The 2016 League of Legends World Championship has been a tricky affair to predict. While South Korea could rise again and North America could stumble like last year, nothing is set in stone. In short, this is currently the most competitive Worlds to date.
That's what makes it so hard to predict. Still, we can give you a glimpse of where the teams stand and who probably will make it out.
Unless you're Europe. Abandon all hope, ye who enter there.
Group A
Counter Logic Gaming
The North American squad has had a relatively good go of it so far with a win against both Europe's G2 Esports and South Korea's ROX Tigers, but a loss against the wild card Albus NoX Luna of Russia calls into question the focus of the team. Look for Aurelion Sol to be banned all three games against mid laner Choi "Huhi" Jae-hyun after a decimating game against the Tigers, and for the rematch of the Albus game to be sweet revenge.
Albus Nox Luna
What a team. The wild card made a statement in its first match against ROX by punching the proverbial bully in the mouth for the first 10 minutes. While it didn't last, it certainly set the tone. Some off-meta picks, like Brand for support and Anivia revisiting the mid lane, are exactly what the team needs to keep other regions on the back foot. Will it last? History says no. Heart says yes. History is usually right.
ROX Tigers
The dents in the armor showed early when Albus came out to take a 5-2 kill lead and 1k gold lead at 10 minutes. While ROX steeled themselves and easily dispatched the squad past that point, they had a difficult early game against the anemic G2, and ultimately dropped to a clever CLG. The tournament favorites probably aren't sweating, but the fans are itching to see some rematches.
G2 Esports
There is little going for G2 at the moment. Despite having a gleam of hope by being competitive with ROX for a little while, the No. 1 seed from EU seems to still be on vacation. Who could have guessed that when AD carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen said there were two wild cards in his group that he inadvertently meant his team?
Prediction: ROX survives and CLG catches on to Albus' style to come out of the group. G2 plans its next vacation.
Group B
SK Telecom T1
It's weird when you watch a two-time World Championship team drop to Taiwan's Flash Wolves, which was 0-2 in the group at the time. But again, an Aurelion Sol pick flabbergasted the South Koreans. And where is superstar mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok? He's eighth in kills (10), shares 26.9 percent of his team's deaths (second highest at Worlds so far for mids), and is 10th in Damage Per Minute at 506. This is still a strong team, it's just been... uneventful so far, perhaps overshadowed by the other stories of the tournament. At least it's cool to see jungler Bae "Bengi" Seong-woong again.
Cloud9
Another hopeful for North America, Cloud9 did not get off to a good start against SK Telecom, and struggled mightily against Flash Wolves in a 70-minute endurance match. Mid laner Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen was a weak link in the SKT match, pushed around until he tilted so far he nearly spun upright again. Top laner Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong continues to play with a resolve of a dog playing tug of war -- he won't let go of this Worlds unless it's of his own volition. Despite the devastating loss and hard-fought FW win, Cloud9 seem to be jelling at the right time.
I May
The No. 3 seed from China, along with Flash Wolves, is a clear runner to not get out of the group so far. Odd choices are preventing this team from making good plays. The Cloud9 game, for example, saw top laner Shek "Amazing J" Wai Ho teleporting into four of the enemy team's champions with no backup. Its other loss against SKT saw it take no towers, no dragons and only three kills. Communication seems to be absent, so it'll be a tough road for I May.
Flash Wolves
There's a phrase that goes, "Don't half a-- something, full a-- something." Flash Wolves currently has difficulty closing out its games despite looking good early on, and we can't forget about the great victory against SKT, but it's still hard to see them pulling that off again. The Flash Wolves are competitive until they take themselves out of the game and don't capitalize or build on leads.
Prediction: C9 survives against I May and FW, while SKT goes 3-0.
Group C
EDward Gaming
China's No. 1 seed EDG look horrific in its first game. After Albus put pressure on ROX, people started to think, "Maybe Brazilian wild card INTZ will show up as well?" And it did. And EDG fell. And every EDG fan in the world wept. And then EDG was fine because it took good wins off of H2k and ahq, despite dragging top laner Chen "Mouse" Yu-Hao kicking and screaming every game until he gets up to speed. It seems a wake up call was needed, and squad seems to have leveled out ... mostly.
Ahq e-Sports Club
After INTZ beat EDG, ahq probably huddled and said, "That is not going to happen to us." A suffocating victory over the Brazilians with a poke-style comp and a solid, yet slower, win over Europe's H2k indicated a more tempered, deliberate style. Is it exploitable? Yeah, probably. Will it be? Yeah, probably. But ahq will still make it out.
H2k
The Europeans have been infected with a malady. It doesn't look curable, but it's transmittable to other EU teams. Somehow, H2k also contracted the vacation virus from compatriots G2, and despite a win over wildcard INTZ, H2k don't look to be up to snuff to take out a galvanized EDG or steady ahq.
INTZ
What started off so promising has sort of crumbled in our hands. A second wildcard team looking strong? Make no mistake, they still look better than EU as a whole, but the way INTZ's last two matches went, it can only really hope to grab a win off of H2k.
Prediction
Ahq and EDG get out of groups, and H2k drops to INTZ to give the wildcard a second win.
Group D
Team SoloMid
The game against China's Royal Never Give Up was very winnable if Cho "Mata" Se-hyoung hadn't been in the game. Alas, you can't ban a player, only champions. Still, North American powerhouse TSM looked good against Samsung, capitalizing on the South Koreans' indecision and hesitation. Jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen has looked solid all tournament, and the duo of AD carry Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and support Vincent "Biofrost" Wang in the bot lane seems to have kicked the Worlds jitters. Although, the game against EU's Splyce was a little suspect...
Royal Never Give Up
RNG lost to Samsung, somehow. Samsung is a team where the wind blows and the team becomes scattered, and RNG are a few dozen tiers above that, so we'll chalk that one up to hubris. A good win over TSM and a very expected win over Splyce means RNG has a little work to do, especially if legendary support Mata is shut down and unable to make plays. Still, the team is a solid favorite to make it out of groups.
Samsung Galaxy
Between TSM and RNG, Samsung is a clear third, yet the scrappy and aggressive win against RNG may give fans hope. But then you remember the utter destruction in the TSM game, and you're brought back down to Earth. The squad will finish ahead of Splyce, but no further.
Splyce
Splyce feels like the EU group that wants to say, "No, we're not with them, we're doing our own thing." And they are. A Kled pick led to some interesting engagements with Samsung, putting the South Koreans on their toes for a little while. The TSM game was solid until the team blew a 6.5k gold lead. And Chres "Sencux" Laursen leads mid laners at Worlds in kills with 18, which is also fourth overall. There's something there, but they just can't bring it together.
Prediction: Splyce grabs one off of Samsung while TSM and RNG make it to the quarterfinals.