The eight days of group stage play are over and League of Legends' World Championship is ready to enter the final stage - direct eliminations. China, Korea and North America are ready to rumble, starting this Friday.
The Singapore games ended last night, bringing disappointment to European fans as both Fnatic and Alliance couldn't make the cut for playoffs. Xpeke and co started Group C with a loss to LMQ on Thursday but managed to spring back and defeat group favorites Samsung Blue the next day, reviving the hope for the top eight.
Unfortunately for the black-and-orange squad, two back-to-back losses to OMG followed, putting Fnatic on 1-3. A revenge win against LMQ stabilized the score somewhat at the end of day three but as they were unable to repeat the success against Samsung last night, Xpeke's command had to say goodbye to worlds.
The other European squad, Alliance, also couldn't perform well enough for playoffs. Froggen's team opened with two losses against Cloud 9 and Najin Shield but were swift on their recovery, slapping down Brazilian representatives KaBuM and getting their revenge on the North American runner-ups.
At 2-2 with two more matches to go, Alliance were still in the run for playoffs and an unexpected victory over Najin Shield made the European crowd ecstatic, knowing a top 8 was just within one win against tournament underdogs KaBuM. In arguably the biggest upset of the group, the Brazilians edged out a victory against the European team, getting their only success in the group but one enough to keep Alliance away from playoffs.
The elimination of the grey jerseys was the last nail in the European coffin as all four teams from the continent, including Dark Passage (0-6 in Group A), SK Gaming (2-4 in Group B) and Fnatic (2-4 in Group C) have been ousted, sharing the same fate as SEA's Taipei Assassins and AHQ. This makes the playoffs a battle between North America, China and Korea.
The bracket itself is schedule for the CET morning on October 3rd, starting at 10:00 CET with TSM against tournament favorites and only 6-0 team Samsung White. The next three days will see Samsung Blue against Cloud 9, EDG vs Royal Club and OMG against Najin Shield.
