NA LCS Pros' favorite moments from the Worlds 2014 Group Stage
Riot·10/3/2014, 2:01:17 AM·0 votes·10,410 views
It's not just the pros competing who have Worlds fever. Astonishing comebacks and unthinkable upsets highlighted the League of Legends 2014 World Championship Group Stage, and NA LCS pros have been tuning in for all the action. We checked in with a few to find out their favorite moments from the tournament so far, and who they predict will win big in the upcoming Knockout Stage.
"Every game in Group C was a special one," said Counter Logic Gaming's (CLG) Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng. "Group C had the best games of any World Championship so far." He explained how it was amazing to see Fnatic beat Samsung Blue, and he also favored the nail-biting back-and-forth base-trading between Fnatic and OMG.
Team Curse's Joedat "Voyboy" Esfahani predicted that Samsung Blue would come out of Group C on top. "Dade is a god and I think [Blue] are a class above the other teams," he said.
CLG's Austin "LiNk" Shin had a lot to say about Group C as well. He believed it was the closest of all the groups because of how similar in terms of skill level each team was. "I thought Samsung Blue would 100% make it out, but the last team was going to be a tossup," he said. "I never discounted anyone and I thought Fnatic had a better shot than OMG compared to when I played versus both teams at All-Stars. However, LMQ made an extremely strong showing and I felt every team deserved to move out."
Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black from CLG enjoyed Fnatic's run. "My favorite moments with Group C had to be watching Fnatic rise and fall short of making it past the Group Stages. Their games were very entertaining."
Johnny "Altec" Ru from Evil Geniuses also called out the insane match from Group C between OMG and Fnatic. "The backdoor attempt from Fnatic had me screaming. One auto off from winning the game has just got to be my favorite moment."
"KaBuM beating Alliance is probably the biggest upset in League of Legends history," said Evil Geniuses' Eugene "Pobelter" Park. His teammate Altec agreed. "The biggest surprise for me was KaBuM pulling off a big upset against Alliance." He continued, "Everyone was expecting KaBuM to get stomped throughout the Group Stage but they finally found their ground near the end and just stomped Alliance. This shows every team has the potential to beat each other."
Doublelift also named the match-up as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the game, partly due to the fact that Alliance was so inconsistent. "They had a perfect game against the favorites of their group, Najin White Shield, and came off of it to get stomped by KaBuM." CLG's Marcel "dexter" Feldkamp was rather optimistic about the game, saying he was especially happy for KaBuM as the win was "important for the growth of the eSports scene."
"[Samsung] Blue and White will likely advance, with White Shield being a big question mark," said Team Curse's Alex "Xpecial" Chu. Furthermore, he expects both teams in the Final to be Korean.
CLG's Dexter gave the most thorough predictions for the Knockout Stage.
"First game of the Knockout Stage is Samsung White vs. TSM. I don't think TSM will advance, but I do think that they have a chance to take at least one game off of Samsung White who has been looking unstoppable in the Group Stage so far." He explained that TSM needs to step up their game if they want to show the world that they are worthy in international competition, and that they've done a really good job of that so far. "Second game on the same side is Samsung Blue vs. Cloud9. Cloud9 showed a really good performance against all opponents so far and are in a good spot right now. But Samsung Blue is just on another level." He thinks C9 has to fix their weak early game and show aggression if they want to stand a chance against Samsung Blue.
Moving on to the third matchup between the two Chinese teams Star Horn Royal Club and Edward Gaming, he believes it should be an interesting game. "I do think that Royal Club will win the match simply because inSec has shown dominance and I don't think that EDG has an answer for that." In the final series between NaJin White Shield and OMG, dexter believes the clear favorites in that matchup is NaJin White Shield, despite the team dropping games in the Group Stage. "In a Best of 5, all Korean teams have a clear advantage over their opponents because of the adaptation of the picks and bans in between games."
"As far as the progression of the tournament goes, I do think we will see an NaJin White Shield vs. Samsung final, with Samsung taking the Championship." He believes the most exciting games of the entire tournament will be if both Samsung teams advance and have to teamkill each other.
With the first Knockout Stage matches getting started soon, it won't be long until we see if the NA LCS pros predictions come true or not. We'll check back in with them once we're further along in the Knockout Stage. Let us know in the comments or by tweeting @lolesports if there are any players you want to hear from, and whether or not you agree with the pros' predictions for the upcoming Quaterfinals.
Surprising Victory - Group C
"Every game in Group C was a special one," said Counter Logic Gaming's (CLG) Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng. "Group C had the best games of any World Championship so far." He explained how it was amazing to see Fnatic beat Samsung Blue, and he also favored the nail-biting back-and-forth base-trading between Fnatic and OMG.
Team Curse's Joedat "Voyboy" Esfahani predicted that Samsung Blue would come out of Group C on top. "Dade is a god and I think [Blue] are a class above the other teams," he said.
CLG's Austin "LiNk" Shin had a lot to say about Group C as well. He believed it was the closest of all the groups because of how similar in terms of skill level each team was. "I thought Samsung Blue would 100% make it out, but the last team was going to be a tossup," he said. "I never discounted anyone and I thought Fnatic had a better shot than OMG compared to when I played versus both teams at All-Stars. However, LMQ made an extremely strong showing and I felt every team deserved to move out."
Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black from CLG enjoyed Fnatic's run. "My favorite moments with Group C had to be watching Fnatic rise and fall short of making it past the Group Stages. Their games were very entertaining."
Johnny "Altec" Ru from Evil Geniuses also called out the insane match from Group C between OMG and Fnatic. "The backdoor attempt from Fnatic had me screaming. One auto off from winning the game has just got to be my favorite moment."
Outstanding Upsets - Group D
"KaBuM beating Alliance is probably the biggest upset in League of Legends history," said Evil Geniuses' Eugene "Pobelter" Park. His teammate Altec agreed. "The biggest surprise for me was KaBuM pulling off a big upset against Alliance." He continued, "Everyone was expecting KaBuM to get stomped throughout the Group Stage but they finally found their ground near the end and just stomped Alliance. This shows every team has the potential to beat each other."
Doublelift also named the match-up as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the game, partly due to the fact that Alliance was so inconsistent. "They had a perfect game against the favorites of their group, Najin White Shield, and came off of it to get stomped by KaBuM." CLG's Marcel "dexter" Feldkamp was rather optimistic about the game, saying he was especially happy for KaBuM as the win was "important for the growth of the eSports scene."
Up in the Air - Quarterfinal Predictions
"[Samsung] Blue and White will likely advance, with White Shield being a big question mark," said Team Curse's Alex "Xpecial" Chu. Furthermore, he expects both teams in the Final to be Korean.
CLG's Dexter gave the most thorough predictions for the Knockout Stage.
"First game of the Knockout Stage is Samsung White vs. TSM. I don't think TSM will advance, but I do think that they have a chance to take at least one game off of Samsung White who has been looking unstoppable in the Group Stage so far." He explained that TSM needs to step up their game if they want to show the world that they are worthy in international competition, and that they've done a really good job of that so far. "Second game on the same side is Samsung Blue vs. Cloud9. Cloud9 showed a really good performance against all opponents so far and are in a good spot right now. But Samsung Blue is just on another level." He thinks C9 has to fix their weak early game and show aggression if they want to stand a chance against Samsung Blue.
Moving on to the third matchup between the two Chinese teams Star Horn Royal Club and Edward Gaming, he believes it should be an interesting game. "I do think that Royal Club will win the match simply because inSec has shown dominance and I don't think that EDG has an answer for that." In the final series between NaJin White Shield and OMG, dexter believes the clear favorites in that matchup is NaJin White Shield, despite the team dropping games in the Group Stage. "In a Best of 5, all Korean teams have a clear advantage over their opponents because of the adaptation of the picks and bans in between games."
"As far as the progression of the tournament goes, I do think we will see an NaJin White Shield vs. Samsung final, with Samsung taking the Championship." He believes the most exciting games of the entire tournament will be if both Samsung teams advance and have to teamkill each other.
With the first Knockout Stage matches getting started soon, it won't be long until we see if the NA LCS pros predictions come true or not. We'll check back in with them once we're further along in the Knockout Stage. Let us know in the comments or by tweeting @lolesports if there are any players you want to hear from, and whether or not you agree with the pros' predictions for the upcoming Quaterfinals.
