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Best/Worst: Week 2 - ANX, Korea, and heartbreak

Riot·10/10/2016, 1:00:03 PM·2 votes·34,090 views

The good news is only half the field stands between your favorite team and the Summoner’s Cup. The bad news is your favorite team is probably out.

In an alternate timeline, your favorite team -- let’s call them TSMCLG2 -- is waking up. It’s Thursday, October 6th. They roll around in bed and check social media. Fans are wishing them luck. Then it hits. It’s all about to start again. They visualize landing a skill shot. A kill. A pentakill. They see the enemy Nexus crumble. Them lifting the Cup.

Then there’s a knock on the door. A one-two. It’s their manager -- says, “Are you almost ready?”

They sit up so fast their hair flops over their face. The manager knocks again. Just once. A louder knock. They get up. They yell, “Yeah. I’m ready.”

But were you -- dear TSMCLG2 fan -- ready for the second week of the World Championship? Has it settled yet that the above is the alternate timeline, and that this current timeline that we’re all tied to has just watched your team be eliminated? If not, you can live through it again here with the VODs. Or you can trust me when I say these were the best and worst moments to conclude the Group Stage:

Best: Likkrit rallies the troops

I’ve never particularly felt like risking my life. I jump when tiny little bugs get too close to me. I don’t know the first thing about swordsmanship. But I’d follow Albus NoX Luna’s Likkrit into the depths of Mount Doom, and there, we’d cast The One Ring into its molten pits -- and along with it the power to control the International Wildcard regions.

ANX defeating the ROX Tigers is arguably the match of the tournament so far and maybe ever. The Russian squad has captured the adoration of many fans and rightfully so. Their underdog story is appealing to anybody who’s ever been looked down on. And their playstyle is unrelenting -- Likkrit spends a significant chunk of the game roaming, and they’re not afraid to fight. They’ve played the likes of Anivia and Brand. And to follow all of that with such a candid interview is a testament to their passion. Fans love ANX because they love the game and the competition. And they’re not afraid to show that to the world.

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Worst: NA Week 2

As in, Na(h), that didn’t happen. As in, NaCl(g). As in, dang, this year’s gotta be the most disappointing thing for TSM fans. This was a team that was super dominant in the regular season. They put in hours and hours of work and built a robust infrastructure of trainers and coaches. But for whatever reason, it didn’t click. Dyrus retiring after Worlds last year was sad for TSM fans for all the right reasons. This year, it’s sad for all the wrong ones.

Best: Korea

What kind of idiot jumps to hasty conclusions about Korea faltering after just one week? Ha…

All three of their representatives finished their groups in first place. They're favored in all of those matches, so a Semifinals featuring three teams from Korea is looking to be not just possible but likely. Let’s put this in perspective: they won almost as much games as all of NA and EU combined. The Western teams managed to close the gap between themselves, at least. The silver lining? H2K swept Week 2 with a 4-0 record, and Cloud9 can count on many TSM and CLG fans to hop on their wagon send them their energy. Also, this gif lives on.

Worst: LMS end game woes

Neither team really ever got blown out -- they pretty much always met their opponent on a level playing field as they entered the mid and late game. But neither ahq e-Sports Club or the Flash Wolves seemed to have enough bite in them to secure victories. It’s tough watching talented teams fail to close out games -- be it a lack of confidence or nerves, it seemed finding the mark with the final arrow was too tall a task for the LMS teams at this Worlds.

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Best: Reddit game thread poems

Yo

This Worlds is sweaty, Lee Sin week, feeders are heavy

There’s toxic in this lobby already, Tahm’s spaghetti

You’re nervous for your team but by the Nexus they look calm and ready

To drop comms, but they keep on forgettin’

To ban out Crown, the whole crowd goes so loud

They walk into lane, but the minions won’t come out

They’re poking now, everybody’s pokin’ wow

Baron comes up, it’s time to throw, blaow!

Snap back to reality, oh this game’s insanity

Oh there goes half the field, I’m sad too so don’t be mad at me

Worst: This Tweet about EDG top laner Mouse

This gave me all sorts of feels. Mouse has been getting ragged on pretty hard for some of his performances thus far, but when EDG had their backs against the wall against ahq, he stepped up and provided brilliant ult-after-ult on Poppy to help them claw their way back into the game and subsequently the tournament. The Best of 5 setting from here on out should allow EDG to make proper adjustments between games to give him more assistance. And a Quarterfinal matchup against ROX’s Smeb is the ultimate chance to redeem himself.

Best: H2K saves the European Union

Well, close enough. Including the tiebreaker for first place, H2K finished Friday with a 4-0 record. Even for non-EU fans, it was relieving to see, especially after the thrashing they received last week. And while ANX will likely say the same, H2K drawing them should give fans reason to be optimistic about a Semifinals appearance. This dope Caitlyn play from FORG1VEN sums up their week pretty well.

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Worst: I May Road’s suspension

I found it ironic that this ban for behavior was met with so much vitriol. I don’t know how much crap he got for this in China, but I can’t imagine it was pretty. I’m not condoning poor in-game behavior -- not in the slightest. I just hope people have enough empathy to separate his temper from who he might actually be as a person -- and that, perhaps, things like death threats, which are more common now with League’s growth, are completely and absolutely over the line. That said, let’s all try to be nicer in-game, too.  

Best: The six people with a perfect Pick’Em

I will personally give a Little Devil Teemo skin to one of these people if they finish with a perfect bracket -- if only to get on the good side of our new overlord.

Best/Worst: Group Stage is over

Like the first couple rounds of March Madness, Group Stage offers a lot by way of volatility. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a room get more invested in a game than the ANX vs. ROX game -- we were watching David slay Goliath. Most people didn’t even know who ANX was before the tournament, but there they were, leaned halfway into the screen. Every felled objective was met with thunder. Everyone teetered on edge until it finally ended. That was everything Worlds is supposed to be -- teams displaying excellence from different corners of the world.

That Group Stage is over means we only have three more weeks of competitive League of Legends this year. That it’s over, though, also means we’re three weeks away from crowning this year’s World Champion. And it’s going to be super exciting to see which team will stand above us all. At least until Thursday, we can wallow in our alternate timelines.

108 Comments

Dranor10/10/2016, 1:09:51 PM23 votes

Only true fans know the pain.

Edge Geraldine10/10/2016, 4:16:41 PM9 votes

NaCl(g)...dear god salt is now gaseous and can spread through the air

xdeadboltx10/10/2016, 3:09:50 PM8 votes

So not saying that NA region didn't disappoint, but if I was an EU fan I'm worried. H2K got in by the same merit that C9 did, Luck. H2K is lucky that they had the easiest group out of the four (no Korean or NA teams) and C9 is lucky that the Flash Wolves lost to SKT to avoid a tie breaker. I see both H2K and C9 getting pummeled and outed setting up another all Korean final between Rox and Samsung, don't see China or International putting up much of a fight either.

TrollFan0110/10/2016, 4:42:24 PM6 votes

TSM did well all things considered. Won half their games, stomped SSG, and kept even with RNG in the first game.

If this TSM roster sticks together and continues to grow then they can do as good at next year's worlds that they wanted to do this year.

Banana Bread XD10/10/2016, 8:00:03 PM6 votes

TSM feelsbadman, C9 made it bois, MakeNaGreatAgain*[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]*

foxy1148710/10/2016, 6:40:27 PM5 votes

As a C9 fan it sucks to see TSM not make it but i belive in C9

Çhaos10/10/2016, 4:44:11 PM3 votes

There are no excuses for how TSM played. However, I know that those guys are hurting much worse than we are. I love Team Solomid, and I'll stand by them forever. I know they gave it their best and I'll always be proud of how hard they worked. Let's show our love and support for our region as I know they need it. Support TSM and CLG, they both tried their best.

Lord SnowStorm10/10/2016, 10:01:36 PM3 votes

I started reading this article super hype and then I realized who ever wrote this spent more time on saying how sad it was that TSM and CLG were eliminated than about the fact that C9 is in the semi finals. The only thing said about them is " Cloud9 can count on many TSM and CLG fans to hop on their wagon send them their energy". WTF are you serious you can tell the author of this article favors TSM and CLG. Also I really like ANX they are a great team and very fun to watch but they aren't the only underdogs. If I went back 2 month ago and started a poll on which NA team would make it to worlds I know that it would be TSM and CLG with the majority but the fact that they were eliminated and C9 is in the quarter finals is way more important than the sob story about TSM and CLG at least it is to me.

Meanie4010/10/2016, 8:12:22 PM2 votes

Worst: The knockout draw.

C'mon, how can the clear top 4 teams all be on one side of the bracket.

RIP the finals at Staples.

Hentai Fuels Me10/10/2016, 8:23:03 PM2 votes

Let's just skip to the finals. It's going to be a Korean team anyway that will win.

Chymaerus10/10/2016, 11:49:47 PM2 votes

I find it funny how fast people completely forget what actually happened in professional matches and focus exclusively on a statistic. Every Korean team made it out of groups in first place but every Korean team besides SKT showed major recurring holes in their gameplay which lost them games. This year from Korea looked nothing like years past and they are not by any stretch of the imagination, miles ahead of the other regions. In fact I think they actually looked very beatable this year, but for whatever reason the THEME of this years worlds has been wild inconsistency across virtually every other region.

While their in-game play (again, barring SKT) wasn't exactly stellar, I think this year exposed the mismatch in support staff between KR and the other regions more than anything. They came into games with very intelligent drafts planned out, and clear win conditions carefully crafted and targeted at their specific opponents in week 2. The same thing cannot be said for the other region's teams.