Suning
Coming from third-seed LPL and first in Group A, Sunning is roaring its way toward Quarterfinals. This is a very young roster lead by two veterans, “Sofm” and “SwordArt.” And based on the Group Stage, “Bin” and “Sofm” were the two players that showed up the most. Their jungler, “Sofm,” explained why there are hyped around this man. He read the opposing jungler pathing like a book, and a very talented mechanic player. However, the more surprising person I found is coming from the youngest player in Worlds, their toplaner “Bin.” Dominating with non-flash Ominstone Camille, Critical flanks with Gankplank barrels, wonderful Jax mechanic were just some of the moments that this man could bring. Despite all of that, this team still had the same problem while in LPL were the late game macro decision and played very individually at some point. Fortunately, they seemed more confident in their team fights later in Group Stage and able to make deciding winning moment on tie-breaker. They can be the dark “lion” of this world’s run, and it’s going to be interesting to see how far than can go.
G2 Esports
Once again, missing out first place Group A on the tiebreaker game is the LEC first seed and last year Worlds finalist, G2 Esports. The European super teams show a better performance than people expected and a different playstyle from previous Worlds. These differences were coming from underrated players in the team, toplaner “Wunder” and support “MikyX.” Transforming from a weak side toplaner to actually carried games, “Wunder” showed his peaks career performance on Group Stage that he could play many things (except Renekton, for sure!). While their support “MikyX” was no longer repeatedly playing Nautilus games but actually showing his wonderful Hail of Blade Tahm Kench and Bard with cheesy warding mechanics. My only concern with this team would be their jungler “Jankos.” This is because he seemed to be unable adapting to the scaling farming jungler meta and losing many matchups against other players. Many people may begin being optimistic in their long run, but they already been the situation for the last two years and proved many people wrong. It will be interesting to see whether they repeat their “historical” run or the EU super teams finally over.
DAMWON Gaming
The most likely team to win the Worlds Champion, in my opinion, is the LCK first seed and first in Group B, Damwon Gaming. Coming from Challenger Korea to get a slot of LCK to Worlds 2019 Quarterfinalist, Damwon is looking forward to extending their stays this year and maybe win the Summoner’s Cup. The meta is too good for this team currently, and there’s no possibility to nerf them mid-patch. Two prioritized champions in the jungle (Nidalee and Graves), which “Canyon” is the best player so far to play those two champions. Their toplaner “Nuguri” despite Riot removed the Kleptomancy (a rune that him like) just to nerf him, he’s still a beast on his lane. You can throw him tanks, carries, heck even support, he’s still dominating the lane and help the teams. They’re just too many things that I can go through with this team, and I wouldn’t surprise if they made into Worlds Finals. With my expectation, they can be the team that finally brings back Korea pride and bring back Korea’s domination since Worlds 2018.
JD Gaming
After a closed win final games against DWG in Group B, the second seed LPL and second in Group B, JD Gaming, are proving that game can be early Worlds Final. Don’t let their second status fouled you because they’re a terrifying team that can be a real threat to other first seed in Group Stage. They were the god of teamfights, the team synergy when it came to deciding moment is just way to beautiful. This, however, can lead to their small weakness if teams began to outmaneuver them individually and harm down their speed. Despite all of that, they’re not all weak mechanics level, but actually can be insane level. “Zoom,” similar to all Chinese toplaner in this tournament, can best the best tank players and also carry when the teams need it. Griffin’s hidden gem, “Kanavi,” is also a player that’s people should focus on because he’s the one the player will somewhat dictate how JD Gaming play their games. I think people haven’t fully seen this team’s peak yet, and trust me, they can be the strongest opponent when it comes to the play-off.
Gen.G
Previously known as Samsung Galaxy, a team that has won a Worlds Championship in 2017. Despite being an LCK third seed beating fan favorite T1 out of gauntlet, they still managed to first come in Group C. It’s a coinflip in Group C and Gen.G as many expectations keep their mind stable and almost went 6–0. Their most stable players and almost the best their team would be their midlaner “BDD” and adc “Ruler.” In this roster, I always love seeing “BDD” able to make the game-changing moment and surprise many team off-guards. But I think “Ruler,” the only man from Samsung Galaxy 2017, is the real deal for keeping this team in the long run. Despite having ear infections within these matches, “Ruler” can carry and be a kiting god within team fight. Although they went 5–1, they do have some moments even closed to lose a game due to how to passive they can play. However, we see an aggressive Gen.G more often, and I think it’s a key answer when they are soon against an LPL team. It would be interesting to see if “Ruler” can bring the Worlds Final and maybe win the Summer’s Cup.
Fnatic
A legacy and well-known EU organization, Fnatic as a LEC second seed, appears again in Quarterfinals for the 4 consecutive times. People doubted making in out Groups, but they did prove to everyone wrong that they can be a top contender for this Worlds. There were many improvements from Fnatic since they got 0–3 in the LEC finals, and these improvements are coming from “Nemesis” and “Bwipo.” A funny and charismatic, “Bwipo” showed that he could carry games, especially with the champion Volibear. While it’s the same with “Nemesis,” his Lucian was on top of many matches. I think their weakness so far is when the game went out of control as they planned, and it usually left them to crumble. However, the one game vs. LGD recently showed a different Fnatic, where they seemed to play aggressively early. Now, It’s down to them to see how far they can go in the Playoffs because they’re looking excellent so far. Will, they re-write the history of being the first Worlds Champion in this 10th anniversary of Lol Esport.
Top Esports
Teams should start to be scared because the LPL first-seed represents China to take their 3rd consecutive Summoner Cups right in their hometown. The LPL superteams are looking stronger than ever and almost coming out of Groups D undefeated with a 5–1 record. Same with Damwon, these rosters are stacked with talents and a World 2017 champion “Jakeylove.” Praised as the “Golden Left Hand,” “Knight” proved that he can play anything in the midlane (6 unique champions) and still dominating the whole Groups. The same stat also shared with their toplaner “369” on a diverse champion pool and created a big gap between every other toplaners. Despite all that, I don’t think this team is unbeatable like Damwon. Based on all their losses this year, as long as the team can punish their botlane aggressive playstyles and keep “369” on checked, it will slow them down a bit, and the team can take advantage of it. However, it’s not an easy task since they’re known to have the best mechanics player so far in Worlds.
DRX
For some reason, I delete their stuff. RIP
