MSI: What The Group Stages Mean For Each Region

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and in no way reflect the opinions of Team Dignitas.

This year's Mid Season Invitational has already been a tournament full of surprises and upsets.  We will take a look at what these results mean for each region heading into worlds, and the teams that represent them heading into the elimination matches this weekend.  

Let's start with the teams that are already eliminated from the tournament and failed to secure a number 1 seed for their region:

Wildcard Team: SuperMassive (ELIMINATED)

The 6th place finisher, SuperMassive, surprised everyone with how strong they looked playing against some of the top teams in the world.  While their scoreline only shows 1 win they had some close games and proved that wildcard teams real competitors who can take a game off of anyone.  In the upcoming split SuperMassive will need to work on their lane swaps, snowballing early game advantages, and figuring out how to win a game when they have the lead.  While it is a tall order SuperMassive is certainly a team that can handle it and hopefully we will see more of them on the international stage sometime soon.

EU LCS Team: G2 Esports (ELIMINATED)

G2 Esports was a heavy favorite coming into this tournament predicted by many to be one of the top 3 teams.  However it quickly became apparent that the G2 that looked so impressive in the EU LCS was not the same G2 that had shown up at MSI.  G2 seemed to fall apart only managing to beat SuperMassive amidst fans' backlash over the break they took before MSI and rumors of internal conflict.  If G2 wants to have any chance in the EU LCS Summer Split they have a lot of work to do.  It is hard to say what the exact problem is from the outside looking in, but it would not be surprising to see some personnel changes before the start of the split.     

Image courtesy of Riot Esports on Flickr

Now moving on to the teams that made it out of group stages and have secured a number 1 spot for their region at the 2016 World Championship:

LMS Team: Flash Wolves

Flash Wolves came into group stages looking great going 4-2 in the first 3 days of the tournament.  However despite being tied for 3rd place with SKTelecom T1, their results should worry them a little moving forward to the elimination matches.  Of the 3 remaining teams Flash Wolves were only able to beat SKT during their 4 game losing streak, which they have since broken.  Since they won both games against SKT in groups Flash Wolves will win the head-to-head against them and play second seeded team Counter Logic Gaming.  Flash Wolves lost both of their group stage matches against CLG, and even had to ban Choi 'Huhi' Jae-hyun's Aurelion Sol in their second match up on day 5 of groups.  In the days they have off before their elimination match this Friday Flash Wolves have some pretty big hurdles to overcome.  

LCK Team: SKTelecom T1

SKTelecom T1 were easily the favorite team to win MSI coming into the tournament.  They are the current world champions and in their championship spring split only dropped 2 individual games in 3 best of 5's.  Despite this SKT looked like an almost completely different team in the first few days of groups.  They had an unprecedented 4 game losing streak over days 2-3 before starting to put the pieces back together on day 4, where they managed to beat both CLG and RNG.  Finally in day 5 SKT looked like they were back to form, crushing G2 Esports and winning an intense 54 minute all out brawl with Royal Never Give Up.  Moving ahead they look like they will be the SKT that fans around the world have come to expect.

NA Team: Counter Logic Gaming

Counter Logic Gaming came into the Mid Season Invitational off the radar, but after this group stage they are the team everyone should be watching.  In one of the best international showings of any North American team CLG managed to beat every other team in the tournament at least once.  If not for an unexpected loss to SuperMassive on day 2 CLG could have very well taken the 1st seed from Royal Never Give Up.  They have shown that they are a team is never out of a game, managing to come back from being down 17k gold against RNG to win on day 4.  Individually their players are all performing well especially Trevor 'Stixxay' Hayes who has proven he is more than a one sheriff pony, playing Kalista and Lucian extremely well.  More important than their individual skill is CLG's teamplay, especially the map awareness and teleport plays from top laner Darshan 'Darshan" Upadhyaha.  They are also adaptable being the first team to make use of Aurelion Sol being available in competitive play for the first time.  If CLG continues improving like they did over the course of group stages they are strong contenders to win the entire event.

LPL Team: Royal Never Give Up

The home team and the team to beat Royal Never Give Up plays aggressive, exciting League of Legends.  Staying undefeated until the end of day 4, RNG have been devastating their opponents through superior team fighting and mechanical skill.  Individually they have some of the most skilled players in the world, but particularly team captain Cho 'Mata' Se-hyeong has shown why he is one of the best supports in League of Legends.  In particular his Alistair and Bard were devastating.  Against SKT on day 5 Mata's Bard was a terror, hitting almost every single ult on a priority target.  Moving forward RNG needs to work on closing out their games as both their losses came after a team fight loss in long games.  They have a tough road ahead of them with SKT looking almost like them old selves it should make for a fantastic, and long, semi-final match this Saturday.

 

This weekend's match ups:

- CLG vs FW

This match up will provide some quality games and both teams have a good chance of coming out victorious. 

CLG win conditions: 

1: Find ways to shut down Flash Wolves' mid laner Huang 'Maple' Yi-Tang.  

Maple has been an absolute monster during group stages and is the primary carry on Flash Wolves.  The better he does the more likely it is Flash Wolves will win.

2: Punish Flash Wolves' AD carry Hsiung 'NL' Wen-An

NL has looked like the weakest link in the Flash Wolves team throughout group stages.  CLG should abuse having a stronger lane and pressure bot side for map control, and possibly free kills.

3: Don't be afraid to teamfight

CLG's teamfighting has improved every day of the group stages.  With Darshan leading the charge with a flash engage or a teleport flank CLG should have no problem coming out ahead in teamfights.

 

FW win conditions:

1: Get Maple Ahead

Maple is entirely able to carry, enabling him to do so should be a top priority for Flash Wolves

2: Look for the lane swap

CLG quite simply have a stronger bot lane at the moment.  Flash Wolves should try to avoid standard lanes and wait for mid-late game when hopefully Maple is ahead.

3: Punish CLG when TP is down

CLG are incredibly good at playing around a teleport from one of their solo lanes.  Flash Wolves need to make sure that they punish CLG every time teleport is down or they will steadily fall behind.

My Pick: CLG

Image courtesy of Riot Esports on Flickr

CLG has looked incredibly strong this tournament and don't look like they are slowing down.  That being said it won't be a surprise if the series is close.

 

- SKT vs RNG

SKT win conditions:

1: Stick to their style of play

RNG are very aggressive and like to speed up the pace of the game.  SKT need to stick to their style of play and remain calm while they scale up for late game team fights.

2: Limit Mata's impact

Mata is a huge playmaker for RNG, but in group stages his thresh did not seem as scary as his Bard or Alistair.  Think about banning out or picking away champions Mata can change a game with.

3: Early vision 

While vision is always important SKT needs to keep track of RNG's jungler Shi-yu 'mlxg' Liu.  He has had a huge impact so far this tournament and keeping him from snowballing the early game will make SKT's job much easier.

RNG win conditions:

1: Punish SKT's lanes with mlxg

mlxg has been incredible all tournament long.  If RNG can get him onto Nidalee he can easily snowball the game out of control, but he can also perform early on other jungle champs.

2: Play some team comps with easy engage

While RNG is a top tier team failing to hit a priority target with bard ult against SKT on day 5 ended up costing them the game.  Having guaranteed cc, like a Maokai, could be a game changer if the game goes past 40 minutes

3: Don't let SKT stack up dragons

SKT generally has some very long games and they prefer teamfighting to split pushing.  If they have the threat of 5 dragons it gives them 1 more way to win late game, use early game aggression to slow their stacking.

My Pick: SKT

Image courtesy of Riot Esports on Flickr

This one is a hard choice but SKT looked like they were coming out of their slump the last few days of group stages.  They are also a team that prepares exceptionally well and will undoubtedly come in to the match with a plan.

 

So far this MSI has been an incredible tournament and it looks like it will continue that way into the bracket stages.  Make sure to tune in this Friday and Saturday where the action continues in Shanghai, and comment below on who you think is going to win this weekend.