One of the newest organizations at Worlds 2019, MAMMOTH qualifies as Split 2 champions of the OPL. They acquired Sin Gaming coming into Split 2 of 2018, before dropping the entire roster for Topoon, Babip, Triple, k1ng and Destiny. For Split 2 of 2019, MAMMOTH added Fudge, who had played two matches on the Academy team. He and Topoon rotated games for most of Split 2, but Fudge started for all of playoffs.
Split 1 was a decent start for them, as MAMMOTH finished the regular season in fourth place (out of eight), before slumping to fifth in playoffs. During Split 2 they really came into form, finishing second in the regular season. Once playoffs rolled around, MAMMOTH went undefeated. They took down ORDER 3-0 in semifinals, then also swept Chiefs Esports 3-0 to win the Play-In slot.
This is MAMMOTH’s first international showing, but Triple and k1ng have had their fair share of experience. K1ng has qualified to MSI and Worlds twice each, while on Direwolves. In 2018 he made it alongside Triple, and in 2017 he qualified with Destiny. Fudge, Topoon and Babip have no major international showings. Babip helped Chiefs Esports win Rift Rivals last year, but Fudge and Topoon are rookies this year.
MAMMOTH lean on scaling picks and teamfighting for most of their wins. They have the highest average kills per game and the lowest average deaths per game within the OPL. Destiny, k1ng and Babip all have kill participation over 70 percent, and MAMMOTH prefers drafting champions like Gnar, Sejuani, Vladimir, Azir and Ezreal. They do not have insanely high gold difference at 15 or objective control rates, like many of the minor region teams at Play-Ins.
The OPL has not historically performed very well at international events. The Bombers tied for third in their 2019 MSI Play-In group. Direwolves went 1-3 in their 2018 Worlds Play-In group, and 2-4 at MSI, both good enough for third. 2017 was exactly the same. While MAMMOTH brings several players from those performances together for 2019, the relatively inexperienced top-jungle duo, newness of the organization and history of international performance by Oceania do not inspire much hope that they will make it out of Play-Ins group stage.
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