10 thoughts going into Groups: "TL can beat KZ if Steve buys the Infinity Gauntlet."

The Mid-Season Invitational is the first chance for all of us to see just how much better Korea still is after spending the whole lead-in to the tournament thinking, “Maybe this is the year.” To which I say, maybe this is the year. For all their dominance, the KZ roster doesn’t actually have many major international wins under their belt. Here’s 10 thoughts going into the MSI Group Stage:

KING-ZONE DragonX will drop two games at mostRemember in Gym class when the teacher told you to make your own teams and then all the jocks got together and crushed everyone? That’s KZ. Also they’re class valedictorian. Also it seems like they’ll never graduate. KZ features a Top 3 player (in the world) at every single position. I don’t think you could even form another five-man squad [of Top 3 players] even if you combined every single other team at this tournament. Because they’ve never won an international tournament, though, it’s a different aura of invincibility than SKT -- and ultimately, I might be overestimating their ability to dominate here. Like, truly, maybe this is the year for the rest of the world? Or…. nah. Warriors in 5.

RNG second… no more?First off, congratulations are in order for Uzi who finally won his first event. It’s still mind-boggling to me that he had that much success but could never win anything -- either domestically or internationally. RNG faced off against a very similar Fnatic roster at Worlds last year in a pretty even set. I’m interested to see the two clash again -- I think Fnatic is very clearly better than they were at Worlds, but RNG hasn’t really missed many beats (at least when Uzi is in the lineup) either. Second place will probably go to one of those teams, but after playing so much Hearthstone, it’s hard for me to bet against RNG. Especially seeing as Uzi is the best player in this tournament and has mostly been knocked out by Faker on the international stage.

Caps needs to be Fnatic’s MVPCaps has matured into a frightening force in the mid lane for Fnatic. There are a lot of reasons for their captain and star Rekkles’ MVP campaign this split, but I think Caps’ performance may be the most important factor. And it helps that the mid lane talent at MSI this year is relatively shallow. Which is mainly to say Faker isn’t here (and there hasn’t been a consensus #2 mid laner in years). But MSI mainstays Bjergsen and Perkz aren’t here either. This is a great chance for Caps to secure his claim to being the best mid laner in Europe -- between BDD, Maple, and Xiaohu, that’s a lot of guys who have been great-but-still-not-Faker for a while now. Can Caps lock in and best them all?

Team Liquid makes Top 4Or more specifically, they finish 4th. As is tradition. This has long been the hidden power of this meme -- get to an international tournament and you’re guaranteed a semifinal appearance. Or you would think, but who among us can actually predict how an NA meme will translate to the international stage? This team smashed through the NA LCS Playoffs, but the key factor in their success all split was the prowess of their bot lane. However, MSI features some of the most potent bot lanes in the world. And it’s not like Doublelift has a strong international track record (or anyone on this team outside of Impact). It’s not a roster you look at and say about anyone, “This person is definitely Top 5 in the World at their position.” But they also didn’t even place anyone into the NA LCS All-Pro rosters and still won the split. It’s clearly not about any single player for this team. So this is a super exciting moment for TL and their fans. Finally, after years of heartbreak, this organization will leave its first mark on the international stage.

Flash Wolves redemption tour?Months ago, the Flash Wolves thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now they know for sure. They just added two more guys to their wolf pack. If you watched them lay the beatdown on Gambit, then you might be thinking, “Oh right, this team is good.” They’ve won five straight LMS titles and are always a team that people say, “Oh yeah, they’re doing really well in scrims.” For whatever reason, though, their descent on the actual international stage has continued in recent tournaments. SwordArT and Maple are still world calibre players but the rest are unproven. Not any less unproven than say, TL, though. I think they’ll definitely be in contention to make it to Paris -- doing so will be a huge morale boost for the region.

EVOS continues the GAM legacyHow long before we see “YiJin to TSM when?” comments? YiJin is the latest in a line of internationally heralded Vietnamese junglers after SofM and Levi. A brilliant display in the Play-in Knockout Stage has turned quite a few heads already, and he’ll now have a chance to show his skills to an even larger audience. I think it’s still not widely known that Vietnam is on par with Korea and Europe when it comes to the size of their player base. There’s a ton of talent to pull from. And it can take just one generational talent (like SofM) to elevate a region’s play -- they can learn and adapt from each other in solo queue and scrims. Vietnam is a scary region because they’re growing and eager to prove themselves. Whether that’s enough to make up for the vast disadvantages they still face when it comes to infrastructure will be the question for them at MSI. I think probably not, but much like their predecessors, their aggression should catch at least a few teams off-guard.

Rekkles vs. DoubleliftBecause all of the Western talk will revolve around this matchup anyway, we’ve decided to just have them slug it out in a boxing ring via League-boxing. Much like chessboxing, where you can either checkmate or KO, League-boxing will have all the rules of the 1:1 (first blood, 100 CS, or turret) alongside a boxing match. It’s a great chance to redefine our understanding of “first blood.” I think it’s important to remember that this is a team game and these two players have different playstyles. It’s not like they’ll actually box each other for the win. Anyway, that’s the boring PR take. In actuality, this is a hype-as-hell matchup that we don’t get to see enough! Both are poster childs for their respective regions and whoever wins is going to be heralded as the best in the west. I want to see Kai’Sa and Vayne and Xayah! Give me some duels. No rush 20. No ganks. No supports. Final destination. No items. Winner is crowned Mew2King.

Here’s what each region has to do to beat KZEU: Caps grows from Baby Faker into Faker LMS: Channel their inner Korea-slayer LPL: Feed the puppy NA: Have Steve buy the Infinity Gauntlet VN: Advanced jungle warfare

My pre-tournament MVP is… Top lane is probably the shallowest position at this tournament -- it’s a whole bunch of rookies and young players (especially if we don’t see sOAZ at all) tasked with taking on someone who could even challenge Faker for being the best player in the world at the moment. Anything short of absolute domination would be a let down for Khan.

Anything is possibleIf Kanye can whoop-di-scoop-di-poop, then we’ve all been granted by the greater powers of the universe to achieve anything we set our minds to. I think there’s always a little bit of apathy for international play because we see Korea’s victory as being inevitable. We see the same thing with the Warriors in the NBA right now. Some dynasties seem like they’ll absolutely last forever, but that’s exactly why they’re remembered as dynasties. We often take greatness for granted. But you know what? We end up nostalgic for Michael Jordan. Or Ali. Or Tiger. Hell, I even miss Faker right now and it’s only been half a year. But the longer the drought, the sweeter victory will feel. Just ask Liquid fans -- for some five or six years they toiled in mediocrity. Or Uzi and his Silver medals. Even KZ’s PraY has been eliminated from Worlds four straight times by the eventual champion. But here they are. Whoever lifts the MSI trophy this time around will feature at least four players on their team who’ve never won a major international event before. That’s cool as hell. And yeah, KZ looks really strong. They might be one of the greatest teams ever assembled. But they don’t have the same track record that Faker accumulated. For every other team at this tournament -- none of them are tasked with slaying god this time around. I’d take those odds. And I’m sure they will too. Let’s goooooo!