After an intense week of international League of Legends, the play-ins are over, and it’s time for us to set our eyes on LoL Worlds 2022 Main Event. With Fnatic joining the party, Group A is bound to be the most explosive group of the year. What can we expect from this “group of death” and which teams will advance to the Knockout Stage?
Group A will feature two teams from the west, Fnatic and Cloud9, and two teams from the east, EDward Gaming and T1. The latter three already played against each other a long time ago, back in Worlds 2017. That time, EDG was eliminated. This time, though, the two eastern teams are, on paper, the favorites.
There are a lot of factors that come into play that might completely warp the group’s outcome, but even the most optimistic analysis takes pause when seeing LEC’s and LCS chances to make it out of Group A.
Can Cloud9 make it out of groups this time?
Historically, C9 has always been NA’s best hope in international events. For example, last year they made it into the top 8 after winning the playoff in the group of death. This year is no different, except that the team is technically even better than the 2021 team.
Zven’s role swap to support has proved beneficial to C9, as he was able to teach Berserker stuff about the ADC role and how the team wanted to work. Having past experience as an ADC, Zven could understand better what issues the former T1 player had and help him fix them in the process. While it wasn’t that clear in the regular split, C9’s playoff run proved that the decisions were right.
This year’s roster is probably the best one Cloud9 has put together, with the best possible talents in every role. You could argue that Jensen wasn’t the best mid laner, but he was still top tier in NA. Aside from Berserker, the other veterans can count on multiple years of international experience, which will be essential in such a competitive group. It will be a tough ride for C9, but if they make it out of Group A, it will be C9’s best feat in its history.
Fnatic is looking like the weakest team in Group A
Despite all the issues around the Upset and Hylissang testing positive for Covid-19 and the rumors about the team not scrimming, Fnatic made the impressive run of going 4-1 in play-in and locking their spot at the Main Event. A special shoutout must be made to Rhuckz who proved that the ERL players have the potential of delivering even at the biggest tournament of the year.
Based on their performances so far, Fnatic seem to have already found the playstyle that works for them. With the return of jungle carries, Razork should fit the new meta well, with Humanoid also stepping up so far. While the competition wasn’t the hardest, it should be an important confidence boost. For a team like Fnatic, who usually relied on Upset to carry, this is the best situation they could be in.
While the team has already had a few matches to get used to playing on the stage, the scale of difficulty was nowhere near what they face in Group A. If they go into the groups with confidence, they may end up falling in the first round robin and coming back in the second, as is Fnatic’s tradition at Worlds.The group stage is kicking off soon, and Fnatic vs Cloud9 will be the opening match of the tournament so make sure you check out our League of Legends betting page where you can find all the best sign up offers and free bets available.
