The Season 8 World Championship Main Event begins Wednesday and many great narratives emerge as competition gets under way. Royal look to put China firmly on top again. FNATIC carry the hopes of the West. KT’s all-stars want the Worlds title Faker denied most of them for so long.

In a world of click-bait journalism and lazy narrative crafting from some in the realm of LoL esports, here are six story-lines for the Season 8 World Championship.

The eternal Royal-Samsung group battle reignited

Gen.G, the former Samsung Galaxy and KSV, has been to three straight Worlds in a row with this line-up, making the final of the last two and winning the latter. Each year they have been placed into the same group as Royal Never Give Up, one of China’s strongest teams and a squad who have gotten more powerful and likely to win Worlds each year. In contrast, Gen.G has looked less like winning Worlds each group stage, yet managed to last year, despite not entering the play-offs as a top two favourite for the title.

2016 saw Samsung the better team on the basis of being Korean, a narrative which still held weight back then, and topping the group. 2017 was RNG teaching Samsung hard lessons in the group, only for them to adapt in the play-offs and win the title, RNG failing to meet them in the final for a rematch by only a single game against an SKT hard-carried by a frustrated but fearless Faker. 2018 again finds the teams in a unique balance of power, as RNG come into the tournament as the main favourite to win the title, having won every big tournament this year, including beating a monstrous KingZone DragonX at MSI, and with Gen.G having again snuck into Worlds through the gauntlet and never having won the LCK title with this core or even made the final.

Wondering why there’s no mention of the two organisations being vaguely associated with the teams who played the final of Season 4 Worlds? Again, this is not that kind of empty calories story-line crafting.

Team Liquid and the curse of the top North American team

While everyone bemoans TSM’s performance at the last two Worlds, it is often overlooked that the number one NA seed has repeatedly been given good groups only to fail to qualify for the play-offs. In 2015 that meant CLG failing to emerge past Flash Wolves and KOO, the former being a squad they were favoured to defeat on paper. 2016 had TSM facing some quality Asian sides, but still expected to find a way to beat one of them twice and get into bracket play. Last year TSM had a group with arguably no teams considered better than them, though WE had won an LPL title.

Team Liquid dominated in North America, winning both splits and equalling TSM’s feat of last year. With the very same Doublelift who played in all three of the above cited line-ups, they have received a group which should be entirely passable if they are the strong team they and their fans imagine themselves to be. KT Rolster are one of the titans of the tournament, but as such are favoured to win every game in the group and prevent complications from upsets elsewhere and potential tie-breaker scenarios. EDG have not won a split or been particularly relevant this year, as RNG and iG have owned the LPL, and had to pull a Gen.G and sneak in through the gauntlet last minute.

If Team Liquid can’t get through this group then not only will memes around NA’s Worlds performance increase, but Doublelift’s legacy will likely be irrepairably wrecked at the international level. It’s worth noting that there have been some experts, such as LS and splyce’s Peter Dun, who are picking EDG to indeed rob TL’s hopes. As we have learned many times before: being the best in North America doesn’t translate to being a legitimate tournament favourite once plays begins at Worlds.

Chinese Supremacy

Not since pre-Season 3 has China been as dominant a force in the global scene, back when World Elite’s domestic and international dominance had them atop the rankings and seemingly having reinvented the meta of LoL, with slow pushes and minion wave manipulation allowing them to position a game in the manner they pleased. In 2018 Royal Club has legitimately won everything. Both LPL splits, MSI, Demacia Cup, Rift Rivals and some of their players even took the Asian Games, despite the pathetic efforts of some individuals and their copyright strikes seeking to send those games into Room 101.

Sure, Season 5’s flunk, relative to their perceived strength, of the Chinese region at Worlds is justifiably seered into the minds of most international fans. That year EDG had taken in Korean talent, including ever-elite ADC Deft, and won the Spring split and MSI, only to look shaky in groups and then bomb out against the mighty FNATIC. LGD came in as hot favourites thanks to their monster all-star line-up and win in LPL Summer, but fell apart entirely on week one and could not recover enough. iG boasted Rookie and KaKao, OGN champions and stars of the storied Chinese organisation, but saw the latter make a fool of himself and their chances dwindle, failing to even progress from a group lacking a Korean team.

2018 is a very different landscape for Chinese LoL than 2015. There has been much less up and down play, barring the gauntlet’s usual turmoil. RNG are the clear best team in the region, iG boast talent and strong play against everyone else and then less experienced or more newly formed squads failed to maintain their standard and snatch the third spot, allowing a fairly lacklustre EDG, relative to the organisation’s historical level of success, to snatch the final ticket to Worlds.

RNG’s victory at MSI has made a believer of many and they are expected to be a favourite against every team at every phase of the tournament, including Korean teams in Bo5 play in the play-offs. That’s a situation you simply could not say for 2015, with SKT going to Worlds off winning both splits and the Summer in dominant fashion, smashing KT in the final.

RNG making it to the final and winning is expected, where LGD or EDG going deep was expected but them winning was still something of a hipster pick or dark horse pull.

Uzi’s holy grail awaits

More significant than even China winning its first Worlds and ousting Korea from its five year reign at the tournament is Uzi’s fate at this World Championship. One of the greatest players in the game’s history, Uzi’s legacy had been of individual excellence and phenomenal skill, coupled with his infamous “Worlds buff” of playing at his best internationally, but marred by a lack of serious trophies to his name. He had never won an LPL split in five years of LPL play, even famously flunking a game five in 2017, and great Worlds runs had never seen his team beating a Korean team in a Bo5.

In 2018 Uzi is going for all the Bulgogi in Korea and a hard rewrite on his legacy. Both LPL splits have fallen to the dominating Thanos of LoL, KingZone’s MSI destiny was wrenched from them in convincing fashion and even the smaller events have been scooped up and added to the haul thusfar. As someone who has been in two Worlds finals previously and made it to the top four on three occasions, Uzi is not looking for another deep finish or strong individual performance.

This year is about winning Worlds and in doing so propelling himself from one of the greatest players to legitimately entering the conversation for best in history, with what would be the greatest individual year, accomplishment-wise, ever witnessed. Even Faker never won all the Korean splits, MSI and Worlds in a single year.

No stopping the FNATIC hype train this time

FNATIC teams have often come into Worlds with excitement and high expectations surrounding them, due to the team’s history of success domestically, strong fanbase and impressive history of housing and churning out league MVP level players. 2015’s sweep in the semi-finals at the hands of KOO Tigers was collective heart-break for both FNATIC fans and those hoping a Western team might finally be able to win Worlds alike. 2018 sees a renewed zeal around the best Western team’s chances.

FNATIC has not just won both splits, but seemingly gotten better and better as time has gone on, a few weeks during the wacky hard meta switch-up of early Summer withstanding. Not only do they have a legitimately elite tier triple threat squad, with sOAZ, Caps and Rekkles all being top players at their positions, but the versatility of being able to swap in super subs Bwipo to play Top lane carries makes FNATIC a stronger team than perhaps the West has ever produced. Indeed, Caps come into the tournament with a career high which looks as exciting and intimidating as any year of xPeke, Rekkles or Bjergsen’s careers.

Placed into a group without a Korea, containing an iG who they have solid chances to beat and without true threats from 100T and G-Rex, FNATIC seem destined for a top four run at a minimum. Many would even have them favoured against a number of the Korean teams in a Bo5, making their success less a factor of garnering a kindly bracket draw. Can you feel the anticipation of victory or potential for jarring disappointment in the air?

Korean all-stars want to complete the set

KT Rolster is the most stacked squad Korea has ever assembled, even including the infamously intimidating Samsung White of Season 4. Ucal is a rookie, but surrounded by four players who are all contenders for best in their role and historically for best of all-time at their position. Throw in that their careers have seen a number of them winning LCK titles and playing internationally, but with only one having ever won Worlds. Now that there is no SKT in their way, the squad who broke the hearts of many of them, their career resumes would appear complete should the number one Korean seed take the Summoner’s Cup this time around.

Smeb joined KT to beat SKT, rather than take the offer of trying to win with Faker and company. Mata and Deft came back to Korea to win more titles there and take down the SKT dynasty. Score has sought an LCK title for seven years and finally got it recently, so Worlds is next in his sights. These are players bred to win and showered with top finishes domestically throughout their careers. Worlds or bust can be their only motto.