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The League of Legends 2016 World Championships are in full swing in North America and there have been some surprising storylines developing.
Teams from every region have fought their way through their respective regions at a chance to win the Summoner’s Cup.
We’ve been through an eventful group stage, with North America and Europe’s number one seeds knocked out, while the wildcard team Albus NoX Luna from Russia shocking the world by defeating tournament favourites ROX Tigers from Korea, while prevailing over G2 (Europe’s number one seed) and Counter Logic Gaming (North America’s number 2 seed).
With that being said, the remaining teams are as follows.
Korea: ROX Tigers, SKT Telecom T1, Samsung Galaxy
China: Royal Never Give Up, EDward Gaming
Europe: H2K
North America: Cloud9
Wildcard: Albux NoX Luna
Here’re our predictions for the upcoming Quarterfinals knockout stage.
Game 1:
Samsung Galaxy – Korea (5W-1L) vs Cloud9 – NA (3W-3L) – Best of 5
Friday, October 14 – 9am AEDT:
Line-ups:
| Cloud9 | ||
| Top | Impact | Jung Eon-yeong |
| Jungle | Meteos | William Hartman |
| Mid | Jensen | Nicolaj Jensen |
| ADC | Sneaky | Zachary Scuderi |
| Support | Smoothie | Andy Ta |
| Coach | Repeared | Bok Han-gyu |
| Samsung Galaxy | ||
| Top | CuVee | Lee Seong-jin |
| Jungle | Ambition | Kang Yeong-jae |
| Mid | Crown | Kang Chan-yong |
| ADC | Ruler | Park Jae-hyuk |
| Support | Wraith | Jo Yong-in |
| Coach | DoGGi | Choi Wee-beom |
| Sub | CoreJJ | Kwon Ji-min |
Cloud9 come into the knockout stages as North America’s last hope.
With TSM and CLG out, C9 have been tasked with redeeming the region, however, Korea’s Samsung Galaxy stands in between them and the semi-finals.
Samsung haven’t been playing at their best this tournament, and some consider them undeserving of the last Korean spot, but they’ve powered through to this stage.
Look for Samsung’s Ambition to take control of the map for his team to take the win. As a seasoned veteran of the League of Legends scene, he’ll be the one to react to the enemy’s movements and to control his teammates.
Cloud9’s Jensen could be a turning point in this series, carrying the team from almost certain defeats to put them into winning positions.
Prediction: Samsung win, 3-1. While they haven’t been playing to their potential, they did roll through group stages with five wins and one loss, while Cloud9 went 3-3.
Game 2:
SK Telecom T1 – KR (5W-1L) vs Royal Never Give Up – CN (3W-3L) – Best of 5
Saturday, October 15 – 9am AEDT.
Line-ups:
| SK Telecom T1 | ||
| Top | Duke | Lee Ho-Seong |
| Jungle | Blank | Kang Sun-gu |
| Mid | Faker | Lee Sang-hyeok |
| ADC | Bang | Bae Jun-sik |
| Support | Wolf | Lee Jae-wan |
| Coach | kkOma | Kim Jeong-gyun |
| Sub | bengi | Bae Seong-ung |
| Royal Never Give Up | ||
| Top | Looper | Jang Hyeong-seok |
| Jungle | mlxg | Liu Shi-yu |
| Mid | Xiaohu | Li Yuan-Hao |
| ADC | Uzi | Jian Zi-Hao |
| Support | Mata | Cho Se-hyoung |
| Coach | Fly | Sangchul Kim |
| Sub | Wuxx | Wang Cheng |
A dual world championship organisation and defending champions SKT come up against former world champion Mata and the RNG organisation.
This series may be decided in the bot lane. While SKT’s Bang and Wolf are world class, Uzi and Mata are considered some of the best in the world at their positions.
Uzi plays on emotion, so even if Blank (or SKT sub jungler bengi) does their best to put Wolf and Bang ahead, it might not be enough to count Uzi off.
However, this is a best of five series, and SKT’s coach kkOma is considered the best coach in the world. If there’s a coach that can react and base a strategy on stage, it’s him.
Prediction: SKT win, 3-2. This will be a close one, just based on the sheer skill alone, but Faker has the experience of being in the pressure cooker and should be able to pull this one out.
Game 3:
ROX Tigers – KR (5W-2L) vs EDward Gaming – CN (4W-3L) – Best of 5
Sunday, October 16 – 9am (AEDT):
| ROX Tigers | ||
| Top | Smeb | Song Kyung-ho |
| Jungle | Peanut | Han Wang-ho |
| Mid | kurO | Lee Seo-haeng |
| ADC | PraY | Kim Jong-in |
| Support | GorillA | Kang Beom-hyeon |
| Coach | NoFe | Jeong No-chul |
| Sub | Cry | Hae Seong-min |
| EDward Gaming | ||
| Top | Mouse | Chen Yu-hao |
| Jungle | Clearlove | Ming Kai |
| Mid | Scout | Lee Ye-chan |
| ADC | Deft | Kim Hyuk-kyu |
| Support | Meiko | Tian Ye |
| Coach | Aaron | Ji Xing |
| Sub | PawN | Heo Won-seok |
Possibly the second best match in the quarter-finals after SKT versus RNG.
ROX have come in as the tournament favourites, but have struggled through the early game, giving up early leads against every team during the group stages. ROX Smeb was widely considered the best player at this tournament but has looked shaky throughout.
Meanwhile, EDG has had the same concerns, with Clearlove coming in as the consensus best jungler in the tournament.
Mouse has also been struggling in the top lane, however, the bot lane duo of Deft and Meiko are strong enough to fill in the holes Mouse and Clearlove have in their game.
Prediction: ROX win, 3-1. Look for Smeb, the consensus best player of the tournament to kick off against a struggling Mouse.
If Mouse fails to perform, Smeb will only grow in confidence, and ROX will become the team to fear once again.
Game 4:
H2K – EU (5W-2L) vs Albus NoX Luna – Wildcard region (4W-3L) – Best of 5
Monday, October 17 – 9am (AEDT): https://www.twitch.tv/riotgames
| H2K Gaming | ||
| Top | Odoamne | Andrei Pascu |
| Jungle | Jankos | Marcin Jankowski |
| Mid | Ryu | Ryu Sang-ook |
| ADC | FORG1VEN | Konstantinos Tzortziou |
| Support | VandeR | Oskar Bogdan |
| Coach | Pr0lly | Neil Hammad |
| Albus NoX Luna | ||
| Top | Smurf | Dmitrii Ivanov |
| Jungle | PvPStejos | Oleksandr Glazkov |
| Mid | Kira | Mykhailo Harmash |
| ADC | aMiracle | Vladyslav Shcherbyna |
| Support | Likkrit | Kirill Malofeev |
| Coach | Ansva | Konstantin Chanchikov |
The giant slayers versus Europe’s last hope.
Albux NoX surprised everybody when they finished week one with two wins and a loss and at the top of a group that contained the number one Korean seed, the number one European seed and the number two North American seed.
Not since the dominance of Moscow five have we seen an emergence of a power Russian team. ANX have dominated their wins, with their losses being relatively close.
Star support Likkrit is currently suffering from chickenpox which might reduce his impact in-game. Look for Kira, the 1v1 World Champion, to carry the game.
H2K will need to rely on Odoamne and Jankos to step up. Traditionally, FORG1VEN and Ryu are seen as the carries, so Odoamne and Jankos need to step up to stop ANX from gaining their early advantages.
Prediction: ANX win, 3-2. The Wildcard’s hope, Albus NoX didn’t get here via a fluke. The hype is definitely real, and they’re looking to prove a point against their European counterparts.