With the securing of Cloud9’s spot into the Group Stage and the conclusion of the Group Draw, it’s time to make an evaluation of the groups. I will be breaking down the three North American team’s chances over the following week, in an attempt to provide some context of what their match-ups look like, and the possibility of them making it out of the group stage. While North America has historically struggled at the World Championships, this appears to be one of the best opportunities for advancement for all NA competitors following a significantly improved Summer Split as well as a beneficial group draw. First on our list will be the recently qualified Cloud 9 who will be doing battle in Group A.

Group A – Cloud9

Starting off with the boys in blue, Cloud9 comes into Group A with the most dominant performance in the play-in stage with a 4-0 Group Stage and concluding with a 3-0 over Lyon Gaming from the LLN. Their play-in performance is one that should inspire optimism for the North American fan base, as they showed an ability to play reliably around multiple lanes. Though this won’t come as a major surprise due to the level of competition faced, it is a promising sign for a C9 team who looked a bit out of sorts for much of the Summer season. Going forward, Cloud9 should have the ability to win in multiple manners. Whether it is by building early game leads off a strong laning phase from the likes of Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, or by maintaining close margins and overcoming through strong late game team fighting from Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi. Based off this, if the Cloud9 from play-in shows up, they have the opportunity to take advantage of what looks to be an up in the air Group A.

Up against Cloud 9, we have three teams who are no stranger to the World Championships or each other in: SK Telecom T1, Edward Gaming, and Ahq E-Sports Club. Starting with the reigning champions, SK Telecom T1, we see a team coming off a disappointing split and finals performance, highlighted by inconsistent play around the top side of the map. For much of the summer split, we’ve seen very limited action from starting top laner Seung “Huni” Hoon Heo, who will be the sole top laner for SKT at Worlds 2017. While this may be a detriment later in their chase for a third straight world title, SKT should match up very well stylistically versus C9. The combination of their more talented roster (especially in roles that are Cloud9’s strengths), as well as a better sense of late game macro should lead SKT to control much of these games. 2-0 SK Telecom T1

Cloud 9’s next opponent in Group A is Edward Gaming. For EDG all eyes will be on Lee “Scout” Ye-chan who makes his second appearance at the World Championships following a surprise victory over rival RNG in the LPL Summer Finals. With his dominant performances on the likes of Leblanc and Lucian during the LPL finals, Scout will be expected to carry much of the burden for EDG. Outside of the mid lane, Edward Gaming should look towards their veteran leaders such as Ming “Clearlove7” Kai to come up with unique jungle pathing and decisive shot calling to punish new comer Juan “Contractz” Garcia from Cloud 9. If this is successful one would expect EDG and Cloud9 to split their head to head match up, with both sides carry players stepping up in times of need. Cloud9 1-1 Edward Gaming

Rounding out Group A, we have Ahq E-Sports Club. Veterans of the World Championships, AHQ returns to the world stage with an identical roster to their 2016 run as the 2nd seed from the LMS once again. While some may see this as a benefit for AHQ to have an experienced squad in the competition, it would be quite the surprise for AHQ to come close to the 3-3 performance they put on in last year’s group stage. With a roster with little star power outside of Wong “Chawy” Xing-Lei, AHQ looks to be a roster without much of a chance in this talented of a group. Highlighted by their crushing defeat at the hands of the Flash Wolves in the LMS Summer finals, Ahq E-Sports Club may attempt to play towards their comfort picks and utilize a long laning phase. While this has worked against some of the weaker teams in the LMS Summer Split, it should be thoroughly exploited by the likes of Cloud9, SK Telecom T1, and Edward Gaming. Cloud9 2-0

Based from these results, it is likely that Cloud9 (with a 3-3 record overall), will be in a competition for the number two seed out of Group A. Avoiding the possibility of any major upsets (such as AHQ taking an unexpected win, or EDG/C9 pulling out a victory vs SKT) this group could likely come down to a tiebreaker between C9 and EDG. While I slightly lean towards Edward Gaming (due to having a significant home field advantage), these two teams are at best a coin flip. Questions such as which rookie (Contractz vs. iBoy) will show up, who wins the battle in the mid lane, and was the play-in stage a realistic showing of what Cloud9 can do look to be answered over the next two weeks!

Due to the focus of these articles being based around North America, I will not cover Group C, which does not include a North American team due to Cloud9 securing a spot into Group A, Immortals going to Group B and Team Solo Mid being placed in Group D.

All opinions and insight are provided by Tyler “TheSaintt” Ladzinski, sole proprietor of TheLolEsportsBlog

Lol Esports related tweets can be found at https://twitter.com/TylerLadski