What a week it’s been! The group stages are finally over, and I’m kinda gonna miss the plethora of high-class games that I had to watch everyday. Anyways, we’re finally moving on to the semifinals, where we’ll finally see the rest of the teams. It kind of feels like these are the mid-game bosses of an RPG, who only reveal themselves after you defeat the first few bosses. Hopefully we’ll see games just as good from these teams as we saw from the group stages.
And here are my thoughts on the teams from groups:
Vulcan
Being a Vulcan fan must be the most heartbreaking thing in the world. Every game they start out so strong, usually getting an early lead. And then they completely throw it! Especially the game today against Gambit, where they were up 10k gold and decided to do Baron, which led to them losing a team fight and ultimately the game. That game was literally Vulcan’s, and yet against all odds, they lost. It just blows my mind. I think Vulcan needs to work on their team communication and decision making, as these are really costing them their games. And they might want to find a new AD carry too, as Zuna is often losing lane, underfarmed, and out of position. It’s really frustrating to see a team that can perform so well in lane just completely throw all their advantages due to poor decision makings, as they would be a world-class team otherwise.
Gambit Gaming
Gambit has not been looking very strong these past few days, especially after today’s games. Alex hasn’t been performing well, as he keeps getting ganked early on, resulting in him unable to make plays or grab objectives for his team. Their team comps also seem to be all over the place, and they seem to pick whatever they want. Their mid-game objective decisions are also sometimes questionable, as they nearly pulled a Vulcan in their final match against Ozone. And it’s clear that Alex realizes that Gambit has problems, with his grim expression after the Vulcan game. Regardless, they’ve made it past the group stage, and drawn a match against Nanjin Sword. I honestly don’t know how they will do, as Sword is an Enigma, and Gambit always surprises everyone, though they’ve been looking iffy these past few days.
Samsung Galaxy Ozone
The glaring issue with Ozone is their midlane: Dade. He continually under-performed during group stages, costing his team many chances at wins. I’m not sure if this is from nerves or a small champion pool, but it’s a troubling aspect that will have repercussions when he gets back to Korea. Otherwise, Ozone’s a pretty strong team. Their double AD push comp against Gambit was beautifully played, and Imp is a scary Caitlyn. I’m a little dissapointed at how they did, but I do appreciate them letting Gambit continue on.
Fnatic
Just wow at Fnatic. I knew they were strong, but they were downright impressive after the first day. xPeke is just a monster at midlane, but while he might be the star of the team, everyone else can pull their weight. I’m especially impressed by Yellowstar’s support plays, as his Zyra and Leona skillshots have been spot-on. But even more impressive is how the whole team works together, getting blind picks, and their teleport plays. I think the key to defeating them is to shut shut down xPeke (obviously), but this is easier said than done. We can see from the recent games that his team will let him solo farm up until he’s strong enough, because they believe in his ability to carry. Fnatic is definitely looking like a strong contender for the win, and I’m looking forward to their match versus Cloud 9.
Mineski
After their first few games, Mineski looked like they had resigned themselves to losing the rest of their games. While Mineski can keep up with the other teams in mechanics, it’s their team fights and objective control that holds them back. Most of their games start with Mineski doing ok in lane, then one or two people getting picked off in the jungle, before they get snowballed to defeat. It really just shows how much League depends on teamwork, and it’s not enough just to be strong mechanically. Either way, it looked like they had fun in the last few games, and I’m sure they learned tons from being at worlds.
Lemondogs
I’m a little disappointed in these guys. After seeing them in the EU playoffs, I expected them to have a decent showing in groups. Unfortunately, they were only able to take games off of GG and TSM, which isn’t saying much. Their main weakness is that they rely too heavily on their midlaner, Nukeduck. He’s an amazing midlaner, on the same level as the other top EU midlaners such as xPeke, Froggen, Bjergson, and AlexIch. The problem is that he plays very flippantly in game, where he just goes off and does his own stuff. So when he does well, so does his team, but when he doesn’t they lose. Throughout groups, Nukeduck hasn’t been doing too great, and this has been reflected in his team’s performance. Maybe their other lanes need to do better? I’m not really sure.
TSM
Sight, TSM. They have potential, but it never seems to be fulfilled. Like, TSM has a strong bottom lane, a decent mid and top lane, and some very well-throught out strategies. It’s just that they always make small mistakes that puts at a disadvantage severe enough for capable opponents to snowball. I feel kind of bad for Dyrus, as he’s been continually dying these past few games. Part of it is due to carelessness, but another part is because these ganks he’s been getting are very unexpected. TSM is a team that can continually adapt to new strategies, though it always takes them awhile. It seems that they weren’t able to do so fast enough this season.
OMG
OMG is really good. This is showcased by their game against Lemondogs, where they picked Veigar support, AP Nidalee, jungle Yorick, and lane Atrox, and then they won. OMG focuses on grouping very early to grab objectives and establishing leads, whereupon they slowly snowball this lead. Their overall strategy is the same regardless of their champion pick, as can be seen how they crushed Lemondogs with such a silly team comp. You really have to be able to stop their early game aggression to have a chance against them, which is difficult for many teams facing them the first time. I’m definitely looking forward to their games against Royal Club, though I kind of wanted them to face another non-Chinese team. Oh well.
SKT1
SKT is also really good. I’d say that they are the best team mechanically among the group stages. Faker’s skills are the real deal, as he’s either winning his lane or making plays around the map. SKT plays more of the mid-game rather than OMG’s early game, which would explain their first lost against them. It seems like they’ve been adapting through the tournament, as SKT has been trying the 3 man dives. The scariest thing about SKT is that when they get an advantage, they push it to its limits. If they get a pick, they don’t stop there; they go for towers, dragons, or even more picks. It’s extremely hard to come back from behind SKT, and they look like another strong favorite to take worlds.
GG.EU
I didn’t really watch their games, and I would classify them in the same department as Mineski. While they all seem like nice people, they were also outclassed by every other team in their group. Except maybe TSM, who gave them a win. Just kidding, TSM wasn’t serious at all that game.
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