All is loud on the Western front after an explosive Group Stage filled with triumph, heartbreak, upsets, Hecarims, Heimerdingers, and whatever it is that Group B was. After the smoke cleared, the reigning World Champions — Gen.G — became the first Korean team since 2013 to be eliminated in the Group Stage. What remains is all three representatives from the LPL, two from Europe, two from Korea, and one professional Fortnite team. Here’s 10 thoughts going into the Quarterfinals!

#1 Reasons to believe for each of the remaining teams

AfreecaFreecs—Kuro being the first member of the former ROX Tigers to win Worlds would be a very ROX Tigers thing to happen.

Cloud9— All that Fortnitemakes them experts at survival and C9’s org has already made Cinderella runs in CS:GO and OWL this year.

Edward Gaming —iBoy lifting the Summoner’s Cup would generate so many memes that EDG is powered entirely by that vision.

Fnatic—Rekkles flashed forward for a kill which is one of the foretold signs of the second coming of Fnatic, and Mr.Broxah (thank) is the messiah.

G2Esports— They have the most unique playstyle of the remaining teams and are on the side of the bracket with the teams most likely to be arrogant and not ban Heimerdinger.

InvictusGaming — Rookie has looked like the best player in the world and Rookie (former KT) ending KT’s run would be so poetically painful to KT fans that it must, of course, happen.

KTRolster— Korea has won five years in a row and KTRolster is, on paper, the greatest roster ever assembled — they’re like the Justice League except watching them is actually fun.

Royal Never Give Up — They haven’t lost a single Bo5 this year and Uzi has been on a warpath even in losses and an Uzi Vayne skin would probably demolish sales records so obviously we wrote it into the script.

#2 Preview: Cloud9vs.Afreeca

If you’re a Cloud9 fan, this was the best possible matchup for you, and you definitely cheered when you saw the draw. And if you’re an Afreeca fan, then this was also the best possible matchup for you, and you definitely cheered when you saw the draw. Both sides probably think they lucked out on this one. Afreeca eerily reminds me of both Samsung squads from 2016 and 2017, who started out slowly but then their calm and consistent style prevailed in the Knockout stage. They’re basically a better version of the 100 Thieves, but C9 can still match up pretty well. Especially in the lane phase, Licorice has been dynamite for C9 whereas Kiin has underperformed relative to expectations — so what would have been a surefire advantage for AFS prior to Worlds is now much more of a toss-up. C9’s true star in the group stage for me, though, was Jensen — he was instrumental in controlling a map that sometimes saw his side lanes fall into early deficits. This is reflected in him having the highest kill participation percentage among all midlaners over Groups. And while I do think that Jensen has the edge over Kuro, it’s important to remember Kuro finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the LCK MVP race over the Spring and Summer Splits. He’s decidedly not the same player he was when most Western fans last saw him on ROX. Agency belongs to C9 in this series, though, and we should expect to watch them to die by the sword or win by the sword.

#3 Preview: Fnatic vs. Edward Gaming

Caps and Scout are basically two sides of the same coin in that they’re that 95% win-rate smurf you run into in your promo series. They’re on your team, but when you look them up, you also see they just locked a champion they haven’t played yet, and while their KDAs are insane overall, all of their losses involve them going 0-10. You start to sweat a little when they’re at 100 health before the second minion wave even hits. You, watching that brief moment before the inevitable all-in, is going to be what it’s like to watch the mid lane matchup between these two players. I think, maybe more than anyone else in this tournament, Caps and Scout are seeking that highlight reel play. Fnatic is favored in this matchup, though, because it seems like they have a better understanding of how to play out the mid and late game phase. While I think the game will revolve majorly around how the mid lane pans out, I do think the dark horse matchup is the top lane — just how consistent and flexible is Ray now? He may have to take on both Bwipo and sOAZ, and both of them bring different skill sets to the table that may force him to adjust in mid-set. EDG’s best chance will be to channel their inner Nunu and secure early snowballs.

#4 Preview: Royal Never Give Up vs. G2Esports

Here is truly a matchup between rock and scissors — all that’s left is to find out which is which. G2 has made it a habit lately to come alive in the clutch. Just as you think they’ve got nothing left in their tank, they surge — after surviving the EU Gauntlet, they then rallied through Play-ins and then again in the Group Stage. For all the talk of their inconsistency, perhaps this refusal to die is also a type of consistency. After all, you don’t need to be “consistent” across the entire five-game set — you just need to be good three times to advance. Unlike the opponents G2 faced in the Group Stage, though, RNG is not lacking in decisiveness or early game aggression. RNG also hasn’t lost a Best-of-5 since being defeated by SK Telecom T1 in the Worlds Semifinals last year — it’s been a dominant year for them, and they’ve risen to the occasion every single time it has mattered. I don’t really expect G2 to win team fights consistently against this team, so it may lead to some incredibly interesting games when it comes to macro decisions as I don’t think RNG will be able to overpower G2 in the lane phase. It’s up to Wunder and Perkz to continue the spirit of EU’s split pushing this Worlds. This is definitely a trap game for RNG, so if they can overcome this convincingly, I think they’ll reestablish themselves as the tournament favorite.

Preview: KTRolster vs. Invictus Gaming

After the first round robin, I thought there were three teams who were clearly better than everyone else — that was KT, RNG, and IG. Now, thanks to IG’s stumbles, all three of them are on the same side of the bracket. This is an absolutely devastating first round matchup featuring world class players in nearly every position on the map. If KT is the most balanced team in the tournament, then IG may want to lean into their strengths, which thus far has been, perhaps, the most dominant performances in the early game — particularly from Rookie. His CSD at 15 minutes is +24.1, which placed him at first among all players in the Group Stage, and Duke was 2nd at +19.3 — if this team can open up early advantages against KT, then they’ll be able to afford some slip-ups in the mid and late game that are otherwise death sentences for KT’s opponents. For either team, this Quarterfinals draw means that if either one can win Worlds, then it might be the most difficult and impressive run ever. IG winning, for example, would mean they’d likely have to defeat the Korean 1st seed, the Chinese 1st seed, and the European 1st seed. KT has a timeline available to them where they would eliminate all three LPL representatives — doing so would, once again, close all discussions about the so-called “gap.”

#6 Fnatic is the favorite to make Finals

And we’re not talking Counter-Strike circa 2015. If you’ve jumped on the hype train, then this is probably not a super bold claim to make. But if you look at history, this would absolutely be a monumental feat. Since Worlds expanded to actually include Asian teams in 2012, not even one Western team has ever made it to the Finals. And the last three Worlds have been Korea vs. Korea in the Finals (a possibility that’s still alive) — in fact, a Korean team hasn’t even been eliminated in a Best-of-5 series by a non-Korean team since 2014. But let’s slow down and look at Fnatic’s side of the bracket:

1.Afreeca struggled against a G2 squad that struggled in the EU LCS, which Fnatic dominated.

2.Cloud9 historically always loses to Fnatic and the Group results would suggest that EU > NA this year.

3. EDG is the third seed team from China, and Fnatic already upended the much stronger two seed from that region in IG.

The science of prediction isn’t foolproof, and it never will be, but I think it’s a super fair statement to say that anything short of a run to the Finals would be a disappointment for Fnatic based on this draw. Call it Euphoria. Call it Fnaticism. The hype train is moving ahead full steam.

#7 KTRolster is the favorite to win Worlds

They lost one game in the Group Stage, but I think that was specifically designed to break Team Liquid fans’ hearts rather than expose any true weakness in the team (blame the script writers). It’s hard to take too much from a single game, but KT lost to some beautiful engages and team fights from EDG — it’s difficult for me to envision a team executing on that type of surprise aggression for three games against KTRolster this Worlds. KT demonstrated throughout the group that they’re dominant in all three stages of the game, and as Korea has won five years in a row, it’s best to lean in that direction until proven otherwise for predictions. Smeb was the only player on KT to not finish the Group Stage Top 10 in KDA, and they secured the first turret in every single game. Even being tested by EDG, there is, I think, ultimately going to be a good thing — that bit of adversity should help them shore up any weaknesses. The biggest thing against KT Rolster right now is that their draw is super difficult — a likely run through China’s top two teams in IG and RNG would solidify Korean dominance, but rest assured it will not be easy. To me, KT is the favorite to take it all because of history and because of what we’ve seen so far, but the skill difference between them and the eighth best team (let alone the second) in this stage is maybe the smallest it’s ever been.

#8 China’s late stumbles

Not since literally every other single Worlds have we seen China struggle down the stretch. The LPL representatives combined to open the Group Stage 8-0 before finally dropping a game, and then finished at 6-6. Even still, the LPL was the only region to advance all three of their teams into the Knockout Stage, which is a pretty good indicator of the overall strength of the region. The question now, though, is whether or not they were “figured out” by the other regions or if the timing of their stumbles was just a coincidence. We’ve seen a variety of styles flourish at this Worlds, but the predominant one is still a team-fight centric style that orients itself around securing enough early leads to snowball into advantageous team fights. In being able to properly control the side waves, your team is then able to coalesce around objectives more quickly than the opposition — it seems whoever is able to strike first comes out on top more often than not. Chinese teams floundered a bit when it came to side lane control, whereas European teams have flourished. Even still, when it comes to a straight up five-on-five brawl, that’s long been the Chinese bread-and-butter and they should still be a dangerous out for anyone. But one thing I’d like to see in particular is for EDG and IG to adapt the 1-3-1 that came to define the likes of G2 in Groups. We’ve seen time and again that adaptation between the stages is critical towards advancing — this isn’t the time to fall back on old habits.

#9 Eulogies

With eight more teams eliminated from the World Championship, I’d like to step back and reflect on those who once were:

Team Liquid: I think all but a handful of teams in the world would have been 2-0ed by KTRolster, which means TL had one slip-up against EDG. But even that wasn’t entirely unexpected — EDG isn’t a bad team by any metric. Liquid secured their first two NA LCS Championships this year, which means it was an entirely successful year as a whole even though it ended on a negative note. I do not expect a Breaking Point 2.

100 Thieves: Next year they will add Cruella De Vil and become the 101 Thieves, but for now it is a truly sour note to end the year on. A few roster issues marred an otherwise phenomenal debut for this franchise — may they apply their learnings and push forward. Or, true to thief culture, steal from players from overseas.

Flash Wolves: There is solace in the fact that Karsa advanced — bittersweet as it may be, know that he’ll be fighting for the entire LMS region, too. Their most dominant split ever came to a sudden end, but it is clear that the Flash Wolves, at least, are a Worlds-worthy team. And, maybe more true than for anyone else, there’s always next year.

Vitality: At one of the 10 climaxes in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf clutches the end of a stone bridge and shouts, “Fly, you fools!” before being dragged into the depths of Mt. Moria. That was Vitality this year — it was a valiant end to a spectacular performance, and may they return next year as Gandalf the White.

Gen.G: They made final surge in the LCK Summer Split to come defend their title, but alas, the magic that fueled their run last year was not to be found. They will shoulder the brunt of the heat from fans, but I ask that we instead remember them for their height — back-to-back Worlds Finalists, one Summoner’s Cup, six skins, and a priceless memory (for everything else, there’s Mastercard, official sponsor of the 2018 World Championship). If this roster never plays together again, know that they enjoyed one of the greatest stretches of League of Legends history so far.

Phong Vu Buffalo: Sports fans from Buffalo are accustomed to losing, so here is another fallen buffalo. PVG didn’t capture the same type of wonder that elevated GAM into our hearts last year, but it’s not like they did worse (GAM went 2-5 last year with the tiebreaker) — they just weren’t as flashy. Vietnam is still a very young region, and I’m excited to see them come back.

MAD and G-Rex: Both of these teams went 0-6, which just doesn’t happen very often — especially for a team from a “major” region. While neither team managed to establish much of a name for themselves, I hope this will be the spark that ignites the LMS region again — ending the Flash Wolves’ run at the top would mean more parity and talent in the league and, ideally, a better showing at Worlds.

#10 Why Licorice is the greatest player in the World

Here are some facts about Cloud9’s top laner that you might not know:

1. If you look up the Wikipedia entry for “Licorice,” you’ll see under the category “Cultivation and uses,” listed are tobacco (don’t smoke, kids!), food and confectionery, research, traditional medicine, toxicity, and top lane carry. No other player in the world is so diverse.
2. He’s actually a rookie, unlike IG’s mid laner, Rookie, who is not a rookie. Being a rookie means he doesn’t even know what the gap is because he’s never experienced it. To him, the gap is a clothing store for young mothers who want their kids to be “cool” in school.
3. Including Play-ins, he’s played 10 unique champions (six in the Group Stage). You can field an entire in-house 5v5 game with just Licorice multiboxing every single champion. If that’s not Championship-caliber, then I don’t know what is.

Honestly, C9’s run from 10th to Quarterfinals is one of the great storylines of this year, no matter what happens now. Across the board, players from NA and EU have made it clear that they don’t lag behind their Eastern counterparts — the likes of Broxah(thank), Wunder, and Jensen have also been dominant at times. I was just so glad to see Western teams go out there and play their own brand of League of Legends and not worry so much about who’s supposed to be better. Licorice’s solo tower dive as Hecarim maybe wasn’t the smartest play, and he died for it, but it made me really happy to see it. It made me happy to see him run Ignite and Teleport. And I think it’s the type of moment that will come to define not just this Worlds but the coming years — when teams learn to focus on improving their own strengths instead of mimicking other regions’ strengths. And somewhere, in some isolated corner of Solo Queue, I imagine an inspired kid locking in Ignite/Teleport Hecarim as they embark on their journey to become the next breakout star.