Line-up

spring split

summer split

key player

xPeke

style of play

predictions

Line-up

summer split

key player

Tabzz

Mithy

Line-up

spring split

summer split

key player

Diamond

strategy

Line-up

key member

Mazzerin

key strategy

All opinions expressed are solely those of the author. The images used in the article are copyright of their respective owners (Fnatic, Lemondogs, Gambit Gaming, cadred.org and lolesports). Group stage charts are courtesy of Leaguepedia

1.As the World Championship draws near, let’s take a look back at Fnatic’s showing throughout Season 3. During theof the European LCS, they showcased a very strong and consistent performance. After a rather unsuccessful Season 2, the team hit their stride in the LCS and finished at the top of the ladder in the spring split with a score of 22-6. In the following week, they put the cherry on top with the first place prize in the spring playoffs after an epic battle with Gambit Gaming that ended 3-2 in favour of Fnatic.Fnatic were expected to continue dominating the LCS upon its restart for the, but something went awry with the team during the break. Was it too much time off, communication and personality issues, or something else? We’ll probably never know. They had a shaky start, and three weeks after the beginning of the split the team decided it was time for a change. They released Christoph 'nRated' Seitz , added puszu as AD Carry, and switched YellowStar to the support role. This roster rearrangement would yield definite improvement for the team, which was foreshadowed by their initial 3-0 perfect week. This early perfection could not be maintained. However, more time together as a team transformed mixed results into magic. A tepid start to the deciding Super Week meant that Fnatic faced an uphill battle to the summit of summer split. Luckily for them, they managed to turn up the heat on the last day of the regular season. They won the tiebreaker for second place and secured their spot in Season 4.During the summer playoffs, Fnatic were back to their best form. A 2-0 against Evil Geniuses meant that they won’t miss the World Championship this time, but they didn’t stop there. They won the number #1 seed (even if it didn’t bring them a group stage BYE) in a thrilling set against Lemondogs . 3-1 was the final result, and thanks to that Fnatic became back-to-back Season 3 champions of the European LCS.It’s tempting to think that the team had nothing to do but celebrate (until they started hardcore practice for the world finals, of course), but that wasn’t so. They had a tough decision to make: Martin 'Rekkles' Larsson or puszu. Rekkles turns 17 on September 20, and the group stage starts on September 15. Therefore, a few days into the World Championships, the former member of Fnatic’s starting lineup could rejoin the team after meeting the minimum age requirements. As tempting as reuniting with Rekkles might have seemed, Fnatic ultimately opted to attend the Championship with only puszu as AD Carry. The team wished to focus their preparation and to avoid pressuring Rekkles excessively. Given puszu and YellowStar’s performance in the bot lane during the playoffs, this appears to be a sound decision.If we have to pick aout of Fnatic’s highly skilled roster, it would have to be the fan favourite,. Whether he’s split pushing or assassinating targets on sight, he has been on top of his game since the beginning of Season 3. During the summer split he netted the #1 GPM, the top average gold per game, and the most kills among all players in the European LCS. During the playoffs at gamescom, he was “only” able to acquire the #1 GPM and most kills achievements. His most common picks as of late have been Ahri, Twisted Fate, Kassadin, and Zed. The foxy femme in particular was instrumental in Fnatic’s victory over Lemondogs in the finals of the playoffs. Even the man himself could not explain his Ahri abilities in these deciding games.Split pushing can be considered Fnatic’s most used. Whether they use champions with global ultimates (like Twisted Fate or Shen), pick up one or two teleports as summoner spells, or use highly mobile and slippery champions like Zed, they almost never stick to pressuring only one lane. Expect more of the same at the World Championship!Fnatic have a relatively tough group going into the world finals - some have even called it a group of death. The only team from the group that they previously played against is Gambit, and Fnatic won all four of their matchups during the summer split. They have succeeded against Asian teams at IPL 5, but their results from the IEM World Championship earlier this year were exactly the opposite. However, at both of those tournaments, they had a slightly different roster. Historically, Fnatic have been troubled in group stages, but there’s a good chance they will make it out of the group and into the playoffs. Anyfrom that point onward are nearly impossible as the matchups for the quarter-finals have yet to be decided. One thing’s for sure - xPeke and Cyanide didn’t receive a trophy with their Season 1 world title, so you can bet that they would love to get their hands on the Summoner’s Cup this time.2.With the approach of the World Championship, it’s worth considering how far Lemondogs have come in a short time. Lemondogs’ roster (then known as Sinners Never Sleep) was completed with the addition of Tabzz only a few weeks before the qualifiers for the LCS. Despite qualifying, a rough first few weeks among the more experienced teams awaited. After three weeks, the team decided to part ways with Bram 'wewillfailer' De Winter and add Mithy to the roster. This adjustment had immediate results and Lemondogs began to win the majority of their games. By the end of Week 7, they climbed to the top spot in the rankings. Lemondogs ruled the roost until the end of the regular season which secured their invitation to Season 4. In the playoffs’ semifinals, Tabzz and company routed Gambit 2-0 and became the second European team to win a spot at the world finals. They finished second overall after a loss against Fnatic, but they had already done their job.Each member of Lemondogs shines individually, but theis often. A mid laner who transitioned to AD Carry in just a few months, the Dutch player reached a high enough level to be on par with role veterans and to pose a significant threat to any team he faces. His common picks are Caitlyn and Vayne, both mechanically challenging champions which he has mastered.An honourable mention should be given toas he transformed the team from an LCS participant to an LCS contender capable of wins against everyone in Europe. He brought new ideas from the Asian scene and acted as a coach/analyst. Do we have to mention he is a top notch support, as well?Lemondogs are often called the Cloud 9 of Europe. They do not stick to the laning phase for long and always move together as a group. Their great positioning and savvy target focusing win team fights and games.While Lemondogs are a great team, they lack international experience – a key factor in major tournaments. The good news for them is that many other participants are in the same situation because there were few international events throughout 2013 and only a few teams are veterans. The pressure on the world finals stage might prove to be a bit too much for the young team, if the playoffs final is to serve as an example. With two strong Asian teams and an old school Team SoloMid in the group, Lemondogs will have to work wonders in order to get to the quarter-finals. Then again, no one expected them to win the summer split, either.3.One of the most successful teams in the history of competitive League of Legends, Gambit Gaming didn’t have a stellar start during the first week of theof the European LCS. However, that was soon forgotten as they found their usual form and occupied the first spot in the rankings for the majority of the split. In the end, they finished in second place with a 21-7 record. They lost the playoffs final to Fnatic with a 2-3 score, taking the runner-up spot there as well.During the break between the splits, Gambit lost their support carry, Edward 'Edward' Abgarian . Despite the core of the team being left intact, they had troubles adjusting to a new support throughout the. They played with Andrey 'Darker' Plechistov during the first six weeks and achieved mixed results. It seemed that the new addition and Genja didn’t mesh well, which was later confirmed by the support player on social media. That lead to the first Estonian joining the team – Voidle. He started as a temporary substitute for Week 7 as Darker was sick, but he remained on the team for the duration of the LCS. After this second change, things still didn’t look bright. However, a week-long bootcamp would yield visible improvements just in time for Super Week. Gambit were involved in the tiebreaker for second place and ended up fourth in the regular season.The Russians and Voidle continued to bootcamp and arrived at the gamescom playoffs ready to win. First they secured their spot in Season 4 with a 2-1 against Team ALTERNATE . Then they crushed the world finals dreams of a longtime rival as they snatched the last European spot from right under EG’s nose with another 2-1 victory.Attributing Gambit’s success to a single person is impossible, but in most of their victories thehas been. He is an innovator in the jungle who brings unexpected picks and regularly surprises his opponents. Additionally, he does a great job of feeding kills to the solo laners, Alex Ich in particular. As the father of counter-jungling, he can reduce the enemy jungler to a non-threat whenever the game plan demands it.Gambit’s usualrevolves around the aforementioned Diamond feeding kills to the solo laners, while Genja is afk farming until he has two or three big items. No one is surprised to see the AD Carry solo laning to pile up gold and experience. Once he feels ready to rejoin the team carrying the big guns, that’s when the show starts for Gambit.Gambit’s group for the World Championship will not be a walk in the park, but they have proven successful in group stages and at LAN events in general. Even when they were Moscow 5, they have never placed lower than fourth place when playing offline. That said, they have mixed results against Asian teams and consistently beat Fnatic until the summer split in which they lost all four of their matches. Judging from their past, Gambit have a good shot of going out of the group stage (and even making it to semifinals), especially with their bootcamp preparation. If we assume Samsung Galaxy White are the main favourites to reach quarter-finals, we can expect Gambit and Fnatic in a head-to-head battle for the second spot out of the group.4.A team that was formed almost a year ago, GamingGear’s first big LAN event was Dreamhack Summer. They didn’t find success and left after the group stage with a 0-3 record. Nevertheless, a week later they won the CIS Championship in Moscow without losing a single map. This CIS win gave GamingGear the chance to play in the Wildcard qualifier at gamescom, where they went 3-1 in the round robin stage, only losing to paiN Gaming . In the playoffs they once again didn’t lose a map and took down Immunity and paiN Gaming with 2-0 results, securing for themselves the 14th spot for the World Championship.While GamingGear have strong players in each position, theiris definitely the mid laner. If teams in group A of the world finals have watched the gamescom Wildcard qualifier, then they will know that they can’t let him have Orianna or Gragas. Those shockwaves and explosive casks hit hard and are almost always spot on. If their opponents target most of their bans on him, that will allow GamingGear to get their hands on the “OP” champions, which will undoubtedly work in their favour and makes Mazzerin ever so important for the team.Thedisplayed by GamingGear at gamescom revolved around heavy objective control, which included a strong hold on the dragon; frequent ganks in mid and top lane (especially the former in order to feed kills to Mazzerin); and forcing people out of their lanes rendering them useless for a long period of time. Those tricks worked against the competition at gamescom, but will they hold up against the likes of TSM andIt can be said that GamingGear have a little international experience because they played against teams from Brazil, Australia, and more at gamescom, but the truth is these squads are not exactly on par with Asian teams. It doesn’t seem likely that GamingGear will survive the group stage, but the experience of attending the world finals and playing against the likes of TSM and OMG is going to be extremely valuable for the Lithuanians.What are your predictions for these teams, summoners? Do you think they will make it out of the group stage or the Asian teams will prove stronger? Sound off in the comments below and expect the North American teams' preview tomorrow!