The group draw has concluded, and the results provide parity in almost every group. With the exception of perhaps the dominating Tigers, it’s hard to say that any competitor has a free ticket to the next round.

Here are my immediate reactions to the draw. I can only hope that looking back at my thoughts a year from now will be less painful than looking back at the ones I made last year.

Group A: ROX, G2, CLG, Albus NoX

Photo credit: KeSPA

G2’s reaction to being drawn into Tigers’ group should be to kick themselves soundly for a poor showing at the Mid Season Invitational. But, as the next two picks rolled out, their chances slowly improved.

Support players stand out the most in this group's matchups. ROX, CLG, and G2 all boast their region’s best support players, and Kirill "Likkrit" Malofeyev of Albus NoX Luna can even carry his team in a more traditional sense with a pick like Brand. Tigers' greatest advantage will be in their top-side emphasis, using Yoon "Peanut" Wangho to punish Song "Smeb" Kyungho’s challengers.

Tigers’ fast action has propelled them to the top of LCK, and there should be little to challenge them here. One of their only struggles has been against more aggressive mid laners, and though Luka "PerkZ" Perković is not a slouch, he hasn’t taken that well to the meta this split, at least not well enough to counteract top lane struggles. Kim "Trick" Gangyun may find himself tied up in the top lane, which means that we won’t be able to see perhaps the most exciting matchup of the group, between him and Peanut, play out fully.

It may sound like I’m discounting Counter Logic Gaming, but I’m not. Though the meta may not favor them, they’re one of the more resourceful teams at the tournament. They're good at coming up with creative ways to work around their weaknesses. A solution isn’t immediately obvious here, but roaming mids are in Choi "Huhi" Jaehyun’s comfort zone, which could mean they've been slightly underrated going into this event. Even so, if ANX have any chance to upset a team and take a coveted Wildcard win, it'll be in their match against CLG.

Group B: Flash Wolves, SKT, I May, C9

Though the broadcast analysts immediately pegged SK Telecom T1 as the clear favorite to win this group, I am not as confident. Though some would say it’s career suicide for any analyst to bet against them, SKT’s form has not been as strong lately, and the last time carry junglers featured prominently in the meta back in 2014, SKT could not cement a dynamic effective enough to even qualify for Worlds.

A commonly proposed solution for SKT is a better jungler, but I’d argue that their style of relying on creating vision and putting more resources in lanes promotes starved junglers unsuited to carrying or creative pathing. There’s no way to know this for certain, but this meta of putting more lane farm on junglers could trip up the Korean team in Group B.

Flash Wolves seem like the sleeper pick of the group. Somewhat like Counter Logic Gaming, who suffer with weaker side lane carries, Flash Wolves have been incredibly resourceful in finding ways to get their jungle and mid duo ahead. Hung “Karsa” Hauhsuan and Huang “Maple” Yitang roaming as a pair can mitigate a lot of side lane struggles. Flash Wolves and SKT, in my opinion, are most likely to advance.

On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if almost any combination of these teams graduated from the group stage. Cloud9’s last surge in the Gauntlet demonstrated that they’re in their element in standard lanes, though William "Meteos" Hartman’s versatility seems to be the biggest puzzle.

I May have much in common with Flash Wolves, except they rely heavily on their support to nullify mid-lane advantages and their jungler to do the same for the top side. I May’s main advantage here will be the patience they have to wait out the more bloodthirsty teams in the group. Clever ward placement may turn an unwinnable match and allow IM to squeak out.

Group C: EDward, ahq, H2K, INTZ

Photo credit: 刘一村

Until further notice, I consider ahq’s success in the most recent LMS playoffs and Gauntlet something of a fluke. At Worlds, against more competent opponents, they should be out of their element. I have difficulty finding confidence in them, even against the likes of H2K, who have had a rough split, and Wildcard team INTZ.

EDward Gaming should have a smooth run in this group. They are incredibly familiar with ahq after scrimming them frequently. Observing their reactions, EDG seemed quite happy with the draw, while ahq looked pained. H2K should be the most difficult opponent for EDG, based purely on the skill level of their players, but H2K showed a lot of inconsistencies this split and it's not clear what form they'll be in at Worlds.

It should be possible for H2K to escape this group. They’ve played increasingly around Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu, and he will have to stand as a pillar against the strong top laners of ahq and INTZ. He'll have to be a battering ram against EDward Gaming, who hardly provide support for Chen “mouse” Yuhao. Though I would hesitate to make any big bets on H2K, I feel fairly confident that they’ll survive until the next round.

INTZ do actually have a chance to escape as well, but not if they play the way they did in the Wildcard Finals against Dark Passage. They’ll need to be able to capitalize better on forward momentum, and not give up free objectives so easily.

Group D: TSM, Royal, Samsung, Splyce

Photo credit: Jose Silva

While everyone agrees Team SoloMid is the strongest team in Group D — I do as well — it’s still entirely possible they won’t make it out of this group. Samsung and Royal are both incredibly variable teams; Royal have perhaps the highest talent ceiling at the event, but they haven’t been able to effectively use leads gained by their solo laners or exhibit consistent team play.

Samsung’s surge impressed, especially with some of their more creative Gauntlet strategies, but no one can say whether this improvement is permanent, or whether they’ll be another casualty of a miracle qualifier run with a tragic ending. Splyce are perhaps the most reliable team here, but their inability to pressure the early game effectively might harm them against some of these more laning-focused teams like TSM and RNG.

Because Royal are difficult to count out, given how solidly their players have performed as recently as the MidSeason Invitational, it’s almost painful for me to say I don’t think they’ll make it out of this group. Samsung are more volatile, but what they've shown recently was far more promising than what we've seen from Royal. And though Splyce have stated they will focus on improving their laning phase in their Korean bootcamp, it seems a tall ask in a short time.

Either way, we'll at least have a chance to witness Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng take on Jian “Uzi” Zihao. After Doublelift praised Uzi so heavily at the 2013 World Championship, this is a meeting that’s well overdue.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore esports. You can follow her on Twitter.