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Best performing teams in the Group Stage

GeminiRune·10/10/2016, 4:34:59 PM·3 votes·494 views

I thought it'd be fun to speak of my own experience at the hype, excitement, nail biting moments, and rather sudden disappointments that the group stage had for Worlds so far. It may not have had the cleanest consistent play across the board by any team aside SKT (and maybe SSG - looking back to Week 1) but it was definitely entertaining nonetheless. It's rough to pinpoint who were the breakout teams throughout the Group Stage. ANX who I considered the strongest performing team throughout Group A despite losing their tiebreaker? H2K and SSG flipping the switch all of a sudden after a mixed felt first week? SKT period? If I bothered making my own evaluation ranking of all 16 teams without looking ahead, I'd probably have these 4 at the top.

Who would you consider as the best or some of the best performing teams? Win or Lose, advanced or eliminated; which teams raised your heads high and kept your eyes glued to the screen despite the tension?

2 Comments

xJLx MCHammer10/10/2016, 4:56:56 PM4 votes

Skt SSG H2k RoX

In that order based on their group and seat 1

Edg RnG C9 Anx In that order for seat 2

TBakes10/10/2016, 7:09:39 PM3 votes

Teams to Beat:

SKT

Honestly, SKT is the only team that looked consistent between Week 1 and Week 2. I see them as the team with the least surprises. Yes, FW beat them, but in Bo1s it is almost impossible not to lose a game, and FW proved they have a strong early game. It was easy to watch SKT constrict resources once they get a lead and just do not allow opponents to capitalize on mistakes.

Teams to Prove Themselves:

SSG H2K ROX EDG

These teams showed up at times, but had a lot of questions at other times. SSG and H2K were on fire in Week 2, but questionable coming into the tournament and into Week 1. ROX and EDG were a bit of the opposite. Many had them as favorites coming into Worlds, but they have not lived up to those expectations. Many of their wins look questionable and some of their losses are even more questionable. However, it would be silly to underestimate these two going into the next stage.

Spoiler Teams

RNG ANX

These teams have been interesting to watch. RNG is all over the place. Sometimes they crush. Sometimes they just die. Sometimes they look like they can beat anyone. Sometimes they look mediocre. Could I see them taking down SKT in the Quarterfinals? Yes. Could I see them getting stomped 3-0 to SKT? Yes. That is the danger of this team: you never know when Uzi and Mata will pop off or which Xiaohu will be on stage. ANX has been extremely fun to watch in the Group Stage. Bo5s will be a different story, though. I am interested to see how they adapt to H2K and vice versa. I would hope H2K would beat them in a Bo5, but ANX could be the perfect team to tilt Forgiven and Vander. Again, I could see this match-up going either way, which is part of the excitement!

Do These Teams Deserve to Be Here?

C9

As much as it pains me to question my favorite team, I think I'm not the only one wondering if C9 are better than the other 8 teams that did not make it into Quarterfinals. Most would argue TSM is better overall, but even within the context of Worlds so far, did C9 look significantly better than CLG, FW, and AHQ? I'm not saying they were terrible. They just seem like the least inspiring on the list in my opinion. Many questioned whether they were better than Immortals before the tournament even started. Going through Groups they got stomped by SKT, had a terrible win against FW, then followed up with a bit more consistency in Week 2, but nothing stood out to show dominance the way fans felt in the NA Finals and Regional gauntlet. Looking at all of the other team in the top 8, Cloud9 is the only one I feel luke-warm about.

(Disclaimer: I am a C9 fan. You will see I have their icon up right now. I am a bit biased, so it could just be me being let-down more than anything.)