Europe can’t find their footing
The European teams actually came into Worlds 2021 with quite some hype behind them. MAD Lions showed they can compete with the best of them, reaching the semi-finals of MSI 2021 and actually taking DWG KIA to five games, giving a lot of European fans hope for their performance at Worlds 2021. Fnatic was also one of these teams who looked a lot better towards the end of the LEC as they finally found a style that fit them and found some synergy between the players. Rogue on the other hand got dealt into the worst group imaginable, but they have always been a solid best-of-one team.
if ur eu fan and you even have lec flairs and you’re all ‘omg doomed no teams out of groups’ you must be new here and have never experienced the week 1 int into week 3 powerspike COPIUM
— Eefje Depoortere (@sjokz) October 13, 2021
Yet, looking at the standings right now, Europe isn’t doing so hot. MAD Lions is sitting at 1-2, same for Rogue, while Fnatic is 0-3 in their group right now. Yet we shouldn’t be panicking yet as there are a lot of reasons that kind of soften the blow. Fnatic is out a player in the form of Upset, having to compete with academy bot laner Louis “Bean” Schmitz. Nobody is expecting Rogue to beat DWG Kia or FPX and MAD Lions has never been a solid best-of-one type of team.
Things aren’t completely lost however and in the case of Rogue and MAD Lions, they’re not getting completely stomped either. Things for Fnatic are looking more rough, as they have to readjust synergy which leads to them making individual mistakes. For MAD Lions, it’s important to get Armut on a champion he’s comfortable on, but putting efforts solely on him to carry isn’t the way. Elyoya seems to be that piece for MAD right now. For Rogue, it’s the mid game they’re having issues at.
North America also can’t keep up
Cloud9 had struggled during the play-ins at times and their form continues to be up and down in group A, where they currently sit at 0-3, which was mostly expected. 100 Thieves and Team Liquid have shown signs of life however, with players such as Closer for the former and Alphari for the latter being key pieces. All in all it’s a decent showing for North America, despite what people have been saying, and results fall in the line of expectation.
mb late :// next week 3-0 hopium
— Barney Morris (@Alphari) October 13, 2021
Are the LCK and LPL teams just too strong?
LCK and LPL are currently ruling all, with PSG Talon also thrown into the mix. If we take a look at how these teams are pulling ahead and winning, it’s mostly just superior macro. While the Western teams (and even DFM) are finding picks and kills during their games, their gold leads are mostly completely negated due to them finding sources of income from other places on the map in the form of CS leads or Dragon prio. As the second round of the group stage rolls around, macro play is certainly the biggest point of focus for the Western teams.
Also read:
- Team Liquid Santorin: “This feels like a very winnable group and we’re just going to take it one game at a time”
- Rogue Trymbi: “It is probably exhausting for everyone trying to get efficient practice in while trying so many new champions”
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