At the LoL Worlds 2019, all 3 US teams were eliminated in the group stage. Despite star players like Doublelift and great successes this year, even Team Liquid could not make it through. Korea, China, and Europe are playing the rest of the World Championship all by themselves at the League of Legends. Fans of the US teams are pulling their hair out.
This was played: Over the weekend, the last games of the group stage in the LoL Worlds took place:
- There were 4 groups with 4 teams each.
- They played home and away matches against each other.
- After the 6 matches, the 2 weakest teams in a group were eliminated from the World Championship.
The first round in each group lasted 3 days – the second round was handled in one day each. The teams had 3 matches in a row – it was quite intense.
Korean Griffin were too strong for Cloud 9
This is how Cloud 9 was eliminated: Cloud 9 landed in Group A. There, the Europeans from G2 Esports were seen as the clear favorites. “Hong Kong Attitude” was practically seen as the team that would surely be eliminated.
It was considered to be a contest between Cloud 9 and the Koreans from “Griffin,” before the start of the group stage.
Griffin was quite an unknown on the international stage – they had recently fired their coach before the World Championship because he lost the Korean final against SKT1. Korea was surprisingly weak at the Worlds in 2018, and it didn’t go well for the region at MSI.
Thus, Cloud 9 calculated they had a chance to win against Griffin and knock them out of the World Championship. After all, Cloud 9 is considered a “tournament team,” which often performs better than expected.
However, in the direct matchup against Griffin, Cloud 9 suffered two losses – that was it for them. They also failed to secure a victory against G2 Esports.
With a 2-4 record, the World Championship ended early for Cloud 9.
In hindsight, there was criticism for leaving star player Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen on the bench and bringing in the substitute jungler Blaber. He had impressed in scrimmages.
The Worlds as a stage for experiments – some observers viewed this critically. (via dotesports)
Clutch Gaming – no chance in the death group
This is how Clutch Gaming was eliminated: Clutch Gaming fought their way into the death group C through the play-ins. There they were alongside Fnatic, SKT1, and Royal Never Give Up – three of the strongest teams in the world.
They never really stood a chance. Clutch Gaming was eliminated with a 0-6 record.
There was a strange game against Fnatic that was totally chaotic and which Clutch Gaming almost won.
But that fell apart after a strange decision to attempt a “backdoor play”.
Number 1 in the USA weaker than Number 3 from Korea
This is how Team Liquid was eliminated: The best team in the USA with star player Doublelift and many strong players had to fight through Group D.
Here they faced DAMWON Gaming, the third from Korea, and Invictus Gaming, the 2018 World Champion from China.
This was considered doable, since:
- DAMWON Gaming lacked international experience
- Invictus Gaming did not seem to be playing overwhelmingly in the season
The first round went well for Team Liquid. After victories against DAMWON Gaming and the underdog ahq e-Sports Club, they were at 2:1. During this, the ADC Doublelift had a nice quadrakill.
However, in the second round, they lost against DAMWON Gaming, and also lost the crucial game against Invictus Gaming. With a 3-3 record, it was not enough for qualification and there was a bitter exit.
In the end, fans blamed Danish player Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen. He allegedly threw the game carelessly in the early stages. (via reddit)
Every year… so much bad luck
But Doublelift stood up for his teammates. He said the team had still been drinking the night before and then gave a video message on Twitter.
He stated that Jensen and Impact were being wrongfully blamed and made scapegoats.
Everyone on the team made mistakes. Too many different errors occurred – neither success nor failure was based on individual mistakes or performances.
According to Doublelift, they are a strong team, especially this year, but they just had bad luck: “Every year – such damn bad luck.”
USA in crisis with LoL
What’s behind it: The irony is that North America is the region where the most “western” LoL fans are watching. Their stars play there, whom they also follow on Twitch. Watching their favorites being outmatched internationally is bitter.
Currently, there is a significant discussion about why the USA is so weak.
The USA has clearly fallen behind in League of Legends. This has been apparent for some time. Doublelift stated a few months ago that the entire North America region is “trash.”
There are only a few good players coming from solo queue to the professional scene; they are dependent on imports.
Strategically, it could be that US teams prefer strong carries, like Doublelift. However, this position is not as decisive in the current LoL meta as it was in earlier times.
The weakness of the USA is particularly evident because Europe is experiencing such a resurgence, presenting two world-class teams in G2 Esports and Fnatic. Especially G2 Esports maintains a quirky style that sometimes looks like trolling but is celebrated by fans as “creative”.
2018 was likely an exception of a World Championship: The USA had their successes because Korea was so weak. The South Koreans present themselves much stronger in 2019.
If Korea and Europe are both so strong that they can send all 3 teams through and China demands 2 spots, there’s no place left for the USA in the quarterfinals.
This is what’s next: 3 teams from Europe, 3 teams from Korea, and 2 teams from China are still in the running. They will compete for the World Championship among themselves.
Currently, the strongest appear to be G2 Esports from Europe and the Koreans SKT1 with Faker. However, they will meet in the semifinals if they win their quarterfinals.
