I had the sinking feeling that CLG was going to lose to ANX after day 1 considering they have that habit of building hope. The good news is they were able to also beat ROX and created a very close group. Also pleased to see ANX beat G2 to keep the wildcard story interesting since INTZ hasn't shown up ever since Day 1.
So, G2 and Splyce have to now win all of their games in week 2 just to qualify for tiebreakers and then win those to qualify for the Quarter-finals (since 1 loss means they drop to X-4, while the team they lost to and whatever team wins the other match up go up to 3-X mathematically eliminating them). H2K is now EU's only viable option for getting a team into the Quarter-finals and avoiding complete elimination.
Korea is probably way closer than they'd like to be and will more than likely come back extremely strong week 2. ROX and SSG have been drafting losing lanes whether it be purposefully or simply disrespect, if they don't fix it I'll be surprised. SKT had internal issues during their playoffs, so it'll be interesting to see if those ever arise again during such a crucial time.
China can definitely show up with at least 2 teams out of the group stage if RNG and EDG keep their shit together. I expect them to have a strong week 2 as well, but there is potential for them to choke. IMay is the shakiest and probably will be eliminated since they lost to SKT, C9, and they should've lost to Flash Wolves.
Taiwan is going to have to fight like hell to stay above the water considering they still haven't seemed too dominant in their games against the other teams. If Flash Wolves can fix their late game and close games out better, then they could be in a tiebreaker with C9 or maybe even edge SKT or C9 out of the Quarter-finals. AHQ mainly has to worry about H2K since they'll also be trying their hardest to get out too since they are effectively EU's last hope, and if AHQ can beat EDG, that would be a huge surge of momentum and probably be the game that pushes them into the Quarter-finals.
NA has a legitimate chance to get 3 teams into the Quarter-finals if they can hold their ground. C9 needs 2 games to clinch and definitely can do so against FW and IM. CLG and TSM is a little more complicated since they could both end up in a 3-way tie situation. CLG should be able to beat ANX this time around and will hopefully hold their ground against G2 (maybe even ROX if they don't improve much). Group D is obviously the group of death, and even more so now that it's become so cutthroat amongst the 3 teams. You may think that all they need to do is just beat the other teams and not worry about Splyce, but Splyce came very close to taking games off the teams, and if any of the top 3 disrespect Splyce, they could get spoiled and see their ticket to Chicago disappear right before their eyes. So effectively SPY is just the annoying pain that can get you killed if you're not careful.
As for the IWCs, I don't think INTZ will get out. They haven't done much since Day 1, and I doubt they'll do much more tbh, but who knows, like SPY, if a team disrespects them, they could steal a win or 2 off H2k and AHQ. ANX genuinely get out with their 2 wins, and if they can win 2 more, they've more than likely clinched their spot and will be headed to Chicago. CLG and G2 are their main challenges, but if they can steal a win from ROX then they will be highly likely to go to be the first IWC to make it out of Groups.
