The group stage for the 2020 World Championship is set after a surprisingly competitive play-ins stage. Here is a breakdown of each of the groups.
Many call group A the “group of life” due to the perceived weaknesses of the teams. G2’s inconsistencies lead to questions on their performance against international opponents. Regardless, it’s hard to say the 2019 world’s finalists will underperform on the big stage. Top Esports dominated Sunning and exposed some glaring weaknesses of the team in the LPL summer playoffs, but Sofm is one of the best junglers in the tournament. Team Liquid comes into groups after a strong play-ins stage, but Broxah’s champion pool may be a hindrance to the North American squad. Machi, unfortunately, maybe the weakest team in the tournament. Realistically, G2 and Sunning make it out of the group, but Team Liquid may surprise.
Group B is the group of death. Rogue played incredibly well during the LEC summer season. Unfortunately, they landed in a group with two of the three tournament favorites. Korea’s DAMWON dominated the LCK throughout the summer split and four of the five starting members made our top 20 players list. China’s second seed JDG comes into the tournament with arguably the best jungler and support at the tournament. The team dismantled LGD and came incredibly close to taking the LPL title from Top Esports. The only way Rogue or PSG makes it out of the group is if DAMWON or JGD have a historic collapse.
Group C looks to be the most interesting. Korea’s third seed Gen.G looks to be the clear favorite, but if the bot lane meta consists of supportive marksmen like Senna and Ashe, the rest of the group may find ways to avoid the incredible carry potential of Ruler. Fnatic played incredibly poorly at times throughout the summer regular season, but with farming carry junglers in the meta, Selfmade looks poised to have a strong performance. LGD’s failures in play-ins make it hard to predict this team’s results. Fan-favorite TSM looks to be the dark horse of the group, but the questions surrounding Fnatic and LGD give hope to North American fans. The current mid lane meta fits Bjergsen incredibly well and one can argue he is the best mid laner in the group.
Similar to group B, group D looks to be incredibly top-heavy. Top Esports is one of the three tournament favorites. Knight looks to be the best player in the world. Karsa, 369, and Jackeylove are also in the top two of their respective roles and this team may be undefeated by the end of groups. DRX comes into the group with some major questions around the top side of the map, but Chovy’s lane kingdom probably carries them out of the group. Unicorns of Love may shock the world and take advantage of DRX’s issues, but that seems unlikely.
Sources: Lol Esports