The Sun Sets on Wuhan
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The Worlds 2017 group stage has just concluded after eight days of intense League of Legends action. The top eight teams have proven that they have what it takes to move on to the playoffs round.
It’s time to take a look back on how the four groups fared during the first round of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship.
Group A: By the Skin of Their Teeth
Group A finished with the expected ending with SKT topping the group. However, no one could have predicted EDward Gaming to fall into last place after finishing first in the local Chinese league.
Cloud9 managed to cling to the 2nd quarterfinals slot from group A thanks to SKT’s efforts. The final SKT victory over EDG assured C9’s spot in the playoffs.
RELATED: SKT Secure C9 in Playoffs
Qualified Teams: SK Telecom T1 & Cloud9
Group B: Legends Never Die
It was another expected first place finish for Group B. Longzhu Gaming finished the group stage by being the only undefeated team in the tournament. LZ advance to the playoffs with an immaculate 6-0 record.
Fnatic pulled of the greatest comeback in the tournament so far. They managed to fight their way to the 2nd spot after finishing 0-3 in the first week.
Fnatic started out week 2 with a defeat at the hands of Korea’s LZ but they were not out of the competition yet. They bounced back from a 0-4 record to beat out GIGABYTE Marines and Immortals later in the day to force a three-way tie.
EU’s Fnatic needed to win two consecutive tie breakers against IMT and GAM in order to advance to the playoffs. They somehow managed to defeat both teams again at the end of the day to move on past groups. FNC went 4-1 in a single day to secure a spot in the Worlds quarterfinals.
Qualified Teams: Longzhu Gaming & Fnatic
Group C: For the Homeland
RNG fended off both Samsung Galaxy and G2 Esports in a valiant effort to defend their country. Given EDG’s abysmal performance despite being the first seed, RNG rose to fill in the gap. The home town crowd at the Wuhan Gymnasium roared as RNG fought to secure first place in group C with a 5-1 record.
SSG continue their return to the Worlds playoffs after finishing first runner up in the previous world championship. The pressure is on SSG to perform well in the tournament given their finals appearance in the previous year. It is now up to SSG mid laner Crown to live up to his legend and help his team advance through the playoffs.
Qualified Teams: Royal Never Give Up & Samsung Galaxy
Group D: Rookie Uprising
China’s Team WE joined RNG in defending the home court after their valiant run through the play-in stage. WE relied on their jungler Condi and mid lane carry xiye to secure the first spot in group D with a near-perfect 5-1 standing.
NA fans fully expected Team SoloMid to make it out of groups due to the absence of a Korean team in the group. No one could have predicted that the Misfits would play spoiler to the entire group’s predicted outcomes.
Misfits started out as a challenger team earlier this year before securing their EU LCS spot. They move on to the quarterfinals after edging out TSM and the Flash Wolves.
Qualified Teams: Team WE & Misfits
The eight qualified teams reconvene at the Guangzhou Gymnasium next week for the Worlds 2017 quarterfinals. The first matchup between Samsung Galaxy and Longzhu Gaming will take place on October 19, 2017 at 4:00PM!
