Understanding the Group Draw

Riot·Sep 6, 2016·1 votes·46,978 views

With the 16 teams decided for the 2016 League of Legends World Championship, it's time to dive into the Group Draw Show. If it’s your first time watching Worlds, or you’re new to League, here’s everything you need to know about the Group Draw.

What is the Group Draw?

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The Group Draw is the process that determines who will play who in the first part of Worlds 2016 called the Group Stage. The 16 teams are sorted into four groups with four teams to each group for the Group Stage. Teams are battling to be one of the top two spots in their group in order to advance to the Knockout Stage.

To find out which group your favorite team is playing in, watch the Group Draw Show live on September 10 at 11:00 AM PT.

How does it work?

The 16 teams are allocated to three Group Draw Pools based on the MSI 2016 results and their seasonal performance. The draw process is the same as it was in 2015, but with LMS #1 being promoted to Pool 1 and EU #1 being demoted to Pool 2 due to MSI standings, some of the invalid draw possibilities have changed.

Groups are then randomly drawn based on the teams in each pool; see the Group Pool Structure graphic below for reference:

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As a reminder, each group may only have one team from any given region.

The Group Draw Show begins with each of the Pool 1 seeds being randomly assigned to their own Group, A, B, C, or D. Then, the Pool 2 seeds will be randomly drawn into Groups, followed by the Pool 3 seeds. For more technical information on how the Group Draw works, reference our 2015 Group Draw Manual and we’ll be releasing the 2016 version of the manual on September 8.

During the Group Draw Show, the on-air team will explain the teams, breakdown the process as it happens live, and share Worlds predictions based on the Group Draw results.

Why does it matter?

In the Group Stage, the 16 teams are divided into four groups, with four teams to a group. Each team will play the other teams in their group twice, a full double-round-robin schedule.

The top two teams from each group advance to the second stage of the tournament called the Knockout Stage.

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How do I watch?

Head over to Lolesports to watch the Group Draw Show live on September 10 at 11:00 AM PT.

47 Comments

Uther DoulSep 7, 20169 votes

Legit q, why is China#3 in pool 2 above NA#3 in pool 3 when NA ranked higher at MSI?

ShadowatomSep 7, 20161 votes

Because reasons.... that's how it has been and they probably didn't want to run the risk of the question that arises if Taiwan gets into the top 2, which is what do they get? A third seed? Ok, who loses their seed? 6th place? Can't do that to a Wildcard team. Lowest major region? Seems a little severe for 5th place or even possibly 6th place considering what they're already losing just placing 6th at MSI.

Basically if they did what you're suggesting, they run the risk of opening a can of worms, which they really would not want to deal with at this moment.

Uther DoulSep 7, 20162 votes

No my question has nothing to do with any region's #2 seed. Only what went into the process of ranking #3 seeds. I wonder if a rioter could clarify?

ShadowatomSep 7, 20161 votes

Based on your other reply, it's simply because of tradition. China has always had both their 2nd and 3rd seed in the 2nd Pool with Korea, and that's simply how it has been.

OutlawHunterSep 7, 20161 votes

i cant believe that some ppl is still blind enough to use MSI result to say that NA>CN, obviously if SKT didnt do that bad in the group stage we would have a SKT vs RNG Final.

Uther DoulSep 7, 20166 votes

that's not what is being said. What is being said is that MSI was a place where rankings were taken into account for worlds seedings. Through an admittedly lucky placing in MSI semis NA placed higher than China at MSI. You can subjectively call China better if you want, but that's unrelated to this particular comment thread.

coeurloyalSep 6, 20167 votes

If MSI results now directly affect placements in Groups, shouldn't NA and LCK have their #3 seeds in Pool 2 because they were the top two seeds? Regardless of what historical precedents may be in place, I don't see any reason why the LPL should automatically have the extra Pool 2 seed this season.

ShadowatomSep 6, 20162 votes

It only affected Pool 1 placements (and would've affected Pool 3 if the IWC could've pulled through. Ideally that would be the case that 1st and 2nd at MSI would get all their seeds in Pool 2, but I think they couldn't think of what would happen if Taiwan made it to top 2 considering they have no 3rd seed and they're trying to currently avoid dropping seeds from regions, so they probably decided against doing that for now.

Uther DoulSep 7, 20162 votes

if Taiwan placed higher but doesn't have a third seed you could still rank other regions' 3rd seeds since MSI had a 1-6 placement. Meaning, from MSI results KR > NA > CHINA > EU. I get that this isn't the case in skill, but that's the way it shook out at MSI. So if China getting a higher 3rd seed is tradition-based, that's fine, I'd just like to hear an official statement on it. My question is based in curiosity not a sense of fairness.

coeurloyalSep 7, 20161 votes

Mine as well. It just makes sense to me that it would be enacted that way; I don't know why KR and CN were automatically given the boosted third seed in the first place other than historical power rankings--which we don't actually rely on anymore. It really does matter, though; if you keep giving CN and KR a free advantage they're always going to look like they're better. It's a small advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.

korean dogSep 6, 20162 votes

lol if CLG faced either RNG or SKT in the semis there would've been no way they would make the final. CLG got lucky getting the flash wolves. Both RNG and SKT were better.

coeurloyalSep 7, 20163 votes

Luck doesn't matter. Whether RNG was better or not (and I'm not arguing that point), the fact of the matter is they lost. I just think if we're going to have MSI results directly reflect Group standings, it should be reflected in its entirety.

warpenguin555Sep 6, 20164 votes

You know what would have been great Riot? Including which teams were in which pool in the post. But because its not included I'll post it: (https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/51cfsn/2016_worlds_group_draw_simulations/) thanks to this post for my info Pool 1(1 per group): ROX Tigers (KR 1), EDward Gaming (CN 1), Team SoloMid (NA 1), Flash Wolves (LMS 1) Pool 2 (2 per group): SK Telecom T1 (KR 2), Royal Never Give Up (CN 2), G2 Esports (EU 1), Counter Logic Gaming (NA 2), Samsung Galaxy (KR 3), I MAY (CN 3), H2k-Gaming (EU 2), ahq e-Sports Club (LMS 2) Pool 3 (1 per group): Cloud 9 (NA 3), Splyce (EU 3), Albux NoX Luna (IWC 1), INTZ e-Sports (IWC 2)

IwomboUwomboSep 6, 20163 votes

You can guess the brackets all you want but there are 178 possible combinations since they are choosing from the pools randomly.

QQshaSep 6, 20162 votes

Group A: TSM, SSG, AHQ, ANX Group B: ROX, RNG, CLG, Splyce Group C: FW, IM, H2K, INTZ Group D: EDG, SKT, G2, C9

Let's go!

IHateCoDGhostsSep 7, 20166 votes

Your Group D... Group of Death item 3812

QQshaSep 7, 20162 votes

Well with all the strong pool 2 teams (and C9 being pool 3), one group's gotta be stacked, so why not D?

bLudFire917Sep 7, 20162 votes

As a C9 fan, I sincerely hope that C9 and INTZ get swapped in this scenario. I think it is unfortunate that C9 has to hope for an easy group because they should have been 2nd seed from NA, with CLG having to fight IMT in the gauntlet to see which one got 3rd seed, but oh well.

QQshaSep 7, 20161 votes

Yeah, that's why I have CLG in a group they're pretty much guaranteed to be eliminated in. ROX and RNG are strong early game teams, and if RNG is taking it seriously, they're not likely to toss their lead. I mean, if we swap CLG and INTZ, then EU is even less likely than it currently is to make the bracket stage, which I'm fine with. Their chances with these draws are slim, only H2K has a semi-legitimate chance.

Reaper SorakaSep 6, 20162 votes

This is what it looks like to me, a chrome user if it matters.

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"Show More" link works beneath it.

GotemGotemSep 8, 20162 votes

I think one way to resolve the issue for which regions get the two additional pool two seeds would be to use the rankings from group stages of MSI where the top two teams ffrom the group stage get the two pool two seeds and if LMS/IWC get into the top two then they should be provided with 3 seeds for their region with the region finishing fifth and sixth (if not LMS/IWC) would get only two teams to represent in worlds.

Using the group stages as the criterion removes any "luck factor" that might play a role in the MSI playoffs.

SariokSep 6, 20161 votes

Any news on the updated Previewing HUD for worlds?

FussyMongooseSep 6, 20161 votes

For knockout stage, can we know which group plays on which day? As in "B1 vs C2 plays on thursday" and so fourth.

ParkwayySep 6, 20161 votes

They haven't posted a schedule yet, it'll likely show some number of days after the draw is completed.

LezDogSep 8, 20161 votes

It is redrawn after group stages are over.

MiasmaSep 6, 20161 votes

Can we rank teams 1 through 16 and then split groups who cares if 3 na teams are in the same group

WVFSoShiSep 6, 20164 votes

Because then we may have SKT - ROX - EDG - RNG in one group and Albus - INTZ - AHQ - Splyce in the other ?

IwomboUwomboSep 6, 20167 votes

You would never put the top 4 teams into one group. He's saying rank them and do 1 with 16 and 2 with 15 in one group, and so on and so forth. That's still not a good way to do it because how will you rank them without being super biased.

ShadowX74Sep 7, 20161 votes

Or 1 with 5, 9, and 13, then 2 with 6, 10, 14, etc...?

ShadowatomSep 7, 20167 votes

It's still a bad idea in general since like he said, you can't seed the teams without being biased. Who's seed 1? How about 2? 3? 4? Even if you go off MSI, do you say KR, NA, CN, TW, EU, IWC, KR...? Or do you do the 3 Korean teams, 3 NA teams, etc? There's really not a decent way of doing it tbh.

SoowooSep 7, 20169 votes

What's the point of having a world championship if all the teams from a region are in the same group? Worlds is for the top teams from each region to see how they stand against the top teams of other regions. They've already played each other multiple times during the regular season games. If you want to see TSM vs CLG just watch the games from thr summer split.

p0psiclesSep 7, 20162 votes

And how the heck are you going to rank these teams #1 through #16 objectively? I'll give you the IWC gets 15 and 16 but after that? That's why pools are used. They aren't perfect, but they're a better approximation than trying to attach an exact number because you're only comparing teams against other teams from their own region. MSI determined the overall seeding a bit, but most of the seeding comes from comparing teams domestically. Also, it would totally suck if 3 LCK teams got put in the same pool per your numbering system so they can't all make it out. Plus, then it would just be like watching the LCK regular season instead of watching Worlds. Making it so it's one team per region per group makes the group stage a lot more exciting and unexpected. And if one region (cough cough LCK) is better than everyone else - they can all advance to the knockout stage.

GoldenTaleSep 9, 20161 votes

If we rank them from 1 to 16, they don't need to compete at world, do they?

Yordle XayahSep 9, 20163 votes

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

Doppio VinegarSep 6, 20161 votes

[deleted]

HykonSep 6, 20162 votes

Group 4 and 3 aren't possible. C9 and INTZ are both pool 3, and TSM and ROX are both pool 1. One pool 1 team and one pool 3 team per group.

Cyber DranzerSep 6, 20161 votes

None of your groups are possible. Group 1 and 4 don't have anyone from pool 1 while Group 2 and 3 both have 2 teams from pool 1.

III BAKURYU III Sep 6, 20161 votes

My prediction

GROUP A EDWARD GAMING G2 ESPORTS AHQ ESPORTS CLOUD 9

GROUP B TEAM SOLOMID SK TELECOM T1 H2K INTZ

GROUP C ROX TIGERS COUNTER LOGIC GAMING IMAY ALBUS LUNA

GROUP D FLASH WOLVES ROYAL NEVER GIVES UP SAMSUNG GALAXY SPLYCE

Also are the fish bowls making a return for the Draw again ? Or will it be the WWE Raw General manager style Computer generated behind the scenes like in 2014.

Can the casters actually talk about each team in some detail during the group draw, I feel like instead we get this

Fish bowls with balls in them Random players who didn't win to make it to Worlds (RIP) draws the balls. They stir for 40 secs even when there is only 1 ball in a bowl they will still stir it for like 40 secs LOL.

IDK I just feel like if the Draw is randomly 5 days after any lcs game it must be somewhat important but it feels super rushed and is only about 20 mins long mostly from the stirring.

MrRaptorTheDinoSep 7, 20161 votes

how do i get championship zed??

inonotafoolSep 7, 20161 votes

we should just draw # like seed 1 or 2

Pucking PurrfectSep 8, 20161 votes

run it down mid hehe xd

OzzieferperSep 9, 20161 votes

Rito get's a lot of things wrong...this is not one of them. They need to fix the snowball first turret gold before worlds but...this - is the best way to do this and get best mix of regions and matches.