This is Part 2 of a miniseries of articles that will take a look at some teams with a shot to represent their region at Worlds this year for the 4 major regions (NA, EU, China, Korea).
With Europe’s recent dominance at MSI and Rift Rivals, they’ll be heading into Worlds with a lot of momentum on their side. With G2 Esports and Fnatic dominating the LEC, the rest of the region will likely be fighting for the final spot at worlds instead. Can the juggernauts in G2 and Fnatic be knocked out from a spot at Worlds? Let’s find out right now and take a look at some candidates that will likely represent Europe at Worlds 2019.
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The best team in Europe and the world haven’t lost a step so far during the Summer Split as they sit tied for first with a 7-1 record. While the rest of Europe is slowly catching up to the champs, they’re still a current favorite to win it all once again and head into Worlds as the first seed.
With some of the best players in their respective positions all with giant champion pools, G2 is a very dangerous team to face and to prepare against. Their ability to flex pick multiple champions into multiple lanes means that sometimes the opponent won’t even know which champion is going where until the game starts.
While Mikyx’s wrist injury could still be a concern in the long run, G2 should still be able to steamroll through most of the LEC even with promisq in the starting roster instead. Now the real question becomes whether G2 can repeat their MSI performance at Worlds and bring Europe to the throne and cement themselves as the best team in the World without a doubt.
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Despite struggling through the Spring Split, Fnatic has finally begun dominating Europe once again. With players like Bwipo finding their groove again within the meta and Nemesis finally settling into his role on the team, Fnatic has finally found the synergy needed to challenge for the title.
While the stars of the show is still the bot lane tandem of Rekkles and Hylissang, who continue to be one of the top bot lanes in not only Europe but the world, the rest of the team has also been getting their chance to shine. With players like Broxah continuing to make plays all over the man and control the pace of the game and Nemesis looking better and better each game, Fnatic has shown that they also have threats all over the map.
While the team has looked good so far this split, there are still concerns to keep in mind. For one, while the current meta favors Bwipo, a change could cause him to begin struggling once again. If that were to happen, Fnatic could find themselves struggling against the top teams of Europe. On top of that the team’s drafting in the past has been suspect at times and could be an issue again in the future. Despite this, Fnatic should still be a favorite to make Worlds yet again.
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After an amazing Spring Split that saw the team come in second behind the powerhouse team of G2, Origen came into the Summer Split with a lot of momentum. However, the team has seemingly hit a small bump in the road as they sit tied for fourth with a 4-4 record at the moment.
Despite a talented roster with the likes of Alphari and Nukeduck, the team has had trouble beating the top teams with three of their four losses coming from teams above them in the standing. While it could be seen as the team simply having some early season struggles to reach the same level of performance as the Spring Split, it is still troublesome as they hit the midway point of the season.
Despite this, as long as Origen is able to make it into the playoffs, they’ll have a solid chance to still make Worlds. One of Origen’s biggest strengths in the playoffs last season was their ability to scout out the opponent and have a great read on their gameplan. As such it’s still hard to bet against Origen against most teams in a best of five situation, especially with all the talent on their roster as well.
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One of the surprises of the Spring Split was Splyce with their solid fourth place finish. Splyce now looks to build on that success as they sit a game behind the first place teams in Fnatic and G2. As the team continues to improve will they be able to climb to first place by the end of the regular season?
While the team has looked better and better, they’re still prone to the same issues and mistakes as before. The most notable issues for the team is their struggles with playing proactively at times which has caused them to slowly lose games. Along with that, some players such as Humanoid can be inconsistent at times and has lost them games in the past with his performance.
Overall, Splyce should still have a solid chance at making worlds as a third seed as long as they can maintain a proactive playstyle. If they fall into the same issues as before they could see their Worlds aspirations disappearing for this season.
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While the competition between the top teams in Europe has been fierce, there can only be three teams that make it. However, in the end, expect the three teams to represent Europe at Worlds to be G2 as the first seed, Fnatic as the second seed, and finally Origen as the third seed.
While Origen finished second in the Spring Split by beating out Fnatic, it’s hard to see them being able to repeat that task with Fnatic looking much better. However, in a best of five environment, Origen should be able to still beat out the likes of Splyce which should allow them to run the gauntlet and qualify for Worlds.
To watch League of Legends tournaments, visit watch.na.lolesports.com. For more information on the Split, teams, standings and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Recaps of former weeks and other LoL content can be found at https://thegamehaus.com/category/league-of-legends/.
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