Back in May, I wrote a piece titled 'Breaking Korea' following SK Telecom T1's Mid-Season Invitational finals loss to China's EDward Gaming that detailed the current landscape of the Korean region. The first major tournament in years without a Korean champion, MSI was seen as somewhat of a passing of the torch, the rebuilding South Korean region relenting to the country that signed dozens of Korea's top stars during the offseason to bolster their rosters. The GE Tigers and CJ Entus had done terribly at the IEM World Championships and the one last savior of the nation, SK Telecom T1, couldn't stand up against the tyrants from China.

Fast forward five months later and everything has been turned on its head. China has fallen apart in the biggest tournament of the year after all three of their teams entering the competition were considered proverbial locks for the quarterfinals. Invictus Gaming's inconsistent tendencies have reared its ugly heads, LGD Gaming look to have forgotten to play League of Legends, and EDward Gaming were brushed aside in a one-sided blowout in their first meeting with T1 since beating them at MSI.

Today, China was completely broken, going 0-3 in their games. Can they restore their pride before its too late to make a difference?

China's Brawn vs. Korea's Brains

Before we get into the two teams that are on life support, let's begin with the sole Chinese team that should still be considered a heavy favorite to go deep in the tournament. EDG probably had the easiest first two games of the entire tournament, first winning in the fastest game of the competition against the winless Bangkok Titans and then storming past H2k Gaming yesterday in another one-sided affair.

EDG's issue today was that they were beat in the drafting phase by SKT's brain trust and fell right into T1's trap in the first 10 minutes. AmazingJ saw the high priority Darius selection — a first pick champion choice that has been disastrous for countless teams through the first three days — and chose him blind in the face of a satisfied T1 team that were ready to counter it with MaRin's signature Renekton. The game spiraled out of control when EDG left AmazingJ and his helpless Darius to fend for himself against the hungry crocodile in the top lane while they tried to get an early lead through dragon control.

Although they got slightly ahead in the objective game, the sacrifice of a top selection turned out to be the worst decision they could have made. MaRin bullied AmazingJ in lane, amassing an insurmountable CS lead that made his Darius absolutely useless in the late-game. Faker followed suit by pushing around his rival PawN in the middle lane, giving up first blood on his Ryze in a foolish manner but not letting that affect his control over his opponent's Ekko. EDG attempted to get back into the game after falling behind and even got some advantageous team fight situations, yet it was all over by then — MaRin was too big of a frontline tank to do anything against and EDG were overwhelmed by SKT's tactics.

Should EDG be worried? Slightly, seeing as they'll need to win two games in a row against T1 to claim the first seed in the group, but there is still no question they're one of the best teams in the competition. As EDG did against T1 at MSI when they used their Morgana-centric composition to dismantle Faker's unbeaten LeBlanc record, kkOma came back with a counter of his own with the Ryze and Renekton against EDG's Darius and Ekko. If EDG didn't have one of the best coaches of all-time in Aaron at the helm and an experienced leader like Clearlove in the jungle then I'd start waving warning signals, but this was a simple case of one chessmaster outmaneuvering another in a single game.

Aaron won the first fight in Tallahassee at MSI.

kkOma struck back in France with a masterful reversal of his own.

We'll see who wins in the next battle of wits when they meet again in less than a week.

LGD, on the other hand, haven't been simply outmaneuvered in their first two games: they've been embarrassed. They lost their opener against Origen in a back-and-forth brawl that was tipped to the side of OG when the European runners-up landed a well-timed combination of ultimates, putting LGD in a deficit and never letting them recover. Against KT Rolster in their second game — if you can even call it a game — they were completely outdone in the pick/ban phase, playing a poke-style strategy centered around GODV's Varus into a KT lineup with Malphite and Braum in the front to soak up and block anything that came their way.

Outside of their weak drafting phase, their in-game play was even worse. GODV, one of the most talented carries in the world, has looked lost in his first two games on the world-stage, dying six times and only managing one kill in today's match against KT Rolster.

Imp has reverted back to his form in 2012 when he tried to do too much on his rookie MVP Ozone team and constantly made mistakes by overplaying his hand.

Acorn was the best utility top laner coming into the tournament and has been abysmal with his engages and teleports through the first two days, needlessly using his summoner spells that put his squad at a disadvantage.

Pyl's been a disappointment as one of the best supports in the world, his Thresh game against KT Rolster being ineffective as possible.

And TBQ, the known weak link on the squad, doesn't have his comfort blanket known as Lee Sin to fall back on and his teammates are playing nowhere well enough to hide his weaknesses inside the game.

You can go on about how they're desperately missing an experienced coach to help them through their lackluster pregame, but that doesn't really mean much when you see how poorly LGD are playing. They could have kkOma, Aaron, and Nofe all coaching them on stage and it wouldn't result in anything because of how terribly they're playing individually and as a unit.

Tomorrow's game against Team SoloMid is a must-win, be it in a stomp fashion or narrowly sneaking out a victory. Style points and looking good should no longer be in LGD's vocabulary. They need to win in a game by any means possible. If that means they switch out Flame for the underperforming Acorn, so be it. LGD can get down to brass tacks and iron out their extensive issues during their short break next week, but tomorrow is the most important game of their year.

Win or, for all intents and purposes, go home.

Invictus Gaming are in the same position as LGD come Sunday: win against ahq e-Sports or their tournament is essentially over. iG lost their second game of Worlds in a game against Cloud9 on Saturday, their issues from the first day of the tournament spilling over to today. Kid and Kitties, Invictus' criticized bottom lane, were beaten by the C9 duo of Sneaky and LemonNation, and even Rookie's comfort pick Ekko couldn't keep up with Incarnati0n's monstrous performance on Azir.

Cloud9 had their weak point in Balls in the top lane with Darius, starved out for the entire game and being an accessory instead of the carry you'd want from a first pick Darius. But, unlike iG that couldn't hide their weakness of their bottom lane, Cloud9 did the best job possible still incorporating Balls into their play and helping him still have some relevance in the game. Kid fell down early and continually made silly, unneeded mistakes like standing under a turret with a Tristana bomb atop of it that almost killed him when it went off. For all the negative things you want to say about Balls condition, he'll work hard to make sure that even if he's the least influential member on his team, that he can do something positive in the late-game without being a hindrance.

iG will limp into a game tomorrow against the chaotic ahq e-Sports Club who got their first victory of the tournament today in an upset, comeback victory over home favorites Fnatic. I'd like to see Invictus not fall for ahq's bait to contort the game into a messy all-out war and play a calculated style that can get Rookie and Zzitai into a comfortable position to carry in the late-game. Will that actually happen? Who really knows with iG — they could start an undefeated run tomorrow that propels them into the Summoner's Cup Finals, or they could get crushed by Ziv and ahq before spiraling out of the tournament with a humiliating 0-6 scoreline.

Worlds Stock Exchange

Rising Stock: The Apple Pie and Pølse Connection

Meet the new carry partnership taking over Worlds: Mr. Apple Pie, Sneaky and Mr. Pølse, Incarnati0n. The American AD carry and the Danish mid laner have teamed up to carry Cloud9 in terms of damage alongside Hai's leadership to get their team atop of Group B after the first three days.

Incarnati0n was a gamble from Cloud9 to bring in a player that single-handedly could change the entire complexion of a game with his offensive prowess. While he's playing control mages like Azir and Viktor instead of the assassins he was known for in solo queue, Incarnati0n's matured over the past five months into a shining star on the global stage. His partner in crime, Sneaky, is the experienced one of the two: calm, consistent, and knows what has to be done to get his time the win. Together, the Apple Pie and Pølse combination has put C9 only a few map victories away from achieving their third straight top 8 at Worlds.

Plummeting Stock: Bangkok Titans' ongoing Yelp Review of Paris

Today we lost again. We had a very yummy breakfast in the hotel and then walked around a few shops before we were forced to play more games. We played against a team from Europe and they beat us like the other two teams beat us. Hopefully we can win one game before we leave our vacation in Paris. It is fun but I wish that we didn't have to die so many times in the process.

Tomorrow we don't have to play any games! We will be traveling and seeing the great sights in Paris instead of like those fools who have to sit indoors and play a video game for hours and hours. I hope no one tries to dive us when we go see the Eiffel Tower.

Three and a half stars out of five (thus far) -- Bangkok Titans

Plummeting Stock: Huni

Huni entered Worlds as one of the West's best players, and while he's evolved into a better player as the year has gone along with the rest of Fnatic, he switched back to his solo queue mindset in today's loss to ahq e-Sports. Whenever he made a mistake or got killed off, he tried to rectify it by trying to make a gigantic play through a teleport or forcing a fight. Those decisions only dug Fnatic a deeper hole and forced them into playing ahq's chaotic, uptempo style of play. Compare that to Ziv, ahq's star top laner who was one of the best players of the entire day, Huni was outmatched in skill, decision making, and teamwork.

P.S: I still think Rekkles hair is stylish and a constantly rising stock.

Rising Stock: KT Rolster

With EDG's loss to SK Telecom T1, KT Rolster have taken up the mantle of the team who has looked the less threatened so far this tournament. They handily beat TSM in their opening game following a standard early-game, and they used their blitzkrieg style to demolish LGD Gaming in one of the biggest blowouts of the entire competition through three days. KT are smart, have been the best pick/ban team alongside SKT and Origen in the group stages, and have playmakers like Ssumday and Piccaboo that can take over games in an instant.

Nagne was the one weak point in yesterday's win over TSM, getting solo killed by Bjergsen in a duel that he fumbled through, and today's impressive Lulu performance should give him confidence heading into their game tomorrow against Origen.

KT at 2-0 and Origen at 2-0. Two teams, although small sample size, appear to be the real deal when it comes to contending for the Summoner's Cup. Expect fireworks between two teams with strong jungle/support duos and a preference for making bold moves in the laning phase.

The King of Worlds: Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-Hwan

MaRin was the centerpiece in SKT T1's romp over EDG in today's opening matchup. He starred on Fiora during the opening day of play against H2k, and he was once again the ace of SK Telecom T1 in their small exaction of revenge against the team that beat them at the Mid-Season Invitational. MaRin's strong suit is that he's an all-around player that can play free-flowing champions like Fiora and also influence the game on a perceived tank like Renekton. As the captain of SKT T1, he's also one of the most flexible players at Worlds, allowing him along with co-shot caller Faker and head coach kkOma to create a variety of strategies that can dissect the opposing team.

Day 1: Hai "Hai" Lam

Day 2: Hung "Karsa" Hau Hsuan

Day 3: Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-Hwan

Tyler "Fionn" Erzberger is a staff writer for theScore eSports. You can follow him on Twitter