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LoL9 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

Worlds: Group D Preview and Predictions

Group D, the "Group of Death," begs the question, "Which teams will survive the heavy competition?"?

(Photo courtesy of lolesports.com)

Group D - Group of Death

Many consider Group D as the strongest compared to the rest of the groups. The tournament favourites LGD Gaming look to test their skills before a potential face off with either SKT T1 or Edward Gaming, the other big favourites in the tourney. Team Solomid wants to prove that they are back at their IEM level to advance into the Knockout Stage, despite their poor summer split. The aggressive KT came short during the LCK finals against SKT. They look to take an underdog role with their aggressive style. Finally, Origen might cause some tumult with their strong aggressive standard lanes.

The Teams

 

(Photo courtesy of lol.esportspedia.com)

LGD Gaming (LGD)

Roster:

 

LGD step into Worlds as one of the big favourites to take it all. After another mediocre regular season with Acorn coaching, their playoff run showed both their strentghs and their weaknesses. The roster is, undeniably, stacked of individual talent. The former Samsung Blue toplaner, Acorn, is be considered to be one of the  the best toplaners right now. All-time CJ Entus Blaze legend, Flame, eagerly waits on the bench as a sub for Acorn. The Chinese superstar, GODV, proved time and time again that he is a force to be reckoned with. Add Pyl, the "Chinese Mata," to the lineup and you've got everything to make up for the Lee Sin onetrick pony, TBQ, as your jungler. Not that he can only play Lee Sin, but influence over the map is considered weaker on other champions. Aside from the massive amount of individual talent, the biggest strength LGD utilizes is their wave control. When taking turrets, they always get the waves at the right position, leading into games where imp is easily over 100 creep score above his direct opponent. LGD enjoys their laneswaps as they send their duo laners to the top lane in almost half of their games. The laneswap game amplifies their powerful wave control to get ahead. Their most prevalent weakness is their midgame vulnerability as they make mistakes from time to time. They usually get away with it due to their leads in resources, but it is the biggest opening the other teams have have to consider when playing against LGD.

Player to watch: GODV

GODV grew to a monster in the midlane during this season. He gave PawN a beating during the LPL Playoffs and is now looking to mortalize Faker, the Korean midlaner who is considered the best in the world. GODV has a deep champion pool, playing both assassins like Ahri and Diana. He can also perform exceptionally as the control mages like Orianna. GODV receives the most resources on LGD and has shown that he expends them correctly. Look out for flashy plays from this Chinese talent.

 

(Photo courtesy of lol.esportspedia.com)

KT Rolster (KTR)

Roster:

 

The support change seems to do it for KT Rolster. When they started with Hachani during spring, it looked like they would relegate out of the LCK, but they managed to go top 6 with Picaboo, avoiding relagation. When former SKT support, Piccaboo, came in during the summer, he transformed them into the second best team in Korea. His powerful shotcalling is exactly what KT needed. He compliments Score's game. In fact, Score (who was previously an ADC) made a very good transition into the jungle role. While Piccaboo supports him, he is certainly not the worst jungler at Worlds. The players in the two traditional carry positions, mid and ADC, are not the spotlight players. Nagne stands out not as a individual player, but as someone who can play with minimal resources for his role and still be impactful. He can do well on meta champions, but also has experience with assassin champions from his time at Najin. Arrow is an instrumental carry that fixed most of his inconsistency issues over the year. However, there are some games where he consistently dies, like the LCK Finals. The main carry role for KT is taken by ssumday as the toplaner. Not only versatile, he took over numerous games this season and did much better than expected. People saw his outstanding performance during 2014 Summer as a result of KaKAO's hard carry style from the jungle. Despite having a mediocre jungler like Score, ssumday still proves that he can the carry for KT. The biggest problem KT faces is that they mostly rely on ssumday winning his lane. Nagne and Arrow can potentially carry games if put in that position, but they are not reliable enough. If teams can deal with both ssumday and the roaming duo of Score and Piccaboo, then KT is in trouble.

Player to watch: Piccaboo

Piccaboo is the best support in Korea right now. His roams with Score are fantastic, and his 2v2 compensates more than enough for his mediocre lane partner, Arrow. He is a threat in both scenario's and can shotcall KT to victory. However, if Piccaboo is not performing his best, KT looks lost. If they want to make a successful run, Picaboo must push his limits in his support role.
 

(Photo courtesy of lol.esportspedia.com)

Team Solomid (TSM)

Roster:

 

Team Solomid come into the "Group of Death" as the weakest team. Their summer split was historically dramatic, finishing only fifth and getting smashed 0-3 by CLG in the finals. This TSM lineup looked far away from their peak performance at the IEM in March. Additionally, the current meta does not fit them at all, with the toplane being focused on carry champions. Dyrus historically prefered to play champions that helped his team and Bjergsen carry for him, but now he is playing against the best toplaners in the world in a meta that favors them. Lustboy is a solid player, but his performance during the playoffs was not impressive at all. He spends more time babysitting Wildturtle, who is underperforming, rather than setting up vision and play for the team. Santorin has similar problems. He is not really impacting as he plays as a ward for Bjergen. Bjergsen himself is still the shining light for the North American powerhouse, but he needs to prove himself a world class player this time. At MSI his presence was minimal, playing as passive champions and getting nothing except for 10 creep score leads, while other mids roam to hunt down the other TSM members. Bjergsen needs to play highly impacting champions because his underperforming side lanes might make it impossible for him to carry the game. TSM will likely want to laneswap every match, to avoid their weak standard lane setup and make use of their good macro play. Opposing teams will likely want the 2v2 as TSM's side lanes are the weakest in this group.

Player to watch: Bjergsen

The Danish talent has shown all through his career that he is a clutch player that can win games by himself. Ever since his time on Copenhagen Wolves during season 3, he always was the primary carry on the team as he always pressured himself. This time the pressure is even bigger because he is the only hope for TSM to win games in this tournament. It is do or die for Bjergsen. He will need to prove that he is a world class midlaner.
 

(Photo courtesy of lol.esportspedia.com)

Origen (OG)

Roster:

  • Top: Paul "sOAZ" Boyer
  • Jungle: Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider
  • Mid: Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martinez
  • AD: Jesper "Niels" Svenningsen
  • Support: Alfonso "mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez
  • Coach: Tadayoshi "Hermit" Littleton

 

Origen is the only team at worlds that played only one split at the highest level. However, the team has only one rookie in AD carry Niels. All other players have been to worlds at least once and played many important matches throughout their career. The team captain, xPeke, stepped into a more supportive role compared to his time in fnatic. He used to play aggressive champions all the time, being the carry for the team. This split, he seems to focus more on helping his teammates out. He did a very good job in being that shadow carry. However, mishaps like he had during the finals as Azir versus fnatic can't happen in such a competitive group. xPeke needs to be on top his game. The focus of the team is towards sOAZ and Niels as the primary carries. The meta favors the french toplaner, and given that there are very few matches played on this patch, his extremely deep champion pool comes in handy. Origen really wants to play standard lanes every time. Their botlane is a big force to deal with and can get leads against most lanes in this group. This would free up sOAZ to carry from the toplane. The 2v2 setup also allows Amazing and mithy to duo up and invade for vision. This play-style looks a bit like how EDward Gaming from group C likes to play. Their biggest weaknesses to exploit is mediocre macro play and their inconsistency. With sOAZ being a very emotional player, we have seen him losing control of his deaths. If Origen want to get out of groups, they need to be on top of their game.

Player to watch: sOAZ

sOAZ is arguably the best western toplaner ever. During IPL 5, at his prime, he was one of the best toplaners at that time. He is a very innovative player. He was the first to play Lulu in the toplane, as well as many other unique champion picks. His incredible deep champion pool is a suprise factor. In this open toplane meta, his pocket picks could be game changing factor. However, he has games where he tilts hard, dying more times than he has helped getting kills. If he tilts, then it is game over for Origen. However, if he can win lane on carry champions like Gankplank or Fiora, he will tear you apart.

 

Predictions:

 

  • 1st: LGD - 6-0
  • 2nd: KTR - 4-2
  • 3rd: OG - 2-4
  • 4th: TSM - 0-6

 

LGD has only one goal in this group: go undefeated. If they get exposed here, SKT and EDG will be happy as teams from group C. If they can go undefeated and show minimal issues, they are in a good shape to take it all. Their hiccups during group stage wouldl only give the other teams better preparation. KT Rolster looks like in a good spot to take second place. They need to be careful for TSM and especially Origen. Origen isn't likely to get out of groups, but with some luck and upsets they might do it. TSM will have to step up big time in order to make it to London, although I don't expect them to win a game.

LGD has a comfortable matchup against KT. Even if they don't get the laneswaps, their duo lane is much stronger than KT's. imp is known for his aggressive style from his time with Mata. He could still give Arrow a beating. GODV looks much stronger than Nagne. KT's only hope in this matchup is to get standard lanes, and try to punish TBQ with invades from Score and Piccaboo. Unfortunately, the odds are in favor of the Chinese team.

The other opponents do not look intimidating for LGD. In both cases, their macro play is better, as well as their individual talent. Perhaps Origen can do something in the early game if they get standard lanes, though I don't expect Niels and mithy to smash imp and Pyl. If they get a lead early in the game, their lacking macro play might cost them in the end anyway. TSM don't have much chance at all, as GODV will mitigate Bjergsen in the midlane. TSM will look to laneswap because they have weaker standard lanes.

TSM doesn't have a good matchup to begin with. Arrow and Piccaboo might not be the best, but they are at least better than Lustboy and Wildturtle, unless both show up huge. Dyrus is no match for ssumday and Score will punish the passive play from Santorin. Bjergsen might get a lead against Nagne, yet Nagne will likely hold his own. If he falls behind, it won't be too much for KT to deal with. Origen stylistically is a bad matchup for TSM. Again, TSM will look for the laneswap to make use of their better macro play. 2v2 is not an option at all for TSM. Even during laneswaps, Origen will probably come out on top because of their individual play.

KT needs to watch out for Origen. Origen's standard lane setup might be better than KT's, and both sOAZ and Niels can take games over, especially if ssumday isn't playing his best game. Origen might very well pull off the upset if KT isn't careful. KT should laneswap and play the game methodically, making use of their superior strategical shotcalling. This matchup is the one that has the biggest chance of giving an upset. Still, Origen will need to play their best game to pull it off.

In the end, it looks like LGD has the smoothest time in the "Group of Death", while KT has the best odds out of the rest to go to London. Origen might snipe a game against KT and force a tiebreaker. Thus, there is a chance for them to go to the quarterfinals. Like previously mentioned, they need to play their best. TSM is likely the victim in the Group of Death, and needs to return to their IEM form if they want to win games.

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