Written by Benson Cheng









Wrapping up the Play-in stage, the League of Legends World Championship 2018 finally commences with group stages on its way. Group B is often considered to be the group of death, featuring the 1st seed of LPL: Royal Never Give Up (RNG), Generation Gaming (Gen. G, the 3rd seed of the LCK despite being a powerhouse in their own right), Vitality (VIT, 2nd seed of the EU LCS) and finally NA’s own miracle boys in blue, Cloud 9 (C9). With RNG and Gen G. being the speculated contenders for the 1st and 2nd spots, this group starts to look bleak for the teams from the West.





The highlight match of Day 1 for Group B is without a doubt: RNG vs C9. It’s safe to say the general expectation is for RNG to assert their dominance in this match with an overpowering victory for their first performance of this tournament. Taking first place in tournaments starting with the LPL Spring 2018, MSI 2018, Demacia Cup 2018, Rift Rivals 2018, LPL Summer 2018 and finally with the most recent achievement of winning the Asian Games 2018 (most members of the Chinese representative team composed of RNG players) being the first ever traditional sporting event to feature E-sports; they have deservingly claimed a top spot among the elites of professional gaming. The truth is, just having them in your group at Worlds should make you tremble.





Our little puppy Uzi has gone a long way from having the “2nd place curse” to dominating all tournaments he has participated in this year with stats like having the top KDA in LPL Summer 2018 playoffs, 2 out of the top 5 most kills in a single game, highest CS per game and not to mention drawing Kai’sa bans against him. The rest of RNG are no slouches either with XiaoHu having the highest Kill Participation of the playoffs (of the main roster), the hyper-aggressive jungler MLXG, the versatile and reliable LetMe, and the other half of what makes up the best botlane in the world: Ming (also the innovator of the recent popularity for Gragas support). The internationally acknowledged roster is evident with 4 of them being ranked in the Top 20 players for Worlds.





On the other side of this showdown stands C9, former 10th place (obligatory c10 meme) in the NA LCS Summer 2018. After numerous roster swaps (albeit within their own organization), they somehow ended the season at 2nd place. They then proceeded to place 2nd in the NA LCS Summer 2018 playoffs, took all of NA’s hope and used it to grab NA’s 3rd and final seed for the Worlds Play-in. The miracle run does not stop as they 4:0 their group and beats Gambit Gaming unconvincingly (Jensen was sick memes here) and ultimately qualify for Worlds.





Sneaky acts as a pillar for C9 as a team, the last remaining player from the original roster, he bears the title of having the highest damage output of the team at the Worlds Play-ins. The outcomes of C9 games are often dependent on Sneaky and his ability to position well. If EU is known for anything, it is for their midlane exports which manifests in the form of Jensen on C9. Hopefully he has recovered from his recent sickness and able to perform well, especially having gained a confidence boost from finally beating his previously better counterpart Bjergsen in the NA Regional Finals 2018 with an impressive 3:0 over TSM. C9’s three rookies Licorice, Blaber and Zeyzal have also proved themselves throughout the latter part of the year to be a versatile player, early game monster and decisive playmaker respectively.





Win conditions









For RNG:





1. Ban Akali. XiaoHu has not been seen playing Akali in recent matches. In fact Akali is the top ban for RNG in the Summer playoffs. Sure his KR solo queue shows him with a healthy 57% win rate but his Irelia, Ryze and even Kassadin (decently OP right now) yield much higher win rates and stats.





2. Support MLXG’s early game. MLXG is a great instinctual player known for his early plays to try to gain any small advantage he can get in the early game used to inevitably snowball the entire game. RNG MUST follow and support MLXG on his invades as well as provide vision in the enemy jungle for him to act accordingly to the enemy jungler's path.





3. Uzi. Uzi is a win condition on his own. His historical consistent performance at international events, his recent and spotless track record, living up to his name as an effective and deadly weapon of RNG. Let him farm, let him outplay, and let him win the game.









For C9:





1. Don’t lose mid priority. Jensen is and has always been an underrated midlaner often judged by his team results instead of performance (let’s forget about that Ekko R/Zhonya for a second). However, he has historically been seen having lane priority and even pressure. XiaoHu is a similar player in the sense that they both utilize wave clear to outpush their lane opponent. Go even in lane or try to retain lane priority; the goal is to not give up any advantages early however small.





2. Botlane needs to step up. C9 is playing the game on hard mode as their first game is against arguably the best botlane in the tournament. A CS deficit is inevitable in this matchup but the key is to keep it minimal and avoid bad trades as they will definitely lead to an early dive. Try to contain Uzi/Ming within the lane.





3. Early game control. Gaining small leads through the top lane seems to be the most viable method and transitioning into advantages with the combined effort of Licorice, Blaber and Jensen. RNG is known for their teamfighting and mid-game, don’t fall into their tempo and play their game.





Expectations for this match definitely side with RNG outperforming C9 both as individual players and a team as a whole. Having stronger mechanical players, refined strategies and decorated achievements in the form of RNG, even die-hard C9 fans are speculating on how to beat the other 2 teams within this group instead. However bleak chances are, C9’s team of mostly rookies have yet again been tasked with an impossible challenge while this match will unveil just how deep the C9 miracle tank runs.



