The two week Group Stage in Paris has come to an end, and the World Championships are moving to the next phase of the tournament: the knockout rounds. With the global field cut in half from the 16 teams to eight, the do-or-die chapter of Worlds is about to begin with four matches.

The knockout rounds are where great players become legends, so with that in mind, let's take a look at the competitors that have stepped up as aces for their teams throughout the Group Stages.

xPeke: The Spanish Emperor

xPeke was the man who seemingly accomplished everything there was to achieve in League of Legends. He won the first World Championship in 2011 on the most famous team in Europe, Fnatic, and stayed with orange and black empire for the next three years all the while becoming the most famous European player to ever play the game. Following a disappointing exit from the 2014 World Championship with Fnatic, the Emperor of the European dynasty decided to take his leave to try and create an empire with his own two hands.

Call it the 'xPeke Worlds buff' or simply good practice heading into the tournament, but the former world champion has guided his team to the quarterfinals in the organization's first year. While Niels has the highest kills on the team, Origen's strength this competition has been their ability to pressure the map and beat teams with methodical split-pushing and objective calls. xPeke has been in the center of it all, picking the teleport summoner spell in all six of their group stage games and using the transportation device to stretch teams thin across Summoner's Rift.

xPeke was the first champion with the original Fnatic squad, and he also wants to add another accolade to his already hall-of-fame worthy career: League of Legends' first two-time champion.

Karsa: The Fangs of the Wolf

The Flash Wolves were one of the biggest surprises in the first round of Worlds, upsetting Korea's KOO Tigers to take the top spot in Group A after heading into the final day of groups with a substandard 1-2 record. Their jungler, Karsa, was one of the main reasons why they were able to escape the helter-skelter group in which any of its four teams could have advanced from.

When you look at the junglers in the tournament, Karsa might have the greatest effect to his team's victories. He finished the group stages in second place in the jungle position when it came to DPM (Damage per Minute) at 283, only trailing Reignover on the teamfight heavy Fnatic from Europe. Not only did Karsa deliver when it came to damage, but he was also the best farming jungler in the first round, averaging 3.5 minions/monsters per minute. To top it all off, he also led all junglers when it came to wards placed and cleared, revealing the entire map for his teammates.

Damage. Farming. Vision. However you want to look at it, Karsa has been an ace player for the Wolves so far in the tournament, and he'll need a stellar best-of-five against his opposition on Origen, Amazing, if he wants to make it to Brussels and play for a chance to make the Summoner's Cup Finals.

MaRin: The Captain

No, that's not Faker, person confused at who they're looking at. This is MaRin, the other ex-prodigy on SK Telecom T1, who signed with the organization six months after Faker made his debut in the spring of 2013. The starting top laner of SKT T1, he is also the captain of the team and one of the primary shot callers on the squad alongside Faker. MaRin's Worlds thus far has been his breakout performance as a player, making up for a Mid-Season Invitational where he played well but fell in the end to EDward Gaming's Koro1.

The biggest question about MaRin heading into the tournament was if he would be able to adapt to the Worlds patch and the influx of juggernaut split-pushing champions that were thrown into the meta. He had proven in the Champion summer season that he was a strong player when he was given resources, ending up as one of the richest top laners in the league, but he still primarily seen as a Maokai main that could play carry champions if needed.

He's taken on the challenge of the juggernauts and exceeded all pre-tournament expectations, playing Darius, Fiora, and his former signature champion, Renekton, in the group stages. MaRin was unequivocally the strongest laning top laner in the first round of play, averaging 16 more CS than his lane opponent at 10 minutes, five more than KOO's Smeb in second place.

The captain. The shot caller. And now he can add being the carry of the team as well to his growing list of superlatives on SK Telecom T1, reaching the same levels of respect and fear other teams have to give Faker before they load up against the tournament favorites.

AN: The Hyper Carry

The second of the two Taiwanese teams to qualify for the top eight, ahq e-Sports Club made it through the group stages as the only team who needed to win a tiebreaker to advance. They had an up-and-down group stage, going 1-2 through the first week of games and then turning things around in the second week, flipping their scoreline to 2-1 and barely falling to Fnatic for first place in the group. With their loss to the European champions, they had to go through the free falling Cloud9 in the tiebreak, and it was AN, ahq's ace at AD Carry that booked their tickets to London with a 6/1/6 performance on his signature Jinx.

When AN has been given room to operate and is protected by his team, ahq have been victorious in the group stages. In AN's four games on Jinx during the first two weeks, the Taiwanese league winners only lost one of those maps, that being their close loss to Fnatic in the final game of the group stages. Even in that game, AN and ahq were milometers away from securing victory, the late-game Jinx tearing through every player on Fnatic from the backlines. The only issue with Jinx is that she is a glass cannon and ahq couldn't protect AN in the final push on Fnatic's Nexus, Febiven's LeBlanc darting in and deleting Jinx from the map before AN or his support Albis could use either of their summoner spells to protect the hyper carry.

Although ahq are against the titans of the tournament, SK Telcom T1, in the first round of the knockout stages, even the favorites of Worlds can't overlook AN and his ability to carry games on the likes of Jinx and Kalista. Regardless how good T1 are at every aspect of the game, it only takes one kill in the early-game to get ahq's ace rolling and firing on all cylinders.

Febiven: The Dutch Prodigy

When xPeke left his place as the middle of Fnatic's European dynasty, the spot was taken up by a rookie that had been signed from H2k Gaming before the 2015 season. Hailing from the Netherlands, Febiven has grown from one of the many great young European mid players that debuted professionally to becoming the great European mid that made his first appearance in the LCS this year. He's been amazing in his first World Championships, winning the group for Fnatic against ahq e-Sports Club with his play on LeBlanc that was able to stop AN's rampaging Jinx before it could finish the game.

Fnatic are one of the only teams in the tournament that run a truly balanced attack. You could easily say that either Rekkles, Huni, or Febiven are the true ace of Fnatic, all three having over 400 DPM in the group stages and sharing the gold resources with each other. On any given day, Huni could be the one that is leading the attack with a carry top laner, or it could be Rekkles as the late-game teamfighting AD Carry that rips through the enemy team.

With former Fnatic mid laner xPeke on the other side of the bracket, Febiven has the opportunity to create his own legacy on Fnatic through these knockout rounds. XPeke was able to pilot Fnatic to the championship in 2011 and a semifinals finish in the 2013 season, and Febiven can write his own chapter in Fnatic history with a deep finish in this tournament as their mid lane ace.

Deft: The Guardian

Similar to the team they'll play in the quarterfinals, EDward Gaming was another team where you could have picked two aces from. In the group stage, the three stars were Meiko, Clearlove, and Deft, all three coming up big in different games to help a semi-struggling EDG get into the quarterfinals after two blowout losses to rivals SKT.

But, when EDG's life in the tournament was on the line, they turned to Deft to bring them to the quarterfinals. They built a composition around his signature Jinx, giving him all the tools necessary to carry his comrades into the knockout stage without having to play in a tiebreak later in the day. Deft delivered when his friends needed him the most, securing six kills versus H2k Gaming and not dying once in their win that sent them to the top eight of the tournament.

Past EDG's lackluster drafting and play in the group stages, they're still extremely dangerous predominantly due to Deft and his teamfighting. He's possibly the greatest AD carry we've ever seen when it comes to fighting with his teammates. Deft's positioning and ability to output damage is second to none all-time, and EDG are a group that when they're at their best, can teamfight and beat any team in the word. Although a lot of their wins more recently have been decided on whether they can gain a sizable lead in the early-game with their lane prowess, Deft can be the difference maker between losing to Rekkles in Fnatic in the opening round or winning China's first Summoner's Cup in two weeks.

Ssumday: The Crown Jewel

Ssumday's summer season of Champions ended with him winning the MVP award, and he's continued his unstoppable play at the World Championships on a patch that has made him even more dangerous. One of the factors that people don't realize about KT Rolster and Ssumday is that before this split-pushing patch came into effect, Ssumday didn't always dominate the top lane with carries like he did in the group stages. He actually played a lot of Maokai and Shen, helping his team through teleporting, engages, and all-around play.

But when he was allowed to play those top lane carries — Yasuo, Riven, Ryze — he didn't let the chance to carry go to waste. One small victory against his opponent would turn into an insurmountable lead 15 minutes later. That has been amplified at Worlds when he has stopped playing utility champions and has fully taken on the ace of KT Rolster, saving his team countless times when their impatient mid-game decisions got to the best of them. If Nagne or Arrow got caught or were killed by the enemy, he would return the favor by picking up a solo kill a minute or two later to even up the gold.

Two years ago, Ssumday was a bench player for KT Rolster.

Today, he is the undisputed center of the team.

Smeb: The Innovator

The shot caller of the KOO Tigers, Smeb has had the biggest transformation from last year to his trip to the World quarterfinals. One year ago, Smeb was seen as one of the worst top laners in Korea. Sure, he had his moments and performed well on Riven, but his career was filled with losses and early exits from tournaments. When it was announced he was signing with the KOO Tigers, a new team that was headlined by former NaJin members, he was seemingly the odd man out. Why Smeb? In a region that has produced the greatest top laners in the game's history, why pick up a guy that spent a majority of his career losing?

Smeb has worked hard to become one of the best top laners in the world over the past year, rising up the ranks in Korea and showing what he could do when he had a good team around him that let him be the carry he always was capable of becoming. Since joining the Tigers, he's been one of the leading innovators when it comes to the top lane, bringing Riven back into the meta during the spring season and being the player to bring Malphite back into the meta during the postseason of the summer split.

In the first two weeks of play, he hasn't shown any new cards in his deck except for Darius, a champion that almost every top laner at Worlds has played at least once. Heading into the semifinals against Ssumday and KT Rolster, it will be a showdown between two of the world's best at the top lane position. Ssumday might have the advantage when it comes to overall skill and carry potential, but Smeb is the type of player that can bring something entirely new to the table and change the terrain of the matchup.

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