Worlds 2019 Group Stages are getting ready to start and with that The Game Haus will be taking a look at each team within each group to make sure that all fans are as informed as possible. For those who may not know how this stage works, all teams in the group will play each other twice in a Round Robin format. The games are best of one. The top two teams move on to a best of five series and continue playing until one team is left standing. Now, here is a look at Group D where Team Liquid, ahq e-Sports Club, Invictus Gaming and DAMWON Gaming will be battling it out.
Team Liquid
Seed: LCS 1st
2019 Accomplishments: 1st in the Spring and Summer, 2nd Place at MSI
Likely Starting Lineup:
Top: Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong
Jungle: Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Puchero
Mid: Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
Bot: Yiliang “Peter” “Doublelift” Peng
Supp: Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in
The LCS are sending their best in Team Liquid. Without a doubt this team is expected to at least make it out of groups, something LCS teams not named Cloud9 have struggled to do. It is time for Team Liquid to show that their second-place finish at MSI was not a fluke. They will come into Worlds with one of the best bot lanes in the world. Doublelift and CoreJJ should be able to go toe to toe with just about any bot lane and should dominate the ones in their group. That means that Impact and Jensen will need to do what they do best, don’t get beat badly. If they keep it close and Xmithie doesn’t disappear, as he does at times, then TL have a good chance of making it out of groups.
ahq e-Sports Club
Seed: LMS 2nd
2019 Accomplishments: 2nd for the Summer Regular Season and Playoffs
Likely Starting Lineup:
Top: Chen “Ziv” Yi
Jungle: Chen “Alex” Yu-Ming
Mid: Hsieh “Apex” Chia-Wei
Bot: Tsou “Wako” Wei-Yang
Supp: Wang “Ysera” Tsung-Chih
In their second Worlds appearance in the last three years, Ziv and crew are ready to show everyone that they can do well, when not put in the toughest group. Their last time at Worlds they were able to take down SKT which is obviously no small feat. This time they will have to battle through the LCS, LPL and LCK. If they are able to make it out of groups this year, it will not only mean a lot to them but also to the LMS. For this to happen they will need more out of whoever ends up starting in the midlane between Apex and Rainbow. Also, Ziv will need to be the calming presence for ahq. It won’t be easy, but this team can make this group even more interesting if nothing else.
Invictus Gaming
Seed: LPL 3rd
2019 Accomplishments: 1st in Spring Split, MSI Semi-Finalists, 1st in the LPL Regional Finals
Likely Starting Lineup:
Top: Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok
Jungle: Lu “Leyan” Jue
Mid: Song “Rookie” Eui-jin
Bot: Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo
Supp: Wang “Baolan” Liu-Yi
Did their loss to Team Liquid at MSI really almost ruin their entire year? Probably not, though they did seem lost for most of the summer. This comes after winning Worlds in 2018, then winning the LPL Spring Split and making a deep run at MSI. Finishing near the bottom of the standings during the summer was a huge shock to everyone. This team has world-class talent in TheShy, Rookie, JackeyLove and Baolan. They were lucky to finally find themselves during the Regional Finals. Now they have made it to Europe and have a chance to remind everyone why they won their championship last year.
DAMWON Gaming
Seed: LCK 3rd
2019 Accomplishments: 2nd in the Summer Regular Season, 3 in Summer Playoffs and 1st at the Regional Finals
Likely Starting Lineup:
Top: Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon
Jungle: Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu
Mid: Heo “ShowMaker” Su
Bot: Sin “Nuclear” Jeong-hyeon
Supp: Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee
Coming into the Play-Ins there were analysts claiming that DAMWON might be a top-five team and could even be a sleeper for a Worlds Championship. Then there were some cracks found during the Play-In and Knockout stages. Nuclear is possibly the weak-link in the DAMWON armor and they will need him to step up. Nuguri and ShowMaker are extremely good players and can definitely help this team go far. If the other three players around them struggle though, they could be looking at a disappointing early exit.
Who do you have making it out of Group D? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!
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