World's Groups Predictions-Group B

1st Place: Invictus Gaming

The 2nd seed from China is one of the most inconsistent teams in this tournament. At times, they seem to be unmatched and untouched by any team in China and at other times they seem like they could lose to even the lowest rank team.

Most of this inconsistency comes from the team's carry roles-KiD and Rookie. Both players at their peaks have shown that they can stand toe to toe with the best. KiD actually has quite an illustrious history in E-Sports, one of the few chinese adcs that has remained after the 'Korean Invasion'. This is a testament to his insane mechanics as an ADC. It is often said that Korea is the best region when it comes to ADCs with revered players like NaMei and Uzi, but in actuality, very few have actually survived the Korean imports. Even today,the koreans Deft and Imp are considered the best ADCs in china. So it makes KiD's long standing career is a pleasant surprise in the Chinese scene.

So, this being said- I think IG will either get out first place in the group, or not get out at all. If they show up as the dominant team they have shown they can be- they may not even lose a game. And if they show up as something else they will 'crash and burn' #spicymemes.

2nd Place: Fnatic

At this point, talking about Fnatic almost seems like beating a dead horse. Great individual strength, great early game macro and great late game vision control and positioning. Fnatic is the full package. This being said, they're seemingly unbreakable armor has shown it's chinks. Firstly,  even as Huni and Reignover have shown great synergy in the toplane and have proved more than capable of taking on even the best of the best- one word seems to be their bane: lane swaps. In almost all scenarios, lane swaps have shown to be any team's best shot at beating these Kuropean terrors.

3rd Place: Cloud 9

This is probably the biggest surprise to the readers here. " Cloud 9 over AHQ? lel NA fanboy". I'm not going to lie, I am a fanboy, a big cloud 9 fanboy. But that isn't the reason that i'm placing Cloud 9 at third. I honestly believe that cloud 9's shotcalling is improving at an exponential rate with the addition of Hai. Sneaky and Incarnati0n have both shown to be world class players. Their win against Team Liquid wasn't just 'some fluke' that was planned and carried out to perfection. I believe they can do the same thing this worlds and if they're fortunate (i.e if IG screws up) they can even make it out.

4th Place: AHQ

Ouch, even typing the line above was painful.  The LMS power house has shown massive improvement over the years. Westdooor, SwordArt, GreenTea. ALL know they're shit. They showed at MSi that hey could stand toe to toe with any team in this group yet they still failed to win a game versus any of the top tier teams... Why is cloud 9 better than them? I think on a macro level, Hai's understanding of the game will trump AHQ's and C9 will simply out rotate them on the map. Moreover, I feel that AHQ relies too much on Westdoor to carry their games. It's almost like TSM's case where games are decided by who wins mid lane. In this Meta, things could change. And Ziv arguably 'obliterates' Balls , right? Well not really. So far last season we've seen Balls only on a plethora of tank champs- in this carry meta Balls can actually flourish as he is a player who is very hard to snowball over.

Worlds Groups Predictions - Group A.

1st Place: KOO Tigers.

Even with their mediocre run into the Korean playoff finals, the KOO tigers have shown a vast variety of strategy and innovation though out the korean scene. Innovating comps such as the 'Jugger-maw' and the 'freight-train' they have shown that they are very good at adapting to the new Meta. However, I believe that most of all victories at worlds will be judged by the top laners and their ability to put on their carry socks.

In this context their only real concern is CLG ( that's a sentence I never thought I would say) because time and time again ZionSpartan has shown that he is a very capable player who excels at carry top laners- we are already well aquainted with his riven, which he used to great effect in the 2014 splits with his former team 'Coast'. Smeb, however, has shown no lack of ability in the carry department constantly bolstering his team's success with pocket picks like Lissandra and Jax.

2nd Place: YOE Flash Wolves

Surprised? Yes, I did just say that CLG would be a problem for KOO. But that was in the context of toplaners. Overall, the Flash Wolves are a far more superior team. Before you start busting out the apple pie spirit, hear me out. The Yoe Flash Wolves, within Taiwan, have always been considered the best team in the region- before the LMS playoffs, FW were the biggest predicted to get first seed to worlds. These assertions weren't made on blind fact- Yoe, in taiwan, are revered as the 'china killers' owing to the fact that they can consistently defeat top tier chinese teams in scrims. In my opinion, they may not have shown up for regional playoffs, but they damn sure will show up for worlds. 

3rd Place: Counter Logic Gaming.

This is honestly a hard call to make, especially since Xmithie was just announced as a part of their starting roster in group stages. The only reason I put them below Flash Wolves is a personal 'gut' sensation. Otherwise, the competition between these two teams are actually very comparable. Even with BOTH teams playing at their best it would be hard to call a definite winner.

In fact, on paper, CLG's chances of beating the Flash Wolves are much greater, again owing to the fact that ZionSpartan is a great fit to the current Meta. Furthermore, Steak, is considered one of the weakest toplaners playing at this year's worlds. If CLG can withstand yoe's shear aggression, they should easily be able to place second- I just don't think they can.

4th Place : Pain Gaming.

If anyone could discount a team enough- it's Pain Gaming. Analysts following the brazillian scene will actually tell you that this team is decent. However much i'm inclined to agree with them, I can't place them anywhere above 4th. I will however make the bold assertion that Pain will take two games in this group and one of them will be a stomp.