Worlds Week 2: What to Watch Out For
While the first week of Worlds 2016 left us awestruck, week 2 is about to smack us right in our summoner faces. Ready or not, here are a few things to look forward to for the next 4 days of Worlds action.
Note that these things aren’t sure to happen, but they’re surely what many people are hoping for before we cut the competition in half for the bracket stage.
The Korean Recalibration
While Korean teams have dominated the world stage since 2013, some glaring weaknesses have been exposed in even their strongest teams.
ROX Tigers, a heavy favorite to win the whole shebang, displayed a slower early game compared to the other teams in their group. Obviously, their superior macro game gave them a 2-1 record, but even the wildcard team, Albus Nox Luna, trounced the Tigers for the first 10 minutes.
But Korean teams are more than just star-studded players. Their coaching staff is undoubtedly the best in the world—and now they have the data from the first week in hand. Expect tighter pick and ban phases and cleaner game plans out of SK Telecom, ROX, and even Samsung Galaxy. Anything less would be a disappointment.
Kim “kkOma” Jung-gyun has coached SK Telecom to two World Championships.
Europe Strikes Back?
Every fan of the EU LCS is hoping and praying for a European comeback in week 2. After all, Fnatic also bombed their first week of Worlds last year, only to win all their group stage games in week 2. And lest we forget, they made it all the way to the semifinals.
But then there are also memories of Worlds 2014, when no European team made it out of groups. On top of that, the region had to stomach their number 1 seed, Alliance, losing to Brazilian wildcard team KaBuM.
With very few signs of life coming from all the EU squads, it’s hard to see them mounting a comeback if all the other regions remain on point. G2, Splyce, and H2k will need to play out of their minds unless they want Reddit to demote them to wildcard region status.
TSM Chants Galore
Okay, TSM chants are a sure thing at nearly any League of Legends event. This time though, the T-S-M and U-S-A chants are warranted. NA is performing beyond a lot of expectations so far.
Counter Logic Gaming look revitalized after a lackluster Summer Split (maybe thanks to Kim “Reignover” Ui-jin helping their boot camp?). Team SoloMid are continuing their dominant form, and have only dropped a game to another top contender for the Summoner’s Cup.
Even Cloud9, the weakest NA team on paper, managed to turn a losing game on its head in the eleventh hour to secure a 2-1 record.
With a lot of power picks lining up with key players’ comfort zones such as Alistar for Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black and Syndra for Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg… this could be the year the West finally stands toe to toe with the East.
Special mention:
We have to highlight Albus Nox Luna for a bit. This team has defied all expectations for a wildcard region squad. They bested a European and North American squad and even looked solid versus Korea’s #1 seed for a few minutes.
They could be the first wildcard team to ever make it out of groups—or they could be a flash in the pan and get knocked right back down. We’re not telling you what to expect. With ANX, all we can do is expect the unexpected.
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