Worlds 2017: Group D Autopsy

Group D turned out to be full of surprises, but Team SoloMid’s elimination after a loss to Misfits Gaming in a second-place tiebreaker wasn’t one of them. No, the surprise was how richly they deserved to be shown the door.

No one who watched all 13 Group D games could argue—in good faith—that TSM deserved to advance. Their play in virtually every facet of the game was subpar, miles away from the swaggering NA champions we’re used to seeing domestically. Call it a Week 2 NA curse, but you don’t need a supernatural explanation when the reasons for TSM’s undoing are writ large all over the Rift.  

I’ll eulogize TSM later, not that they earned one. Instead, let’s focus on the positives: Misfits rode their youthful enthusiasm to a quarterfinal berth. Once expected to be EU’s worst performer at Worlds, they will likely go down as the best. Team WE gave the home fans something to cheer about, debuting snowball siege compositions that made Royal’s pace look glacial. They might not see Caitlyn again for the rest of their knockout games, but damn, it was fun while it lasted. And while Flash Wolves couldn’t escape their Week 1 hole, they played well enough in Week 2 to save face, including a clinical win over TSM that essentially doomed the North Americans.

But how did TSM blow their chance? Wrong question. Ask not what TSM did to lose, but what WE and Misfits did to win.

Team WE Siege Their Way to Victory

Much like their fellow LPL representatives Edward Gaming and Royal Never Give Up, Team WE play fast. Their 31:32 average game time is the lowest at Worlds, and after watching their demolition crew roll through Week 2, it makes sense. After all, late game scaling compositions don’t work if you never get to the late game.  

Good teams adapt to the meta they find themselves in; great ones poke and innovate long enough to create a new meta. In that, WE might be the forerunners of a different way to play. After a series of summer nerfs, Caitlyn’s return to the meta by Mystic signals the first major adaptation of Worlds 2017. It's a response to the continued drafting of passive bot lanes by teams hoping to scale their hyper carries into late game damage monsters; the old siege composition, but retrofitted to compete in an Ardent Censer world.

Given a lane to bully, Team WE obliged, using Condi’s already bot-focused pathing to quickly secure First Turret, and then unleash their bot duo across the map, breaking turrets at a rapid clip. But bot lane is only part of the story. As shown in their win against Team SoloMid, WE’s ideal sieging composition uses Jayce mid and a Rumble top, two excellent turret bullies with their range and AoE burst damage. Winning solo lanes puts pressure on turrets early, preventing the enemy jungler from matching Condi’s attention bot when both solo lanes need help.

Against TSM, WE destroyed all three outer turrets by 16:30. At 22 minutes, WE had taken all three TSM inhibitors and went to secure a free Baron. The game ended two minutes later. Tic, tac, toe.

Flash Wolves went down in a similar fashion, with Mystic’s Caitlyn functioning as the wind in WE’s sails. Mystic went a combined 9-1-10 in two Caitlyn games, but his deathless, 47.1% of team damage showing against an already eliminated Flash Wolves proved that, in the right hands, Caitlyn might be back. Imagine if she could Headshot turrets…

WE encountered adversity against Misfits, badly losing bot lane to Hans sama’s Varus and needing superior macro play and 5v5 execution to come all the way back from a 5.7k deficit at 19 minutes. It was this performance that impressed me the most, showing WE’s ability to adapt in the draft and play to that style, rather than attempt to achieve the same win conditions no matter the composition. This resilience and focus has propelled them from play-ins to quarters, and, if Mystic continues to shine, perhaps even farther. Cause of Death: N/A

Misfits Advance Playing Their Game

The EU resurgence at Worlds 2017 is undeniable now, with Misfits the second European team to advance out of groups, and the third that’s displayed the quality to do so (R.I.P G2). Misfit’s youth might show during certain late game fights or deeper macro considerations, but their teamplay and willingness to attempt off-meta strategies (especially in Week 2) has catapulted them to worldwide acclaim.

For the first time at the Worlds 2017 main event, a team won without building Ardent Censer. They said it couldn’t be done, but Misfits did it, with IgNar selecting Thresh against Flash Wolves. It was a move back to comfort for IgNar, who had spent all of EU LCS Summer split on engage supports that had fallen out of the meta, including his 60% winnrate Thresh. Seeing Rakan selected by FW in the first phase with Lulu and Janna already banned, Misfits felt that Thresh’s hook could stop every Flashless Rakan engage. And it did, highlighted by a late hook around the drake pit that caught Swordart mid-dash with MMD’s Shen having cast Stand United on him for a potentially devastating engage. The wombo was stopped in its tracks with SwordArt's death. Misfits won the fight, and the game soon after.

IgNar grabbed Blitzcrank against TSM, but that pick, plus a solo-queue counter in Yasuo to combat Hauntzer’s Gnar, proved too greedy. Misfits were unable to secure a big enough lead in the early game to survive a ferocious TSM comeback in the mid game, triggered by a 4-1 fight that saw IgNar miss his initiation via a Glacial Prison stun from Svenskeren. TSM were down 5k at that point; had Misfits not lost that fight, there would have been no way back. But credit the European side for the guts to draft what they wanted, rather than what the meta dictated. Too many teams don't. 

Misfits gave Team WE a real scare, with Hans sama’s +1823 GD@10 over Mystic the largest of the tournament thus far. But MSF couldn’t close out the win, even with a 5k lead after 20 minutes. In this loss, they showed their inexperience, baited into a long Baron Dance WE would surely win with their bot lane pushing. WE found the fight they wanted with a clutch Glacial Prison on Hans and a kill on Alphari, opening Baron. A trade of epic monsters later in the game was admirable by Misfits, though misguided. I respect a team that thinks they can outfight a Baron-buffed enemy with an Elder drake buff. It didn’t happen, of course, but full marks for spirit.

The glass slipper still fits for Misfits. Once thought to be a team only one rung in power above a wildcard, this small organization has proved everyone but the staunchest EU homers wrong. I doubt they’ll make it out of quarters, but hey, I didn’t think they’d win a game in groups. Cause of Death: None, but punch-drunk.

Early Game Woes Bury Team SoloMid

Consider these stat lines, both from teams eliminated in the group stage:

Team A: 0.37 K:D, 1657 GPM, -345 GPM, -1402 GD@15, 32.7 CSM, 1786 DPM, -1.0 TD@15, 50% FB%, 0% FT%

Team B: 0.62 K:D, 1735 GPM, -137 GPM, -1889 GD@15, 31.5 CSM, 1885 DPM,-1.3 TD@15, 0% FB%, 28.6% FT%

Team B is Team SoloMid, and yes, their -1889 GD@15 was lowest among the 16 group teams. By comparison, Team A is 1907 Fenerbahçe Espor. From the TCL. Think about that.

TSM’s performance at Worlds will not soon be forgotten, and for all the wrong reasons. It was a team failure at every level: preparation, drafting, execution, everything. No player or coach is exempt from blame, and the cost of this lackluster performance will haunt the organization forever. I wish that was hyperbole.

It was a train wreck we all watched in slow motion, unable to stop despite our most fevered hopes. TSM consistently underperformed in the early game, attempting to passively farm for late game scaling while the meta was changing around them, particularly from teams within their own group.

This was a tentative TSM, fully reverting to the Hauntzer-centric MSI squad that couldn’t adapt to the meta or get anything meaningful from their bot lane. Doublelift’s inclusion in the team was meant to resolve this exact issue. WildTurtle wasn’t good enough for TSM at MSI, consistently getting caught out of position and outputting meager damage because of his quick deaths. You could say the same of Doublelift at Worlds; his maddening deaths to two PowerOfEvil Shockwaves with Flash available during the tiebreaker acting as final evidence. No AD carry in the group stage died more per game (2.7) or averaged a lower percentage of his team's damage (29.6%) than Doublelift.

But piling on Doublelift misses the point. We could just as easily call out Biofrost, whose inability to play Janna influenced more than a handful of TSM drafts, or Svenskeren, who was utterly invisible in the early game. Bjergsen and Hauntzer's off-brand impressions of Khan and Bdd lack the original's decisiveness and cross-map influence. And Parth, who failed to establish an identity for his team despite a lengthy Korean boot camp, might have coached his last game on stage.

Quick question: What’s TSM’s identity? I know what I’m getting with Team WE, or Misfits, or Gigabyte Marines. What style is distinctively TSM’s? As I watched them flounder through groups, unable to manufacture wins unless their opponents made mistakes in the mid game, I thought: My God, they’re just Samsung imitators. This is the best NA can offer: A group of Korean-less knock-off Koreans who will always be second-best to the real McCoy until they figure out how to play the game themselves and not by following a manual. With these players and staff, I’m not sure they ever will. Cause of Death: Panicked impotence.  

Flash Wolves Cannot Close

A short word about Flash Wolves, the top seed from LMS that waited to win a game until it would screw over Team SoloMid the most. I’m only half-kidding.

Flash Wolves improved over the course of group play, but it wasn’t nearly enough to save them after an 0-3 start in Week 1. The dynamic duo of Maple and Karsa were good at creating early advantages where they could, but when it came to the bigger macro decisions, Flash Wolves failed the test every time. They should have beaten Misfits in Week 2, but gave up a 6k gold lead when they disrespected Misfits’ Baron speed with a Cassipiea and Cho’Gath. They should have beaten TSM in Week 1, but lost the macro plot and took unnecessary fights, putting themselves in danger instead of waiting for their super minions to end the game.

I would have liked to see Flash Wolves prioritize Janna more for SwordArt, who looked fantastic on the champion in their 25-minute upset of TSM. His play in the laning stage kept Doublelift and Biofrost from getting the advantage the matchup dictated, and that was with multiple (though limp) ganks from Sven. SwordArt’s knockbacks and knock-ups were incredibly well timed, preventing TSM from shifting their focus to top lane, where Hauntzer’s Jayce deseperatly needed jungle proximity.

If Flash Wolves won the games they were supposed to, they would have been in the tiebreaker for second place, not TSM. Instead, Wolves head home flagbearers of a region that has dramatically underperformed at Worlds. But hey, it was enough to beat TSM. Cause of Death: Delusions of Grandeur

Worlds 2017: Group C Autopsy

I remember when Group C was the terror of the Group Draw Show. Once Samsung Galaxy, Royal Never Give Up, and G2 Esports came together, everyone knew a deserving team would be heading home early. 1907 Fenerbahçe Espor’s inclusion after a solid play-in performance didn’t change the calculation; if anything, it was crystallized. Advancement would depend on wins against the other two major region teams. With margins for error already razor-thin, one loss to Turkish wildcard would be fatal.

And that’s exactly what happened. G2 finished 1-3 against the other two power teams; RNG went 3-1 and Samsung 2-2. 1907 Fenerbahçe never managed a win, though not for lack of effort. The better teams will continue playing. 

Royal wowed the local fans and finished top of the group, proving themselves legitimate contenders with two wins over runners-up SSG. One loss to G2 Friday night couldn’t derail the RNG hype train, only slow it until SSG eliminated G2 two games later, indirectly securing RNG a spot in the next round. Then the party tricks came out: A Vayne to further condemn 1907 Fenerbahçe, and a Lee Sin to dance around Ambition, all amidst the noise of a raucous Wuhan crowd.  

RNG captured the headlines and hometown hearts, but there was more to Group C than just Chinese triumph. Let’s delve deeper.

1907 Fenerbahçe Play with House Money

But let us also be honest: 1907 Fenerbahçe shouldn’t have gotten this far. They drew both the weakest play-in group (Hong Kong Attitude, Rampage) and elimination round opponent (Team oNe) possible, a significant run of luck that mattered as much (or more) than their actual play on the Rift. Given the same opportunities, Lyon Gaming and Young Generation would have posted similar (or better) results. 

That luck ended once 1907 Fenerbahçe were drawn into the Group C, leaving them a small fish in a small pond filled with big sharks. If none of the play-in teams could punish 1907 Fenerbahçe’s glaring weaknesses in the early game, these teams surely would, and did. Often. FB averaged a World’s worst -345 GDM and 1657 GPM, stemming from their inability to successfully farm in lane against better players.

The bot duo of Padden and Japone simply couldn’t get ahead. Padden’s laning woes continued, averaging a World’s low -14 CSD@15 across six group games. Frozen, now up against competent mid laners, couldn’t find the space to roam bot and relieve pressure. Once the enemy bot lane predictably took First Turret, 1907 Fenerbahçe couldn’t match the tempo and were steadily suffocated objective by objective. It’s not an accident that 1907 Fenerbahçe looked at their best when Frozen was given advantageous matchups (Ekko into Syndra vs. SSG, Taliyah into Yasuo vs. G2).

But even when 1907 Fenerbahçe got through laning relatively unscathed (or, even rarer, ahead), their team fighting execution was abysmal. Poor coordination, combined with Padden’s eagerness to make a play, frequently left the AD carry exposed. His early deaths in too many fights cost FB the chance to close out winnable games, most notably their finale against G2. Despite both teams having already been eliminated, 1907 Fenerbahçe desperately wanted to win a game at the main event, but couldn’t capitalize on a 6.7k gold lead when their main source of damage kept getting out-dueled by Zven.

It’s difficult to say if 1907 Fenerbahçe have a blueprint for sustained success. Crash was an emergency sub for Move, but his inclusion only highlights the fact that a South Korean duo makes up the spine of this team. Nothing ties Move or Frozen to the TCL region; if a better offer is elsewhere, these mercenaries are likely to pack up and leave. While Padden had his share of late game heroics, his current level of play has a clear ceiling. Similarly, Thaldrin was excellent as spackle for FB’s early game holes, but only to a point. But if this team can stay together and grow, there’s no reason they shouldn’t compete with BAU Supermassive every split for a title, and the international exposure that comes with it. FB’s run at Worlds 2017 ended abruptly, but simply getting this far was its own reward. Cause of Death: Systemic weakness

G2 Drew the Short Straw

While one European team was given a new lease on life in Group B, Group C buried another. That Fnatic will advance to the quarterfinals and G2 Esports won’t registers as a mid-tier crime. Had their positions been reversed, G2 would surely be moving forward. Instead they’ll head home and into an uncertain future.

G2 showed they had what it took to make it out of Group C with a massive win over Royal to start Week 2 play. Trick was a monster on Sejuani all game long, landing nearly every Glacial Prison he threw, keying a G2 snowball that outpaced the Chinese side. Zven was 5-0-3 with three items and a Guardian Angel by 25 minutes; of course the game ended three minutes later.

But the necessary win over Samsung Galaxy never came. G2 wanted a repeat of Trick’s RNG showing; SSG made sure it didn't happen. The comical Gromp resetting between Ambition and Trick looked bizarre on its face, but for Samsung it made a kind of sense. If you want literally nothing of note to happen in the early game, sacrificing your own jungler’s farm to stall out Trick was a valid play.

That strategy made Ambition’s two early deaths mean little; all that mattered was that Trick and G2 never put any of the SSG lanes behind. SSG still took First Turret in the bot lane, still won fights in the mid game, found the pick on Zven they needed to take a free Baron, and irreparably broke the G2 base. The Europeans managed to force SSG to take a second Baron to finish the game, but by then it was merely a formality. The gold deficit had long since reached double-figures.

That loss, combined with RNG’s shellacking of 1907 Fenerbahçe, eliminated G2 from Worlds. They had yet to play badly on stage. G2’s 100% First Blood Percentage, 1744 GD@15, and 83.3% Rift Herald Percentage topped all teams at Worlds. Other metrics, like 2075 DPM or 33 CSM, were inside the top three. But the wins didn’t follow, and it only takes one read of Perkz’s post-mortem account to appreciate how devastating that must feel, to play so well and yet still be the odd team out.

I’m not sure how G2 will reconstitute itself in 2018. The organization has applied for NA LCS franchising and has not yet been officially turned down. From what Perkz wrote, some players might be departing. But for G2, the narrative of underachieving champions has finally been put to rest. Their second-place finish at MSI, and inspired play at Worlds despite a tough draw helped end it for good. Cause of Death: Wrong place, wrong time.

Samsung Galaxy are Checking the Clock

Samsung Galaxy take their time, with games so predictable you can set your watch to them.

Step 1: Draft a scaling bot lane. Any hyper carry plus a now-meta shielding support will do. Step 2: Draft a tanky top laner that scales hard into the late game. Get Cho’Gath if you can. Step 3: Draft a jungle/mid combination that Ambition and Crown feel comfortable with. Mobility is key, but only for roams that are reactive, not proactive.

Step 4: Farm in lane for 20 minutes. Feeding First Blood doesn’t matter, but keep an eye on the neutral objectives. Step 5: By hook or by crook, win bot lane and secure First Turret. Ruler and CoreJJ are usually good enough to get this on their own, but maybe send Ambition down there once or twice to prevent a catastrophic gank and/or secure the objective.

Step 6: Get you bot duo out of lane and start taking turrets. The enemy team will try to stop you; if Ruler has items or the fight is favorable, take and win the fight. If not, disengage and play the map. Step 7: Pressure the enemy team into making a mistake, then capitalize off that mistake and take Baron. Step 8: Attempt to end the game on a Baron Power Play. Step 9: Repeat steps 7 and 8 until victory is achieved.

This strategy, when combined with the caliber and experience of Samsung’s players, is good enough to beat 95% of the teams in the world. Unfortunately for SSG, Royal happens to be part of the 5%. SSG couldn’t out-fight RNG when it came to crucial mid game engagements, unable to convert their passive early game into a lethal snowball.

SSG were the only Korean team to lose twice in groups, but four wins over 1907 Fenerbahçe and G2 were enough to see them through. It’s worth noting that in the one game SSG went hyper aggressive early with substitute jungler Haru’s Ezreal, they nearly lost. Why fix what isn’t broken? Cause of Death: None, but still suffers from chronic pain.

Royal Never Give Up Strike a Blow for Positivity

As I’ve written before, Worlds 2017 is quickly becoming a contest of contrasting styles: Early game snowball vs. late game scaling. But you can easily rephrase those strategies as choice between positive or negative play. One side proactively maneuvers in the laning stage because their win condition demands snowballing an early advantage. The other side is negative, reactively stalling out the game (while contesting objectives) as their carries, via late game item spikes, out-scale the enemy.

In no matchup was this dichotomy more visible than Royal Never Give Up vs. Samsung Galaxy, and as League of Legend fans, we all should be happy that RNG won both contests. China’s new favorite team refused to let Samsung dictate the pace. Instead, they relied on jungler MLXG to look for lane ganks early and often, helping mitigate the advantage SSG were trying to build and, more importantly, speeding up the game. It was refreshing to watch a team actively attempt to win, instead of passively waiting for their opponents to make a mistake.

But MLXG’s pressure wouldn’t have meant much if his laners couldn’t take advantage of it. Mid laner Xiaohu and the bot lane duo of Uzi and Ming never let him down, transitioning well from laning into well-executed team fights. Uzi and Ming combined for a 13.4 KDA, highest among all bot lane duos at Worlds. RNG’s aggressive team fighting in the mid game paid off repeatedly against a Samsung side unable to choose their own engagements. And while MLXG's Lee Sin wasn't jaw-dropping (shout out to Mike Yeung), he did enough in fights to split SSG's squishies from their tanks with a few well-placed kicks. 

RNG remain China’s best shot at seeing a home team reach the finals. I want to believe their positivity will be emulated across the knockout stage, the game is an absolute joy when teams leave it all on the Rift. So far, RNG have been a pleasure to watch. Cause of Death: None, but remain overly-excitable.

Worlds 2017: Group B Autopsy

What was supposed to be the most straightforward group of Worlds 2017 turned out to be its strangest, acting both as a confluence of unlikely events and referendum on competitive League of Legends.

Immortals were supposed to beat Gigabyte Marines to start the day, a result that would have all but secured their advancement to the quarterfinals with Longzhu Gaming. They didn’t, and the effects of that result cascaded throughout the remaining matches. Five games and two tiebreakers later, Immortals were eliminated from Worlds. Marines, whose heartbreaking defeat against Longzhu sapped the team of all its strength, were also out. And Fnatic, left for dead days ago after digging themselves an 0-3 hole, did what no other team had ever done before.

The results of Group B provided talking points that could fill an entire tournament. Regional strength, global meta, the benefits of experience and the costs of fatigue; they were all writ large on a day few predicted correctly. Enough preamble, let’s get into it.

FNC Make the Miracle Run

Here’s the list of things that had to happen for Fnatic to advance out of Group B:

Gigabyte Marines needed to beat Immortals. Check. Longzhu needed to beat Immortals and Marines. Check. Fnatic needed to beat Marines and Immortals. Check. Fnatic needed to beat both Marines and Immortals again, in a row. Check and mate. 

Until Fnatic’s 4-1 Thursday run, no team had ever qualified for quarterfinal play at Worlds after losing all three Week 1 group games (since the format change). Had one result gone the other way, Fnatic would have been finished, and rightfully so. They looked dreadful throughout play-ins and worse in groups.

It was easy to locate the culprit: sOAZ, the veteran French top laner who was repeatedly destroyed in lane, negating whatever early advantages Rekkles and Jesiz found bot. Gigabyte Marines famously denied him CS until six minutes into their first match due to the lane swap, and Khan buried him on Nasus, a literal dog champ. The whole of Fnatic seemed to echo his frustration, and most wrote them off as a team with good parts but zero central intelligence.

Then, Marines cheesed Immortals and suddenly the door was left open for a miracle. Fnatic lost to Longzhu as expected, but as they no longer needed to beat the Koreans, the defeat meant nothing. All that mattered was taking their first step against Immortals, another close affair that was decided by AD carry misplay. But this time it was Cody Sun, not Rekkles, who was killed flashing forward. With Immortals Aced, Fnatic gambled on a nexus push and broke it with the last auto from sOAZ before his death. That’s how close the run came to ending before it began: one auto attack.

For Week 2, Fnatic had the luxury of facing Marines last, and the space made a difference. Instead of being caught off guard by GAM’s Urgot/Kayn composition, they entered the Rift ready for it, having watched Marines dismantle Immortals with it only hours ago. That scouting, on top of the mental devastation of losing a 10k lead to Longzhu in the previous game, hampered Marines’ execution, failing to protect Archie from Broxah’s Rek’Sai chain ganks. Fnatic knew the key to breaking the Urgot 1-3-1 was stopping Archie, and they did so, burning his flash on a level 1 invade and killing him three times in a row, the deaths so similar it seemed like production was running replays.

Broxah’s excellence on Rek’Sai’s solo lane ganks, and the emphasis on putting sOAZ ahead, was a far cry from the Fnatic playbook just one week ago. The team that put all their eggs in the Rekkles basket, only to watch their comp dissolve if he was ever picked off, became balanced across the map. Instead of one winning lane they now had three. Immortals and Marines never stood a chance.

Well, at least Immortals didn’t. In the first tiebreaker, Fnatic dispatched the NA side with little effort, hard-countering Pobelter’s Ryze with Caps’ Malzahar. With no frontline and no money to buy a QSS, Immortals were eliminated from Worlds in under 28 minutes. More on them in a second.

Marines acted as the final boss of the three-way tiebreaker, and acquitted themselves well, pushing Fnatic to the brink with an early top inhibitor take and stellar play from AD carry Noway. But where Marines were fatigued, Fnatic were high on the adrenaline that comes with a suspended death sentence. That energy and veteran experience brought home the win, helping design two well-engineered Baron secures against the run of play. Marines were undone, and the old Kings of Europe had regained the crown, at least for one night. Cause of Death: None, resuscitated by divine intervention.

Immortals Wilt Under Pressure

Pressure exists at all levels of sport. A penalty shootout in your YMCA co-ed soccer league, the final drive of a Super Bowl, a pommel horse routine at the Olympic games; there is no escaping the tension of a big moment. Part of becoming a professional athlete is learning to approach those moments with poise and precision. While most learn to embrace the spotlight, few find themselves immediately at home.

Bigger than any macro decision, draft choice or individual misplay, Immortals’ exit from Worlds 2017 came down to one overarching factor: They couldn’t handle the pressure. For anyone who watched them lose to Team SoloMid in the Summer Finals, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Immortals aren’t used to playing at this level like a Cloud9 or TSM are; hell, they were the seventh-best team in North America just one split ago.

Meme Cody Sun all you want, this team didn’t lose because of him, though he is not without blame. None of them, from veterans like Xmithie and Flame, to World’s debutantes Cody and Olleh, escape this debacle clean. Ssong, the NA LCS Coach of the Summer Split, hardly covered himself in glory either. Ultimately gifted four chances to emerge from Group B, Immortals capitalized on none of them. They have no one else to blame but themselves.

Cody Sun succumbed to the pressure when he flashed into four Fnatic players during a critical retreat, a play that will live in infamy. Xmithie and Flame faltered to pressure when their repeated dives on Archie’s Urgot fell short of their expectations. Pobelter, who had been having a quietly solid game on Corki, fell apart when Khan picked him off mid, opening an eventual Baron for Longzhu.

We should have seen this coming. Looking back at their 2-1 Week 1, mistakes by their opposition were often as equally influential to Immortal’s success as Immortals themselves. They can thank Rekkles for his greedy Twitch death, and Gigabyte Marines’ Nevan for bringing a flashless Lulu to standard lanes, a target not even Xmithie could miss. Immortals took what the enemy gave them, nothing more, creating little by themselves. Proactivity has been a buzzword at the tournament, and Immortals were anything but. It’s why GAM were able to flawlessly execute their Urgot/Kayn comp, or why, after Xmithie's lighting fast start on Ezreal in the first tiebreaker with Fnatic, he disappeared, always a step behind Broxah.

I don’t enjoy piling on Immortals like this; I know they’re hurting enough. But along with the pressure that noticeably altered their play, consider this: Immortals qualified for Worlds based on one Split of success. Such runs are always fueled in part by the meta they took place in, and the meta shifted on Immortals just as Summer Playoffs concluded.

For evidence, look no further than Olleh, the First-Team All-Pro NA LCS Support that was virtually invisible for all seven games of Worlds. Xmithie’s acquisition raised the ceiling of this team, but the real engine behind Immortals’ ascendancy to NA’s best was Olleh’s playmaking on supports that have now fallen out of the meta because they cannot build Ardent Censer.

When you remember Olleh’s play over the summer, what champions do you recall? Thresh. Bard. Alistar. Tahm Kench. In 52 Summer Split games (including playoffs), Olleh spent 32 of them (62%) on those champions. His combined winnrate on those four champions was 75%. As for meta shield supports like Janna, Rakan and Lulu? Five games of Lulu; zero games of Janna and Rakan combined. Olleh won only three Lulu games, and when he did select the yordle, he went Spelltheifs/Thunderlords every time.

Quick: Name one standout play by Olleh at Worlds. Can't think of one? It's not an accident. Immortals essentially played Worlds with their MVP reduced to a walking Ardent Censer. No wonder the bot lane kept getting smashed. It doesn’t excuse the performance, but can go some way to help explain it. I expect Immortals to grow and return to the Worlds stage next year. Cause of Death: Choked.

Salute to Gigabyte Marines, the Meta-Breakers

Gigabyte Marines are gone from Worlds, but they won’t be forgotten anytime soon. You tend to remember things like an Urgot in the top lane, Zilean support, or a Blue Kayn sighting. This scene doesn’t deserve the Marines, but we got them anyway and are all better because of it.

The roller coaster ride that started in Brazil ended last night in Wuhan, with the Marines giving absolutely everything they had. By the time the tiebreaker rolled around, Optimus’ multiple whiffed Shockwaves—including one he sombrero’d himself with—told the tale of a team that was beaten by fatigue as much as Fnatic.

Before they could even qualify for a tiebreaker, Marines had to defeat Immortals or Longzhu, and were heavy underdogs in either matchup. They nearly beat both. Archie’s Urgot took Immortals completely by surprise; the champion had not seen play in a major region since his re-work this summer. The unfamiliarity showed, with Flame and Xmithie misjudging Urgot’s health and damage potential on two early ganks to their own downfall. Once Urgot got fed, he became an unstoppable lane pusher that required three or more players to stop. When Marines shifted into a 1-3-1 around the mid game, it was curtains for Immortals and a lifeline for Fnatic.

But the real highlight for Marines came against Longzhu, the LCK champions who might be the best in the world when this tournament ends. Coach Tinikun pulled out a Rengar/Zilean composition that snowballed early and put LZ in a 10k gold hole with two inhibitors down. It was a stunning advantage, equaled only by the comeback Longzhu then orchestrated, carefully playing around the iconic Zilean ultimate to win every proceeding team fight and later the game.

In a scene dominated by Koreans teams, Korean imports and the Korean meta, we needed the Gigabyte Marines to prove that there is more than one way to play League of Legends. Marines never sacrificed their identity, never drafted away from their strengths, and never apologized for it. Levi is downright otherworldly, not only for his individual play, but the way he bends champions to fit his style no matter the type. Tank, bruiser, assassin; it doesn’t matter. Levi will aggressively gank early and aim to snowball in the mid game, tank meta be damned. I hope we see more of him on the international stage, and so do his legion of new fans.

Vietnam has made outstanding strides this season, and with the talent on GAM and Young Generation, they’ll be around for years to come. I can’t wait to watch the Marines again. Cause of Death: Fatigue.

Longzhu Gaming, the Final Boss

Abreast of all the carnage below them, Longzhu qualified for quarters without much of a scratch (their epic comeback against Gigabyte Marines more exception than rule). They remain the tournament favorites with incredible talent at every position.

How do you scheme against this team? Who do you target? What lane do you prioritize, and what composition will do it? This is Pray and GorillA’s meta, the original ROX Tigers juggermaw duo at it again, bringing every opposing bot lane to its knees. When Pray can unleash 11k damage in one team fight on Varus, who among the remaining AD carries can match that? Bang?

Young as they are, Bdd and Cuzz do exactly what their team requires: Pressure sidelanes while not dying.  It sounds simple, but Bdd was the only mid laner who went deathless across three games in Week 1. Cuzz’s target selection during team fights has been excellent, able to crowd control the opposing carries while protecting his own. He may not be the best jungler at worlds, but few (if any) have executed 5v5 fights better.

And then there’s Khan, the attention demanding top laner whose carry potential warps drafts (when Longzhu deign to play him). Teams leave up Jayce, Jarvan IV or Jax at their own peril. His outplay potential and utter fearlessness in lane cannot be discounted. Every victory Longzhu earn goes through his sidelane pressure, and few teams left at the tournament have anyone who can outduel him. 

Longzhu are the final boss of the tournament, the measuring stick all will be assessed by. Frankly, I expect the game against Gigabyte Marines to be the closest anyone comes to beating them, and even if I’m wrong, good luck repeating it twice more in a best of five. Enjoy the other storylines, but know that at the end of the day, the road to the Summoner’s Cup goes through Longzhu. Cause of Death: N/A