The League of Legends 2020 World Championship group stage has come to a close. For those who missed anything from the second week of competition, here's a recap and some points to takeaway.
Group A
Group A’s Sunning and G2 ended at the top of the group, but not without some complications. Team Liquid’s upset over Sunning shook up the group enough to guarantee a tiebreaker, either between G2 and Sunning for first or Sunning and Liquid for second. If G2 beat Sunning in the final game before tiebreakers, Liquid had a shot at getting to the quarterfinals after a rough group stage.
G2 lost to Sunning in a quick 23-minute game, ending the hopes of North America’s Team Liquid. Sunning's Bin managed to stuff a mounting comeback from G2 with an incredible Gangplank barrel, and guarantee first place in the group.
Sunning and G2 are inconsistent but have the ability to beat anyone at the tournament. Sunning’s Bin and Sofm and G2’s Mikyx are playing incredibly well, and are the highlights of the two teams. Finally, Team Liquid’s Tactical and CoreJJ proved they are a world-class bot lane and even though the team fell short, Team Liquid should be proud of their ability to adapt and evolve throughout the tournament.
Group B
Group B went exactly as expected and not much can be said about the results. DAMWON and JD Gaming secured their quarterfinal spot after the second game of the day. PSG Talon’s upset over JD Gaming guaranteed DAMWON as the first seed and JD Gaming as the second seed of the group. This rendered the last two games of the day completely meaningless.
DAMWON and JD Gaming proved they are two of the best teams in the world. Nuguri may be the best player in the world. Teams should never let JD Gaming play Zoe, as the team looks unbeatable when Yagao is on that champion. Expect at least one of these teams to be in the finals.
Group C
TSM made history in group C, becoming the first pool one team to go winless in groups. The fan-favorite and North American champions go home with the worst performance from a number one seed in the history of the World Championship.
Gen.G, Fnatic, and LGD were all looking for a spot in the quarter-finals, and looked to be completely even in skill coming into week two. Unfortunately for fans of tiebreakers, a clear hierarchy between these teams revealed itself. Gen.G went undefeated and secured first place in the group. Fnatic’s only loss came from Gen.G as they secured second. LGD looked to be a tier below the top two teams, with their only victory of week two coming from TSM.
Gen.G’s Rascal and Clid and Fnatic’s Selfmade and Hylissang’s performances were especially noteworthy. Rascal and Clid came into the tournament with questions on their inconsistent performances during the regular season. Both players showed up and played incredibly well, removing any doubts about their play.
The current jungle meta fits Selfmade incredibly well and he took full advantage. Fnatic plays well around Selfmade's ability to carry on Graves, Evelynn, and Hecarim. Hyilliang is notorious for being a “coinflip” player. Fortunately for Fnatic, the coin flipped in their favor and Hylissang proved he is one of the best supports at the tournament.
Group D
Group D mirrored Group B in that the top two seeds were decided after the second game of the day. Top Esports and DRX proved to be a tier above FlyQuest and Unicorns of Love, though the former did surprise and upset tournament favorite Top Esports. While the game meant nothing for FlyQuest in terms of standings, the team can go home with pride as they managed to outperform some of the best players in the world.
Top Esports look terrifying, and they may run over the tournament purely through creative drafting and individual skill. That should not take away from their incredible map play and teamfight set-ups. DRX’s Pyosik and Doran had some surprising performances, but the team’s dependence on Chovy may still be a weak point. Also, the team must stop drafting noncohesive team compositions if they hope to compete with the tournament favorites.
Sources: LoL Esports, Riot Games