Season Wrap Up: Region Ratings and What Next?

Like a previous post I had involving the best, worst, and saddest stories of the season, this one will cover the more controversial and often debated discussion: where would you rate each region now that the season is over? Note: I know a lot will base their results and ratings off of the numbers, facts, history and stats where it matters or mattered in the past. I will just say right now: I do not prefer to do that. I prefer to see the now and make an analytical attempt thinking it through.

And so for my own rundown, I based these off of the region performances seen domestically and internationally starting from the end of Worlds 2015 to the present. Competitive tournaments during that preseason had very limited influence on my decisions. For me, post Worlds 2015 looked something like: Korea > Europe > Taiwan > China > N.America - most which looked very fitting for their place after things like the 0-10 regional implosion or the 2 EU 2 KR semifinal. The only thing that remained anything of consistent was:

1. Korea - There's still no debate of this region being on top. No matter the hardships they go through domestically, the moment a team gets a chance to prove it elsewhere over the season, they clean it up and take it to the level expected of them by now. It all depends on who shows up when it matters (situations like playoffs/regionals). I honestly don't see the top half of the region shifting as much next season. What I look forward to is where the bottom half goes from here: Jin Air, Longzhu, MVP, Ever, and the returning Kongdoo.

2. China - This was not an easy decision to make in contest of who lays claim to the #2 spot. Between them or N.America, it came down to very distinct matters between their best teams. China improved in their sense of macro while still playing their kind of game. What plagued their best representatives last year did not exactly carry over. In the end, Royal was potentially the closing factor to put them at #2 while EDG nearly ruined that judgment. Looking forward, with an amount of Koreans expected to be leaving the region, every team is on watch to determine if they can return to their 2014 praise.

3. N. America - Despite having a sound and convincing year only to come up short yet again, that shouldn't defeat the amount of growth and improvement in the region and their way of approaching the game. Both America and China failed to meet an expectation worthy of their best teams. Nonetheless, it was a breath of fresh air having such domination by IMT/Summer TSM and EDG/RNG during the regular seasons to enforce a change in the rest of the teams and their approach to the game. In the the end, one region needs to sit at #3. As for what next: it's NA. The roster swap period always lives up to its hype. And there's bound to be changes but the story somehow keeps remaining the same.

4. Europe - Potentially the biggest loser of the season as their domestic play and team representatives led the region taking a really long downward slide. People will credit H2K's semifinal appearance meaning a better outlook for the region. Others will say they had an "easy road" got lucky to get as far as they did. I feel H2K saved Europe from falling to #5 but there was no way I could place them higher after such an unusual spring and a bizarre summer for almost every expected top or high fandom team not named Unicorns of Love. This season in the end was a wake up call and almost felt like a rebuilding phase filled with young talent, conflicts, and poor performances by the considered best team organizations.

5. Taiwan - For once this region actually proved to not be as underrated as most would say. The story of their domestic performance was roughly the same as last year: the expected top 2, dark horse potential of HKE/Machi/TPA(JT), and the bottom 3 which are usually less than adequate. Their international performance: a bit less than expected of them, especially by FW at Worlds. Like Europe, they may have undergone a weakening or rebuilding phase outside of the clear best. The most fans could do is look forward to the next international competitions.

As for the IWC: because there's only 2 tournaments to really determine the best there are and because a good amount (including me) only follow those tournaments in particular to base judgments, evaluating it is as simple as who goes up and who goes down. To me it's as simple as this: Russia goes up to contest Brazil and Turkey for the best of the WC regions, OCE and SEA continue to feud for the middle, and JP drops to the bottom 3 with LAN and LAS (despite Lyon's miracle run in IWCQ, I refuse to rate them higher after constantly being bottom table). To rate them in an order on the spot: BR > CIS > TR > SEA > OCE > LAN > JP > LAS

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

And that concludes my rather summarized wrap up of the season. What were your personal rating changes from last season to this one? Which region do you expect to improve or collapse moving on before the roster swaps influence your decision? Did anyone actually read this far down?