LoL Worlds 2019 Group Draw – Fnatic, SKT, RNG in the “Group of Death”

LoL Esports

September 24, 2019

Kieran Lee

We finally have the LoL Worlds 2019 Group Draw results. The group stage represents the beginning of the 2019 League of Legends World Championships main event. It consists of 16 total teams, 12 of which have directly entered the event, and 4 of which will qualify from the play-in stage. The play-in stage has been initially created in order to give more regions a chance to compete in the League of Legends World Championship.

The LoL Worlds 2019 Group Draw has allocated the 12 teams who directly qualified to the main event into 4 different groups, Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D. These groups have been randomly allocated, however, no two teams from the same region may be allocated the same group.

LoL Worlds 2019 Group Draw: Group Stage

Group A

G2 Esports (Favourites)
G2 Esports is without a doubt the top team in EU, considering EU’s strong show of force in last year’s Worlds event, there are high expectations placed on G2 this year. The team had completely dominated the 2019 LEC, winning both the Spring and Summer split seasons and playoffs. G2 also claimed the top spot in the Mid Season Invitationals, placing them as Group A’s favourite team.

Griffin
Griffin has been performing well, placing first in both the 2019 LCK Spring and Summer seasons. Unfortunately, they had been defeated by SKT for both occasions in the Spring and Summer playoffs.

Cloud 9
While in the past, Cloud 9 had been North America’s source of hope to get out of groups, in the face of giants like G2 and Griffin, there will no doubt be trouble for C9 this year.

Group B

FunPlus Phoenix (Favourites)
FunPlus Phoenix has improved immensely compared to 2018, moving from 7-8^th in the LPL 2018 Summer Playoffs to 1^st in this year’s LPL 2019 Summer Playoffs. Considering China’s dominant position with Invictus Gaming claming the 2018 LoL World Championship, FunPlus will likely top Group B given Damwon does not advance through play-ins and get allocated to Group B.

J Team
J Team had a slow start to 2019, placing 4^th in the LMS 2019 Spring Playoffs. However, they had turned around in the Summer split, claiming the top spot in the LMS’s Summer season and playoffs.

GAM Esports
GAM Esports has always been one of the stronger Vietnamese teams, however, in the face of stronger competition in the international stage, they have failed to keep up.

Group C (Group of Death)

SK Telecom T1 (Favourites)
Following a disastrous 2018, SK Telecom T1 are back on track in 2019, positioning them as one of the tournament favourites. SKT managed to take first place in both the 2019 LCK Spring and Summer playoffs. While some may doubt SKT given their unsalability, SKT have always proved themselves in crucial moments.

Fnatic
Fnatic has always been one of Europe’s stronger teams, coming second in the LEC 2019 Summer season and playoffs, and advancing to Worlds by defeating Splyce 3-0 in the LEC 2019 Regional Finals.

Royal Never Give Up
2019 is one of RNG’s weaker years, placing 5-6^th in the LPL 2019 Spring playoffs. That said, they improved as the year went on, coming 2^nd in the LPL 2019 Summer playoffs, qualifying them to worlds.

Group D

Team Liquid (Favourites)
While North America in the past may have had trouble advancing out of groups, Team Liquid stands a very strong chance this year to even enter the final stages of the competition. Team Liquid retained their dominating position in the 2019 NA LCS, coming first place in all events, and even managing to comes runners up in the 2019 MSI tournament.

AHQ Esports Club
While Ahq had managed to qualify for the Worlds this year and are one of the better known teams out of the major regions, they pale in comparison large teams like TL and IG.

Invictus Gaming
Invictus Gaming come into worlds this year as the defending champions. However, like many other teams in the past aside from SKT, after a World Champion win, they drastically declined. While having a decent Spring split, IG had fell to 7-8^th in the LPL 2019 Summer Playoffs.

LoL Worlds 2019 Group Draw: Play-in Stage

While the Play-Ins will start on October 2nd and see 12 teams divided into 4 different groups. Those teams will fight for a chance to enter the larger tournament: on the 8th October we will have the 4 winners that will advance to Group Stage.