It wasn't easy for the odds-on favorite, but it got it done in the end. The ROX Tigers battled through a surprisingly difficult group to get out of it as the first-place seed. After losing in a stunning upset to CIS' Albus Nox Luna earlier in the day, it was thrown into a do-or-die match against Counter Logic Gaming, with the loser being eliminated from the tournament. ROX survived, took care of the North Americans, and then upended ANX in a tiebreaker to get out of the group in first place. Editor's Picks Likkrit: 'I'm considered one of the most toxic players in EU West [server]'

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ESPN spoke to Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho after his advancement to the bracket stage.

"Obviously [ANX]," said Smeb when asked what was the biggest surprise from the group. "They play really well as a team and know what to accomplish [in terms of] objectives."

When probed further on whether he believes ANX could be a contender or if it was a flukey performance, Smeb responded by saying he couldn't give an honest answer until seeing them play more throughout the tournament in the best-of-five format.

"No one," he said, answering which of the top laners in his group impressed him the most. "I'm not saying I'm far ahead of them, but none of them stood out individually to me."

But have any top laners have impressed him in the opening round? "Cloud9's Impact, TSM's Hauntzer, and AHQ's Ziv," Smeb said calmly. And although he mentioned those trio by name, he also noted that he wouldn't be able to gauge their talents earnestly until he was able to face them in lane to see how overwhelming they are to play against.

One of the main storylines through ROX's journey in the group stages was Smeb's illness that seemed to bring down the team through the first few days of the competition. Although sniffling a bit during the interview, he reaffirmed that he was feeling better and that he hoped to be fully recovered by the time plays in the quarterfinals next week in Chicago.

Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong competes at the 2016 League of Legends World Championships. Provided by Riot Games

To end the quick interview (it was midnight by the time ROX did its press interviews) I asked for his predictions on the remaining groups that will be played out through the next three days. For Friday's Group C, Smeb believes that outside of Brazil's INTZ, any three of the teams can advance and it'll be an interesting show to see which pair emerges to Chicago.

Sunday's Group B was the one he was most sure about, picking rival SK Telecom T1 to advance alongside Flash Wolves.

Finally, picking Saturday's "Group of Death" between Samsung Galaxy, Royal Never Give Up, and Team SoloMid, he selected, with his heart, Samsung to see another South Korean squad go through, and after a bit of deliberation due to how close the group is, picked NA's champion Team SoloMid to also make the top eight.

We will learn who Smeb and the Tigers will be facing in the quarterfinals come the end of Sunday's Group B when the eight remaining teams do a live drawing of the bracket stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.