(Photos courtesy of Riot Games)
Unbelievable.
This year's Mid-Season Invitational has turned many a head and thrown all known preconceptions to the wind as the Group Stage neared its final hours today. Some teams thought to be reigning supreme over everyone this tournament find themselves awkwardly near the bottom of the standings (sans SuperMassive, but we'll get to that later). Others who were dismissed by some as not having the talent to compete are now looking forward to the Knockout Stage. After countless nailbiters, a few blowouts, and a whole lot of surprises, the Group Stage has drawn to a close.
Here are the final standings for the Group Stage:
- Royal Never Give Up (8-2)
- Counter Logic Gaming (7-3)
- Flash Wolves (6-4)*
- SK Telecom T1 (6-4)
- G2 Esports (2-8)
- SuperMassive eSports (1-9)
*Swept SKT in Group Stage to earn sole possession of 3rd place
No one could have seen this coming.
In a tournament that was handed to Korea's SK Telecom T1 by pundits before it started, the Mid-Season Invitational proved to continue to be that thorn in the SKT's side for now with the team losing 4 games in a row for the first time in years. The team looked like shadows of themselves for the majority of the Group Stage, with their new jungler Gang "Blank" Seon-gu shouldering a lot of the criticism. The crisp macro play and team synergy just wasn't there as Barons were almost regularly stolen away and advantages that were built in the early game crumbled under weak mid-to-late-game teamfighting. There were questions as to whether or not SKT would even make it past the Group Stage, but SKT managed to regain their footing and looked strong in the final day to clinch a spot.
Another shocking turn of events was the serious underperformance by EU's G2 Esports. With many pointing towards the players' lack of practice coming into the event as the team collectively chose to vacation before arriving, G2 ultimately never met some of the lofty expectations set for them. Their typical highly aggressive playstyle was repeatedly punished, and players were regularly caught out of position on the map. Furthermore, the team's overall mechanical executions were sloppy throughout the tournament. The team's star player Luka "Perkz" Perkovic was more often than not shut down in lane. All of this led to G2 Esports losing almost all of their games and EU looking towards the upcoming World Championship without the possibility of a first seed for the first time ever.
To the shock of everyone besides themselves, Counter Logic Gaming showed up to play at MSI. The North American squad were out to prove all the doubters wrong with their rookie AD Carry Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes going off hard and straight out winning pivotal teamfight after teamfight. With a lot of people questioning CLG's ability to depend on their tight team coordination and strong teamfighting to stack up against the top international teams, CLG never wavered or looked to change their gameplan and it worked beautifully. After taking a game off SKT and RNG as well as sweeping FW, CLG is the definitive dark horse coming into the Knockout Stage.
A team that actually lived up to their potential at MSI was LMS' Flash Wolves. After reaching the quaterfinals at last year's Worlds, the Taiwanese squad continued their international success and were the only team to completely sweep the defending World Champions SKT during the Group Stage. Yi-Tang "Maple" Huang showed why he is still one of the top Mid Laners in the world and the Jungle-Support roaming of Hau-Hsuan "Karsa" Hung and Shuo-Jie "SwordArt" Hu was on point.
Redemption was at hand for FW and the team finally earned the LMS region the first seed at this year's Worlds that many believed they should have had all along.
A team that also exceeded expectations and performed better than their record may show is Turkey's SuperMassive eSports. As the International Wildcard representative, the team was able to provide a much better showing than some would have expected. Pulling off the upset against NA's CLG as well as making many of their games a competitive one, SuperMassive may not have come away as the Cinderellas of MSI, but can walk away with their heads held high as they prepare for the next season of TCL.
Finally, we have the kings of the Group Stage, China's own Royal Never Give Up. Despite the past troubles of Chinese teams on the international stage, Royal was able to channel the energy of the home crowd and continue their consistent team-based playstyle at MSI. Any concerns of the team being able to keep up with advanced macro styles and lane swaps were quickly swept aside as the former SSW player Jo "Mata" Se-hyeong's legendary shotcalling and roaming laid the trackwork for his carries Cheng "Wuxx" Wang and Yuanhao "xiaohu" Li to truly let loose on the international stage. Even when the team fell behind, the synergy and teamfighting ability of RNG kept them competitive and ultimately won them a lot of games.
Now that the Group Stage has been completed, here's what we can look forward to for the Knockout Stage:
Royal Never Give up v. SK Telecom T1
With the Koreans looking the most mortal they have been in a while, RNG looks to nail the coffin shut in their semifinal matchup. SKT, however, showed signs of revitalization in the final day and were able to overcome RNG in their last Group Stage match. With all signs pointing to a showdown of epic proportions, this should be the marquee matchup of the tournament, and the winner will likely proceed to be MSI champions.
Prediction: RNG (3-2)
Counter Logic Gaming v. Flash Wolves
With this being a grudge match of former Group A opponents in last year's World Championship Group Stage, CLG look to finalize their revenge. Having Flash Wolves' number during the Group Stages, the North American squad look to carry that momentum through this series and into the finals. FW, though, have the international experience, adaptability, and talent to answer for CLG's weapons and make this a really competitive series. This series has potential to blow up as well.
Don't count anyone out.
Prediction: FW (3-2)
