League of Legend’s Mid-Season Invitationals begin tomorrow in Shanghai, with the winner of each major region and the International Wildcard winner all battling out to win the 2nd most prestigious international tournament in League of Legends. However, what should we expect from the teams in this tournament?

1. SKT To Dominate

Now, in hope of a competitive tournament, I hope this doesn’t come true. I’d love to see the International Wildcard winner Supermassive be able to go head to head with the Korean giants, but SK Telecom T1 just look way above the rest.

At the end of the 1st round of the season, it seemed unlikely to see SKT making it to play-offs, let alone winning the whole thing. They were in 6th spot with Bengi and Duke especially struggling to find the synergy required to get ahead in games.

However, IEM Katowice proved to be a stepping stone for SKT, as the Bengi was benched in favour of the new jungler Blank, who after a few dodgy displays showed his class at IEM, dominating the jungle. SKT T1 won the tournament in convincing fashion, that gave them a sense of belief that propelled them to another LCK title.

At MSI, the group stages should be a formality for SKT. They should win all their games comfortably, however they could also be in for a surprise or two, as Europe’s representative G2 and China’s Royal Never Give Up will be eager to show that they can compete with the best.

SKT’s star mid-laner Faker will be eager to prove once again that he is the world’s best, but attention should be in the underrated (as underrated as players on the best team on the world can be) bot-lane of ADC Bang and support Wolf.

Bang was one of the few consistent players throughout the tournament, carrying his team with his late game prowess in team fights while Wolf makes sure no one gets near his man.

To beat SKT T1, it is important that any team facing them gets an advantage in the bot lane, as that is the first stepping stone to topple the giants of Korea.

Faker and co will not be easily toppled though, as SKT T1 seek to win the only title they have yet to claim and add to their endless trophy cabinet.

2. Tight Battle for 2nd Place

Now of course every team attending MSI is aiming to win it, what kind of athletes would they be if they didn’t? Realistically though, this tournament is to decide which region is the best after Korea.

There are 4 contenders for the title of ‘2nd best team in the world’:

China’s LPL winner Royal Never Give Up (RNG)

Europe’s EU LCS winner G2 Esports

Taiwan’s LMS Winner Flash Wolves (FW)

North America’s NA LS Winner Counter-Logic Gaming (CLG)

Let’s go through them 1 by 1.

Royal Never Give Up

RNG is comprised of season 4 World Champions, Mata on support and Looper in the top lane along with the excellent carries of their jungler mlxg, mid-laner xiaohu and ADC wuxx.

They took the LPL by storm, dominating their group in the regular season before comfortably defeating Edward Gaming in the finals, winning 3-1.

Their strength comes from their ability to team fight sensationally. A common trend in the LPL was that teams didn’t focus on macro plays, but looked to get kills first and think about how to win later.

It worked well for RNG in their region, but it is a sign of worry that they were outplayed by the way Fnatic controlled the macro game when they met at IEM.

If RNG are to claim the 2nd best team in the world, they will have to learn how to play the macro game as well as team fights. How to properly do lane swaps as well as getting first blood.

If RNG can do that, who knows? They might even win MSI.

G2 Esports

No one expected G2 to come this far. They were a newly promoted team in the EU LCS and were widely believed to be a mid tier team. A team full of rookies weren’t going to be able to take the mantle of best team in Europe from World Championship semi-finalists Origen or Fnatic.

They proved their doubters wrong and did just that. G2’s strength stems from the trust that the Korean jungler Trick and mid-laner Perkz have for one another. They were the MVP and Rookie of the split respectively.

Unlike their Chinese counterparts, G2 can play the macro game well and can out strategise a team as well as by brute force in order to get the win. In the current tank top, carry jungler meta, Kikis and Trick fit right in, and it will be exiting to see what they can do.

However, their inexperience at the top level is the only worry going into MSI. Can these rookies handle the pressure and expectation of representing Europe at the highest level? Or will they succumb to the pressure?

It will be up to the coordination of their 2 star players Trick and Perkz to prove the doubters wrong once again.

Flash Wolves

Taiwan is a mysterious place. No one ever knows what to expect from LMS. That’s what makes them so strong.

This season Taiwan was a battle between Flash Wolves and AHQ, with Flash Wolves winning the war in a final where they dominated the series against a disappointing AHQ.

It’s difficult to judge the Flash Wolves strength, but they have 4 of 5 of the players that got out of the group stages at Worlds so they have the experience at the international stage, but it will be interesting to see whether they learnt anything from that experience.

Flash Wolves have excellent coordination with mid-laner Maple and jungler Karsa while the others just follow their lead.

Flash Wolves power comes from going into this tournament as an enigma. No one knows what kind of Flash Wolves will show up. They have to take advantage of this and prove that they are one of the world’s best.

Counter-Logic Gaming

CLG carry the unbreakable pride of the North Americans, and everyone is hoping they finally make a stride on the international stage.

They go into MSI as probably the weakest of the major regions. No one thinks they’ll make it past the group stage or even beat any one besides the Turkish Supermassive.

That’s exactly how they went into the NA LCS though. After a season of roster changes that made them look weaker on paper, they look stronger on the Rift.

CLG don’t depend on one player to carry them throughout, but some players steps up when they need to. One game it might be Darshan split pushing his way to victory, another game it might be Huhi catching someone out.

CLG’s strong team unity only makes their control in games greater. With the trust these players have, they move into any call as a team, and it allows them to take advantage of any uncertainty an opposing team might have.

If they are to have any hope of progressing at MSI, they will have to play to their strengths and lure the enemy into a mistake.

They carry the pride of NA, and they are eager to to bring it back in tact.

3. Supermassive to Surprise

Supermassive is not a team to be laughed at. They may have come from the International Wildcard, but they are quickly evolving to meet the standards of the higher regions.

Supermasive can play the macro game well and they are not let down with their mechanical skills either.

They won’t be expecting to make it to semi finals, it’ll be great if they can, but achieving a few wins is not out of the question for the men from Turkey.

If anything their support Dumbledoge can always remember the time he killed Faker, at the last MSI.

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