Only one Western team survives groups A and B at Worlds

The four days of Worlds in Taipei are done and dusted and the first four teams who will be advancing to the quarterfinals in Korea have been found. Let’s take a look at the results from groups A and B as well as the matches to come from Thursday to Sunday this week.

Group A: Samsung White advance undefeated

A big 6-0 for Samsung White wasn’t the biggest story Group A had to offer during the first four days of Worlds, but the Koreans really knew how to make it look like they were following in SKT T1’s footsteps to the title. Their first match against Turkish wildcard winner Dark Passage saw them take the win flawlessly and without a single death to their account. With this remarkable start on their backs, going for the first place was the next logical step. Dark Passage, on the other hand, didn’t make that much out of their wildcard. 0-6 is their record at Worlds which left the second playoffs spot open to Edward Gaming and AHQ. These two teams fought a big battle, both taking wins against Dark Passage and losing to White while taking one win and one loss in their matches against each other brought them to the first tie-breaker of Worlds 2014. It took EDG some time to get into the game but in the end they were able to secure the win with a big advantage and thus earn a ticket to Korea.

Group B: Star Horn Royal Club live up to expectations

Doing only slightly worse than White were Royal Club, with only Uzi having been part of the team that placed second at the previous Worlds. However, the Chinese were still able to win their group, only dropping a single game against a very well-playing Team SoloMid on the last day. Although there were no matches against any Korean teams, they could still potentially live up to the hype generated by their big plays during the 2013 Worlds, where they achieved second place. The battle for the second spot was much closer than expected as SK Gaming came back from their 0-3 minus Svenskeren, having a 2-1 record and only losing to Star Horn with him as part of the team. However, as the first three games counted, SK were able to push Taipei Assassins into the fourth spot while TSM took the second and with it the ticket to Korea, only dropping one game to each Star Horn and SK Gaming respectively.

Week two is getting closer: what’s next?

With half of the groups done and only one Western team advancing to the playoffs so far, the pressure is on Fnatic, Alliance and Cloud 9 to break the Asian lines and prove that Europe and America are not only taking a supporting role alongside the Korean and Chinese contenders at Worlds. However, all of them will have a hard time making it that far. While Fnatic has to take on Samsung Blue, OMG and LMQ (who qualified through NA LCS), Group B will see Alliance and Cloud 9 clash with the likes of KABUM and NaJin White Shield as they compete for the two tickets available in this group.

From Thursday we will get to see how the last three Western teams fare against League of Legends’ Asian elite. Check out the latest previews and VODs at lolesports.com, and make sure to have your ESL Fantasy team set for the final part of group stage.

Who among the remaining American and European teams do you see advancing to playoffs? Tell us in the comments below!

Header image source: lolesports on Flickr

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