The Play-In has finished and the LoL World Championships are upon us.

This year promises to be intense as ever with four groups stacked with the best talent from around the world. Each group is going to be insanely hard to call.

Yet, that is exactly what EU LCS commentator Aaron 'Medic' Chamberlain and Team Vitality coach Jakob 'YamatoCannon' Mebdi have done as they've been brave enough to share their Group Stage predictions.

The League of Legends 2017 World Championship is now starting with the Play-In now finished

Picks and Bans:

Medic: 'There are three pick ban champions coming into worlds. First off, Rakan. The powerful engage heavy support is only complemented by his ability to build ardent censer. Although his laning phase is slightly sub-par, he more than makes up for it in late game teamfights. Any team that can play around vision and set up for flank engages will be overjoyed to lock in Rakan.

'Second up is Sejuani. An incredibly tanky, utility jungler, who has relatively strong early ganks and incredibly impactful teamfight set up. Her passive allows her to take basically no damage in the jungle, pair her up with a melee top lane or support and you have a match made in heaven.

'Thirdly, Kalista! The strong laning and teamfighting bot lane marksman works well through almost all stages of the game. Although she falls off a little later on in the game, her ability to secure objectives and single handedly demolish her lane opponents makes her must pick/ban through the entire tournament.'

EU LCS commentator Medic thinks Kalista and Sejuani in particular will be 100% pick/bans

YamatoCannon: 'I expect Ryze to see some play. He is a very strong split pusher, he has an incredibly powerful ultimate. He’s had a massive buff on his W and is great at killing tanks and whatever else people play in the top lane if the meta shifts up there.

'I am also expecting teams to play more Jayce, Fiora and Jax. These champions do very well into some of the tanks that have been played, and the top laners from the Play-In stage are not so known for their ability to play these type of champions. Look out for Huni, Khan and Alphari for example.

'Hand in hand with these top lane champions if the meta shifts, we should see more Taliyah in the mid lane. She can easily facilitate a hard carry top match up and usually the smallest advantage makes or breaks the game for the carnivorous top laners I mentioned.

'For botlane, I am expecting more Kogmaw and more Twitch to be played. Kogmaw has a fine matchup into Xayah if you have the right support, which should be easy to setup considering most teams first pick Xayah anyway. We might also see Xayah receiving bans (Tristana/Kalista ban included), which opens up for the patch for ADCS like Twitch.'

Team Vitality coach YamatoCannon thinks we will see more carry-style tops in the Groups

MEDIC GROUP A 1. SKT 2. EDward Gaming 3. Cloud9 4. AHQ e-Sports Club Advertisement

YAMATO GROUP A 1. SKT 2. EDward Gaming 3. Cloud9 4. AHQ e-Sports Club Advertisement

Medic: 'There will always be a clear standout when SKT are in the group. The three-time world champions are the almost the champions elect for this year and it'll take a mighty force to stop them.

'Their main weakness currently lies in their inconsistent top laner, Huni. The very definition of feast or famine, Huni can either go God mode, or crash and burn amongst the mortals.

'AHQ are the likely under-performers here. Placed in a tough group, the second seed from the LMS have been widely regarded as inferior to their Play-In counterparts, Hong Kong Attitude.

'The battle for second place is a lot closer. EDG have shown some signs of strength in the LPL this split, defeating RNG in close fought finals. However, they have an incredibly inconsistent record at Worlds. Clearlove almost epitomises the stereotype of a strong domestic jungler who just collapses internationally.

'Contrast this with C9, who have already had a chance to flex their muscles at worlds, demolishing their Play-In competition. They have a propensity to play around mid and I worry that the Jensen/Contractz combo may be found out by tougher international competition.'

Medic reckons the performance of top laner Huni will make or break SKT's Worlds 2017 run

YamatoCannon: 'The obvious choice is to put SKT in first, putting them anywhere but there is suicide if you're betting money. Looking at the other three teams I think AHQ is the weakest.

'Most of the LMS analysts and other people I have talked to have spoken very poorly of the LMS region this year. AHQ used to have success in the past with cheesy picks like Twisted Fate and Fizz, I think this type of style is outdated and just won't get you ahead of most teams.

'The big question then is C9 vs EDG, and I'd say EDG are favoured on paper. Even though C9 stomped their opposition in the Play-Ins, I can't see them being able to play through mid as much as I would love them to - especially with their support.

'I think the longer the game goes on, it shows how good they are mechanically and stylistically I think that could be rough because EDG are a team coming out of China known for intelligent play and macro decisions later in the game by Clearlove and Meiko, which is why I give them the edge.'

YamatoCannon thought Cloud9 impressed in the Play-Ins but won't match up well against EDG

MEDIC GROUP B 1. Longzhu Gaming 2. Fnatic 3. Immortals 4. Gigabyte Marines Advertisement

YAMATO GROUP B 1. Longzhu Gaming 2. Immortals 3. Fnatic 4. Gigabyte Marines Advertisement

Medic: 'It isn't often that SKT are dethroned in the LCK. This split, Longzhu gaming rose from 7th place in spring to knock the champions off the top of the table. One of few teams that can boast a victory over SKT in a best of five series, Longzhu look strong enough to challenge the world.

'Led by their superstar top-laner, Khan, and a bot lane that has a plethora of international experience, Longzhu will be disappointed if they don't go 6-0 in this group.

'Now, it's important to note that I am approaching this mental exercise with a degree of bias. I want EU to win, and when the decision has been 50/50 or even 60/40 I've swayed decidedly towards EUphoria, rather than an EUlogy for the region I love.

'This is where my EU bias might show through just a little. Fnatic looked great in their elimination match against HKA, but definitely left a lot to be desired in their Play-In group.

'Their loss to Young generation came off the back of Rekkles getting bodied in lane and Fnatic crumbling around him. However, the adaptation in the elimination matches, with more focus put towards getting Caps ahead in mid, gives me hope for their Group Stage run.

Medic has predicted Fnatic to finish second, restoring faith in them from their Bo5 against HKA

'Immortals, on the other hand, are revitalised by their new jungler, Xmithie. The experience they display on the top side of the map is matched by inexperience bot. In a group with such strong bottom lane duos Immortals have to react to have a chance at second.

'The Gigabyte Marines are always a surprise package internationally. After upsetting TSM and G2 at the mid-season invitational, GAM secured a second seed for the GPL at worlds. With Young Generation showing up well at Play-Ins, their scrim partners GAM will be looking to take it a step further at groups.'

YamatoCannon: 'Longzhu is in first place, no doubt about it. What they showed against SKT is the next way of playing I think. Playing mid laners that are willing to sacrifice themselves and playing the top laners that are very good into tanks.

'I don't think there are a lot of teams who have the guts to do this because it's very risky. If you make a mistake with Jayce and Taliyah on your team then you will lose, but I think Longhzu can pull this off because they're so mechanically skilled.

'And at the same time you have Pray and Gorilla in the bot lane who are mechanical geniuses and two of the most well-rounded veterans in the world. Whenever they have been in a team I feel like there's always innovation, I'm excited to see what those two do.

'Gigabyte Marines are a very underrated team, but I think it's fair to say they are likely to be last in this group. I think they showed they can make a dent with unique compositions like the Zed and Galio combo and the play Levi brought to the table. My main worry for Marines though is that the meta doesn't fit their playstyle, they'll probably have to play Gragas in the jungle etc.

'Then it comes down to Fnatic vs Immorals. I think Immortals as a team is more well-rounded and what worries me with Fnatic is I was hoping they would show growth in Play-Ins but I think it's still the same old Fnatic who don't play through mid.

YamatoCannon believes Immortals are a more well-rounded team than Fnatic at the moment

That one game they dropped was because Young Generation played a very hard scaling mid laner who didn't get punished because Fnatic don't play through mid well and YG picked a bot lane in Varus and Lulu that doesn't lose lane, a strategy that paid off big time because Fnatic seem very one dimensional.

'If Fnatic solves these issues I think they can beat Immortals but it's hard for me to think that they will. I think Immortals as a team are very impressive, I remember Xmithie being very proficient, I think Pobelter had the best split of his career and their bot lane are willing to impact mid. This is a team that can keep their eye on Caps, punish mid then through that play bot to shut-down Rekkles.'

MEDIC GROUP C 1. G2 Esports 2. Samsung Galaxy 3. Royal Never Give Up 4. 1907 Fenerbahce Espor Advertisement

YAMATO GROUP C 1. Samsung Galaxy 2. G2 Esports 3. Royal Never Give UP 4. 1907 Fenerbahce Espor Advertisement

Medic: 'Many people are favouring Samsung Galaxy to top group C. It's understandable, the 3rd seed from Korea have a strong backbone of carries in Crown and CuVee. The team that took SKT to all five games in the finals last year will be looking to go one step better.

'However, my main concern for them is how well they actually match up into G2. Personally, I rate Perkz' control of lane higher than Crown, and Zven/Mithy is outright stronger than Ruler and CoreJJ. The key telling point in the battle for first will come down to junglers.

'Both Trick and Ambition are the weakest members of their teams and are so reliant on the meta sitting in a comfortable place. With Group Stages being best of ones, the top spot is very much up for grabs.

'Royal Never Give Up, and Chinese teams in general, have a track record of making it to international events then under-performing. This year they bring an experienced roster than could challenge on the world's stage.

'Uzi especially will be looking to stamp his mark on his first worlds since 2014, where he lost to Samsung White in the finals. Hopefully the Samsung team won't' be a thorn in his side once more.

Medic has given the slight edge to G2 over RNG, stating they have stronger mid and bot lanes

'Fenerbahçe were almost favourites to get out of their play-in groups even though they weren't first seed. Their coordinated play between Thaldrin and Frozen allows them to slowly take a game off even the best of teams.

'However, having to substitute in Crash definitely set them back. You can see how they slowed down their playmaking and relied more on Thaldrin roaming down to mid to set up plays. Their bottom lane is a prime spot for exploitation and in a group heavy with strong bot lane duos, I worry about their ability to hold on through laning phase.'

YamatoCannon: 'Fenerbahce will be fourth without a shadow of a doubt but I have to give them some props. Crash has been playing out of his mind, they have recuperated well from the fact their jungler Move couldn't come with his VISA issues.

'Their ADC has shown mechanical prowess and they are a team that could take a single game to mix things up but it's hard to see that happening because the rest of this group is jacked.

'Seriously, this group is very hard to predict but I think the obvious choice is to put Samsung first. They didn't have the best split, there were some ups and downs and it was hard to get a feel for them. Then they had their best of five against KT Rolster and just crushed their dreams and all of a sudden the hope in Samsung was restored.

'As a team they have established themselves well enough that at this point in time it would be wrong to doubt them. They can prepare well and they were able to take down SKT earlier in the season because of very good, co-ordinated preparation plus they had an amazing Worlds run last year.

YamatoCannon believes you can't doubt Samsung who did brilliantly at last year's Worlds

'But, can I imagine a world where G2 and RNG take a game off them? I think it's definitely possible, that's what makes this group so crazy. The thing on people's minds will be G2's history with best of ones. A lot of teams will be quick to say G2 sucked at Rift Rivals but that wasn't particularly them struggling with Bo1s, that was the level of play G2 were at.

'They were not as sharp as they became towards the end of the split, but at the time they were recovering from the break they took after MSI which is totally understandable. G2's approach, from an outside perspective, was to make sure they didn't burn out. That's why the subs came in and why you could notice some of their solo queue accounts were having less games than usual.

'Then, after Rift Rivals they began to pick up steam, they played more heavily then come playoffs, they were back to their final form. They were really tested against Splyce and there were a lot of things in that series that were issues for them. But by their next Bo5, it looked like they solved every single one of them. Usually G2 did this thing where in a Bo5 they would drop one game, which you can't do in Bo1s, so the 3-0 against Misfits will be a big confidence boost for them.

YamatoCannon says G2 were not sharp at Rift Rivals but have now rediscovered their final form

'I think RNG's performance against EDG was crazy at first. I remember thinking they were madmen for picking Ezreal, who at the time wasn't the greatest champion, but it worked out and then they looked very strong but were reverse swept.

'The main thing about them for me is this is a team who are very emotional. This group is going to be so close and straining in the sense that every game will matter so much, your mental game will have to be on point.

'RNG have a very high ceiling, they are mechanically very good and I feel like when they're not in this emotional state of mind they play insanely well. Then you have those losses against EDG where they just looked worse and worse.'

MEDIC GROUP D 1. Team SoloMid 2. Team WE 3. Misfits 4. Flash Wolves Advertisement

YAMATO GROUP D 1. Team WE 2. TSM 3. Flash Wolves 4. Misfts Advertisement

Medic: 'It goes against my better nature to put Misfits in third spot of the group. The arguments for their inclusion higher up are just outweighed by the strength of the leading pack.

'TSM as a team and organisation are going from strength to strength. Built on a foundation of a powerful European mid laner, they have slowly developed a veritable North American 'Superteam'.

'From Hauntzer in the top lane, to Doublelift and Biofrost in bot it's hard to find any exploitable weaknesses. They are not a best of one team, and perhaps that will be their achilles heel coming through groups. Even then, anything less than a top spot will be a disappointment.

'Many people are underplaying the power of Team WE, stating that a team that comes through Play-Ins is inherently worse than those seeding straight into groups. To me, Team WE are the strongest and most consistent Chinese representatives.

'Condi has already showed us his jungling prowess and Xiye, with a few hiccoughs, has been able to help push his team to victory. Their weakness lies in their inability to snowball games quickly, preferring more methodical wins. However, that tends to be a good thing at worlds, where one mistake can lose you the game.

Medic wanted to put Misfits higher but couldn't justify it with the high level of the other teams

'Now we come to Misfits, a team that surprised us all by coming second in the EULCS, they still haven’t proven they can challenge the highest level of international competition. Their key weakness comes from the fact that their secondary carries, outside of PowerofEvil, are too inconsistent to win them games.

'They have however, shown us that they can prepare very well for individual teams. If they can find a way to funnel strength into Hans Sama and Alphari, they have a shot at pushing for a quarter-final berth, otherwise, they just don’t have enough.

'A seed one team being placed last in their group may seem strange to some but sadly Flash Wolves and the LMS region in general, do not look like challengers this year. Although Flash Wolves continue to destroy their region with their fourth first place in a row, their ability to compete internationally is lacking.

'Purely listing out their players, they look like a roster that could go a long way, but the lack of adaptability and track record do not make me confident in Flash Wolves advancing from groups.'

YamatoCannon: 'I’m really excited for this group because I feel like every game is going to be unpredictable, it could go any way. For me though, WE are the first place team.

'Condi really impressed me as a jungler, even in the Play-Ins I think he played phenomenally well. He’s always aware of the enemy jungler, always places the correct vision so he can make the right decision - he was always a step ahead of the other jungler and the level he did that to was absolutely crazy.

'There are a lot of junglers complaining about the xp you get when you’re behind, sure it's an issue I’ll give you that, but Condi is still pulling it off. I think that makes WE very dangerous.

'I mentioned before LMS look worse than before but in the current meta with playing with the support through mid lane is a strength of Flash Wolves. Swordart as a player is one of the best supports at Worlds. Even though I don’t think they will take second, I think this is a team that can cause damage.

YamatoCannon believes Team WE are very dangerous and their jungler Condi is one of the best

'If I have to predict second, then I’ll have to say Team SoloMid. They look more well-rounded than before. At previous Worlds they have been very one-dimensional, only playing through Syndra with Svenskeren camping mid and Bjergsen carrying. Now, they’ve shown more depth to their play, which makes me excited about them.

'It’s no longer all about banning out Bjergsen even though he is still a very powerful force. Only shutting him down isn’t enough, they’re killing the memes of Bjergsen playing with four wards.

'Misfits as a team I think, have a very high ceiling individually. The thing about having star players, people don’t get called superstars until they do a superstar thing. I think this is the tournament where this could happen for Misfits, I think Alphari is great and I think Ignar is very impressive; he always gets these small advantages through things like cancelling bases or sacrificing a little of bot lane cs to pressure something else.

YamatoCannon says TSM are more well-rounded this year and should be able to take second

'He always makes these very neat and clean macro decision that put his team slightly ahead all the time. I love that sort of play, it shows Ignar has a very broad perspective of the game rather than a bot-centered perspective like I would say Jesiz has.

'I think Misfits as a team (including their staff) have been very good for preparing against teams and for patches and I think that could work for them in groups. Maybe they just outdraft enemies, with better scouting preparation and that means so much in Bo1s.

'If this was season five with a massive patch going into Worlds this trait would mean so much more. But at this current time, this patch has been played over and over, I doubt that the meta is going to shift that heavily unless Longzhu revolutionise the game completely.'