2016 Worlds: Group Stage Finished, NA Secures a Slot in the Quarterfinals
2016 Worlds Group B Results
Baron steals everywhere, North America survives and the quarterfinal matches locked in. Here’s how the last day of the Group Stage of the 2016 League of Legends World Championship went down.
Game 1 – IM vs FW
Game 1 – IM vs FW
28 minutes into the game, FW is ahead in the most important metrics: 3k gold lead, 3 dragons secured and 4 turrets destroyed. They were in a very good place to take Baron and push farther into IM’s base but they botched a Baron fight.
AmazingJ’s amazing Baron steal.
After losing Karsa, IM gets into the pit and contests Baron. Despite FW’s best efforts, AmazingJ steals it and IM comes out on top by trading 1 of their member for 4 from the side of FW. IM successfully swings the game in their favor and was then able to win the game.
Game 2 – C9 vs SKT
Game 2 – C9 vs SKT
At the 25 minute mark, C9 was in control of the game with Meteos leading the charge. Blank still hasn’t made a successful gank, his score a clean 0/0/0. But around the 28 minute mark, he just explodes! After picking off 2 members from C9, SKT starts Baron and C9 tries to contest it. As expected, they lose the fight.
16 minutes after that big mistake, C9 pulls the trigger: delivering Slicing Maelstrom via Realm Warp right on top of SKT. This play deletes Faker from The Rift but SKT’s disengage meant that they were able to survive the dive and then reengage C9. They avenge Faker’s death by killing 3 members of C9 and then proceeds to secure Baron and, finally, C9’s Nexus.
Game 3 – C9 vs FW
Game 3 – C9 vs FW
C9, just after losing to SKT, seems to be down in the dumps in this game. Or maybe, FW is just in a better shape.
Just look at that damage graph. Jensen, C9’s mid laner, dealt so little damage compared to his lane opponent. With him the main force behind C9, it’s easy to see why C9 lost this match.
Game 4 – SKT vs IM
SKT was the 2015 champions and they’ll defend that title with everything they’ve got.
All throughout the game, SKT was in complete control. Despite Avoidless stealing a Baron right over SKT and almost doing it again in the Elder Dragon, SKT was always in the driver’s seat for this game.
Avoidless’ Baron steal.
Game 5 – IM vs C9
With both teams in danger of dropping out of the group, it isn’t a surprise that both teams fumbled a lot during the match. IM had a wacky lineup, C9 starts strong only to almost hand the game back to IM in the last minutes of the game. The pressure of surviving the group stage was very apparent in the plays of both teams.
Even Meteos admitted it in the postgame interview. They should have been able to finish the game around the 35 minute mark, right after they secured Baron. Team communication was a big problem, especially in the last phases of the game where it’s much more important. That is something they’ll have to work on if they plan to win this tournament.
After a lot of messy fights, several poor plays around Baron and a game that was just all over the place, C9 still manages to come out on top.
And just to highlight one of my personal favorite statistics: Sneaky finished the game with an outstanding 92% kill participation.
Game 6 – FW vs SKT
Game 6 – FW vs SKT
After C9’s victory against IM, all C9 fan just became an SKT fan, if only for this game.
If SKT wins, FW goes 2-4 and has to go home. If FW lives up to their nickname “Korean Killers”, they’ll fight a tie-breaker match against C9. But with the result of their earlier match, C9 certainly didn’t want to face FW again.
Despite Karsa stealing away a Baron, FW failed to stop SKT.
Karsa’s Baron steal.
Luckily for C9 and miraculously for SKT, FW falls, for the first time, to a Korean team. Not only did the champions finish the day with a perfect 3-0 score and took for themselves the top spot in the groups, they also defeated their kryptonite, the Flash Wolves.
The Quarterfinals
After finishing the group stage, here’s the bracket for the second phase of the tournament.
Is your favorite team still on the board? If not, which team will you support from this point forward?
Keep it here in eSports INQ as we try to predict the outcomes of the quarterfinals and cover the rest of the 2016 Worlds.
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