This team has what some would say the best Jungler in the game with Clearlove. I cannot tell you how many times this season games were won specifically because of his play. EDG can be a shaky team at times but should have no troubles in group C.
2: H2K. This choice was probably the most difficult one I had to make in all the groups because AHQ really has the ability to be in 2nd in this group. The reason I am going for H2K is due to the fact that this team has taken Europe by storm. They have had so many roster changes back and forth through the years and no matter who they have played, they always seem to be a team in unison. The coaching staff and players have built a huge fan base and for those of you who think the fans do not have an impact on the game, H2K is the reason you are wrong.
Group D
TSM (North America), RNG (China), Samsung (Korea), and Splyce (Europe)
My predictions for the group are going to be...
1: TSM. Not only is Team Solo Mid my favorite team but they have had one of the best seasons in team history. They went 26-10 in the season, finishing off the second half with an amazing 17-1 record and winning their Summer Split. They placed 2nd in their Spring Split and have been the only North American organization to ever place in the top 3 at Worlds. I feel TSM has a really good chance to be the first team to bring NA a world championship.
2: RNG. Royal Never Give up finished their season at 26-6, won their Spring Split, and came in 2nd in their Summer Split. RNG has a ton of great talent on their team and they are getting better at working that into a dominating team performance.
If you would like to discuss or comment on any of my predictions head to the Forums page at:
http://motorcitygaming.com/forum/
Or join me in Worlds Pick'em Fantasy at:
Knockout Stage / Quarterfinals
Well, with the group stage complete, my heart has sunk in the depths of Korea's ability to dominate this game. I would first like to say that, having watched every game in every group and not missing a single second of the 2016 World Championship, these are some of the best games of League of Legends I have ever seen; the almost record-breaking length game between North America's Cloud 9 and the Flash Wolves from Taiwan being my favorite. Never have I seen a game of this caliber get to a point that 3 Baron Nashors and 2 Elder Dragons were needed to win the game. With all of the excitement out of the way, my true heartbreak was when my boys Team Solo Mid did not make it to quarters. In my opinion, they played well but just didn't look like the same team that dominated North America's LCS. They will forever be my favorite team so rest up and get back at it next year, TSM!
Now on to my predictions for this round of the tourney..... Even though I did not get the seeding correct in the placement of 1st or 2nd in each group, I am very happy with the fact that I was able to predict 6/8 teams that moved on. It goes to show that my obsession with LoL, which I spent almost more time watching than playing this past season, meant something. This will be nothing fancy other than just my picks because I feel at this point many of my reasons for why a team will win are repetitive and would be daunting.
Here we go......
SKT vs. RNG ... And the prediction is ... SKT
ROX vs. EDG ... And the prediction is ... ROX
H2K vs. ANX ... And the prediction is ... H2K
SSG vs. C9 ... And the prediction is ... SSG ( Sorry, C9, I'm still rooting for you! #NA )
Above is this round's schedule. Will you be watching? I will.
That is it for now so good luck to the remaining teams in Worlds and until next time... see you on the Rift!
Semifinals!
With quarter finals complete, we pack up our gear and head from Chicago to New York City for the semifinals. With the hopes of North America being left behind, we move forward to the garden with all three of the Korean teams, SKT, Rox Tigers, and Samsung Galaxy, alongside the last hope for Europe, H2K. Although I am super bummed that North America did not do as well as I hoped in this tournament, I continue to watch every match and enjoy what I can only say is the best worlds tournament I have seen to date. I favored very well in my predictions for the quarterfinals and hope to see an equally exciting semifinals. With that being said here are my predictions for the two semifinal matches...
SKT vs ROX
And the prediction is...SKT!
This match has all the hype of being a finals match as the two most powerful teams in the tournament will meet in the semifinals instead of the finals. A majority of people going into the tournament would have said that the ROX Tigers would be the team to beat in this year's tournament, but after watching the group stage and the quarters I have decided that SKT has put up a performance that looks like it cannot be beat. This should be a good series, but in the end, I do not think that ROX has an answer for SKT's midlaner, Faker (who is, in many people's opinion, the best player in the world).
SSG vs H2K
And the prediction is...SSG!
I know this the last hope for the world to have a non-Korean team win the tournament, but SSG is playing with a cause. No one said that they would do anything in Worlds this year and that they should not have even been here in place of KT Rolster (a team many felt was more deserving of a worlds appearance). SSG has proven through group stage and quarterfinals that not only do they belong in this tournament, but if they keep playing the way they are now, they are strong contenders to win the whole thing.
Only time will tell which of these four teams have a shot at becoming the world's best LoL team for 2016. Good luck to the players and until next time... see you on the Rift!