Yet they are doing better than the top chinese teams and are, so far, performing on par with the korean overlords in terms of teams at the top of their group thus far. It may be a bit soon to say so, but I think NA is doing a bit better than people seem to believe we should be.
I think CLG and TSM are currently meeting each of their respective expectations. CLG was expected to make it out of groups, they are on track so far. TSM was expected to be in a bad place, which they are. The real difference is C9. Yes, they were the third seed for NA, finished 7th in the summer split, etc etc...
We had to consider that Hai took his team from 9th to 7th to win the gauntlet. Yes their finish was not where they wanted, but had they played at that level all split (or had Hai just not retired...) we likely could have seen C9 in the first or second seed and have a totally different story for Worlds. The C9 that fell to 9th in NA; that C9 team would be expected to perform poorly. This C9 team, can really be a contender.
LGD was one of "the" teams going into this, and they lost to KT Rolster.
IG is the 3rd tier Chinese team, who are still a decent squad, and they've already lost to both Fnatic and Cloud 9.
Anything is possible.
You do have to consider though that NA has not played any of the top teams. I don't really think I could see any NA team beating EDG or SKT.
i agree, but TSM is playjng like crap as well. Bronze mistakes OP.
They are at best tied but never above EU in skill level and both regions are under the Eastern regions. So yeah we new that already. But that is not a solid fact and upsets can and have happened.
IG is a third place Chinese team. We don't know what happening with LDG.
it be nice to see NA win just so we've had each region win once
It's good to see C9 and CLG doing good thus far (first two games). Four more games left in groups, then quarters, semis and finals. Still a very long road ahead and it will be interesting how it all plays out. SKT and EDG are the teams to beat for NA and EU.
Edit: Was hoping to see PNG make it (root for underdogs), but FW were the other one in Group A I was pulling for. Awesome going 3-0 on Day 1! Congrats to KOO as well. Too bad on CLG going home.
it´s still only 3days in. AHQ already looks a lot better than on day 1 and IG/LGD still have chances to find their former selves...still, C9 really look as smart as ever (though vs fnatic and AHQ in good shape they won´t get sneaky on such a snowball to make up for Balls losing top hard) and CLG is living up to the expectations of at least getting out of a rather easy group. What really springs to the eye though is is that the western ADCs are massivly performing and carrying their teams, while especially the chinese ones do seem to give in to the pressure. The thing that is worrying for NA though is that their teams mostly get carried by the ADCs alone and focus a lot on fast-pushing/sieging, while the EU teams don´t have any glaring weaknesses at all (ok, huni underperformed today, but it´s fair to assume he´s learned his lesson) and are able to play to any style necessary. So for B05s i wouldn´t bet on any NA team to go far, despite them doing well in groups...and the teams to beat are still EDG and SKT anyway.
It's definitely awesome, but I think it's too soon to clap yet. I'm gonna wait to see how Fnatic shows up tomorrow. They looked really sloppy today and wtf was Huni thinking w/ some of his aggression that threw leads. However, if they've decided to be the IG of the IG group, there's a chance good Fnatic shows up tomorrow and beats C9 (plus CLG has a really weak bracket). I'm not saying it's not impressive how much NA has exceeded expectations, but Koo was known for their innovation in their success in KR and they look like they haven't stepped up in adjusting to the meta or developing anything new w/ this patch, LGD has just fallen apart compared to how out of their minds some of their mechanics and team fighting were in the CN play offs, and IG has been one of the most inconsistent teams in CN for a while.
I think it's awesome that NA is doing well, but I kinda doubt any NA team would be first right now w/ KT Rolster, SKT, or EDG in their group. I'm really impressed by Origen and C9 though, they have been a really pleasant surprise this tournament.
Too early to talk about it. TSM 0-2 but it is not the end. CLG is 2-0 but it's still not the win. 4(!) tours left.
I think it's partly that China is under-performing, along with AHQ and KOO.
