The regions with the Top 4 seeds at Worlds 2016 are...

OG isn't the same as last season, but they showed some strides towards getting back to form in the spring playoffs. I think they can become relevant again. H2K -- I'm sorry to say it but they need some major playstyle and/or player changes to make it far internationally. As EU's casters have well summarized it... H2K is the (perfect) example of a team that beats the weaker teams they should beat and loses to the better teams they should lose to. Their playstyle/strategies seem too riigid. It's like going to a dance with all types of music -- when the right style of song is playing, you look like a pro dancer; when the style changes, you look like it's your first time and you're scared that your partner might have cooties. I know that's a horrible analogy for a gaming forum, but it's the best one I could think up at this time without spending a ton of time on finding one more relatable to gaming.

I like this guy. he understands the truth. You could make the argument that if TSM were preforming how they should opposed to were/are they would of made the same run at MSI.

[{quoted}](name= sepuuku,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=z7HiWgBa,comment-id=000100000000,timestamp=2016-05-08T20:57:03.143+0000)

Who thought this? CLG beat IMT to get there. IMT was about as dominant as you can be (besides FNC, since NA has actual competition) and featured some of the best players in the world. Also, it was acknowledged that NA executed lane swaps better than every other region. Calling it a husk of a region just seems inaccurate. Even if people did think that, it's clearly false since CLG doesn't look any different from the Spring Split and could honestly be replaced right now by C9 or IMT. Judging from Origen's very poor international performance recently and H2K's history of underperforming internationally, I think it's safe to say that EU is just a weak region.

I love watching NA, but I love watching NA because there's a lot of crap that happens there that typically won't succeed in other regions. NA is very amateurish in general, and being dominant in a region that is traditionally weak and where most of the teams look disorganized is... not that impressive.

That being said, I'm very impressed by CLG and it looks like the gap between regions has shrunk more than it had seemed from the outside. It's awesome, really. I think that, given that CLG is playing the same style of game they've played all season, this is a pretty good indication that NA has grown, and I'm glad to see it.

As to your comment about EU... EU looked strategically sound with a lot of skilled players. Most analysts put them as being in the same sort of level as LMS/China. But the G2 we've seen at this event does not look like the G2 we saw during the season. And I don't even mean in terms of the comparison to their opponents... they're just not behaving the way they normally do. I don't think this performance is representative of EU as a whole, since their representative looks like a shadow of their former self.

I think what we're looking at right now is a League of Legends scene where the gap between the top and the bottom of the 'major regions' is tiny, small enough that there are no clear 'way better than anyone else' teams and no region that looks dramatically weaker. It really is amazing to see. We should ALL be happy, because it means that we're out of the days where it's a given that Korea will dominate everything.

[{quoted}](name= sepuuku,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=z7HiWgBa,comment-id=000100000000,timestamp=2016-05-08T20:57:03.143+0000)

Who thought this? CLG beat IMT to get there. IMT was about as dominant as you can be (besides FNC, since NA has actual competition) and featured some of the best players in the world. Also, it was acknowledged that NA executed lane swaps better than every other region. Calling it a husk of a region just seems inaccurate. Even if people did think that, it's clearly false since CLG doesn't look any different from the Spring Split and could honestly be replaced right now by C9 or IMT. Judging from Origen's very poor international performance recently and H2K's history of underperforming internationally, I think it's safe to say that EU is just a weak region.

Not cloud 9. C9 is so overrated.

First off, check your facts -- tsm knocked off immortals (http://www.lolesports.com/en_US/na-lcs/na_2016_spring/schedule/playoffs/Semifinals) not CLG knocking them off. Second -- immortals lost simply because they played a 3 adc comp and refused to learn during that semi-finals series that it DOESN'T work vs high level teamplay teams. The jungler helps the tank survive top early game -- as can lane swaps actually. Once the adc top can't have serious 1v1 kill pressure in lane, it is gg for their team because they don't have the burst to remove tanks quickly, yet the have to focus the tanks before they can reach the carries in the backline -- meanwhile the team with the tank toplaner can ignore the one tank on enemy team and focus squishy carries right away -- letting them remove enemy dps sooner and eventually win the fight. IMT accepted this too late to make MSI, but learned in time to get 3rd place. Secondly, CLG looks ENTIRELY different from spring split. Spring split: Darshan play carry laner, Darshan split, Xmithie camp for Darshan until he can easily kill lane opponent 1v1, team get waveclear champs and stall enemy pushes as 4, keep wards for Darshan split. MSI: darshan play utility teamfight tank (most) games, Xmithie play carry jungler and gank whatever lane makes most sense at the time, Huhi show that you actually have top tier skill midlane rather than playing mediocre, Stixxay carry in teamfights more than you typically did in spring split. Finally, they have adopted a mentality that allows them to finally compete versus all teams. Old attitude was: this team is ranked equal-to or weaker than us... so we can win; this team is ranked way above us... let's just try to lose gracefully since we can't win. New attitude: respect all, fear none. This is what i've been saying for about 2 years. You need to respect a team/player/champion's abilities and capabilities (RESPECT ALL). You can't live in fear of another team/player so much that you are unwilling to punish them when they make mistakes just because they are "better" than you or have historically outperformed you (FEAR NONE). So yeah, CLG has seemingly made huge strides at MSI -- even if they lose semi-finals. If they can bring this back to NA and keep their newfound greater diversity in playstyle options and their mindset of "respect all, fear none"; they will return a much stronger team than when they left. And hopefully other top tier NA teams will learn from them. If they do, NA will enter worlds with a fighting chance to win it all. If not... expect something like last season worlds.

While I agree with you overall, I have to point out some fallacies here. CLG didn't face IMT in the playoffs-- they played TL and TSM. TSM ran through C9 and IMT to play against CLG in the finals, where they lost the game in a teamfight at 40. After playoffs it seems fairly clear that the top four teams in NA were CLG, TSM, IMT, and TL. C9 is a strong team, but they were completely hamstrung by Rush's limited jg pool and poor Kindred performances. IMT are also hamstrung in the current meta due to mid priority and tank tops--both things that IMT really don't want to play. Reignover's non-carry pool also hurt him quite a bit in playoffs.

That being said, I think the most recent round of imports into NA drastically changed the skill level of the region. NA's objective control and map rotations have grown quite prominent over the last split in comparison to the abundance of YOLO teamfights we've historically seen, and it did great things for NA's growth. I think EU is still a bit stuck in that western "fight or die" playstyle we've grown accustomed to. If NA's top teams can find a way to stay consistent and clean up some of the turmoil, we could field some serious contenders this year.

Actually TSM beat IMT and I must agree, NA didn't look great, and CLG especially, in international competition going all the way back to MSI 2015. TSM tanked MSI 2015, NA fell hard at worlds, CLG looked awful at IEM Katowice, NA just hadn't proven they can hold their own internationally in a long time.