What two days of Group stage at Worlds 2022 taught us

We are a quarter through the group stage and some of the teams might have dug a hole too deep.

Two games in and Fnatic is looking like the best team in the world. The LCS teams are still looking for their first win and the Korean representatives are starting to feel the pressure.

The LCS is yet to win a game

It’s a sad time to be a fan of League of Legends teams from North America. Despite all of the hype and sweet revenge on social media the fans got after EG whipped the floor with the MAD Lions, things are looking bleak at the moment. The first day of the tournaments kicked off with Cloud9 getting fundamentally dismantled by Fnatic, followed by EG losing a very winnable game against JDG, who got off on the wrong foot.

100 Thieves also lost a hard-fought game against the PCS first seed, Flying Oyster. For all of the clowning, the third seed from the LCS did when the groups were drawn, they just lost to the worst team in their group. Day two offered more of the same, with C9 and EG, both falling to 0-2 and at the bottom of their group.

Regardless of your pickems, do you have confidence in 100 Thieves winning one of the four upcoming games against RNG and GenG? And they might be NA’s best hope, considering C9 have to 2-0 sweep T1 and get a game of Fnatic or reigning World Champions, EDG.

LEC surprising everyone

The MAD Lions might have done the LEC a huge favor, despite bombing out of the Play-In stage in spectacular fashion. They might have given the teams at the World Championship a false image of Europe’s strength. Or maybe it’s just Fnatic defeating all of the odds and peaking at the right time. G2 continues to dominate Evil Geniuses at international events, while Upset continues to do the same to former and current T1 bot laners.

For Fnatic, this is the cleanest gameplay we have seen from them all year, and it’s coming at the best time possible. Rogue look like the best chance Europe has of a top-eight finish but a LEC title doesn’t absolve them from the restrained pessimism.  G2 looked promising against Damwon despite being outplayed in every single aspect of the game. They’re one of the few teams still testing out stuff, which might work out better in the long term.

Teams are still testing

The message is clear from the first two days. Aatrox and Sejuani are the best blind picks and have been picked or banned in every single game. This tournament might be one for the ages, considering the mid lane talent participating and how the meta is shaping up. Azir has been the name of the game throughout two days, winning seven of the nine games he was picked in. Get ready for some amazing highlights and some amazing counters.

Assassins like Akali and LeBlanc are just not going to work against him when Maokai is the best tank champion on the current patch, That recent mini-rework made him strong in multiple roles while maintaining his lockdown and crowd control playstyle that haunts assassins.

Graves and Fiora entering the meta should scare Western teams, given how good Chinese and Korean players are on those mechanically demanding champions. Poppy continues to rise in priority as well, because every champion we just mentioned, has a dash she can prevent.

Header: Riot Games