The League of Legends 2017 World Championship quarter finals have started | Where to watch, our predictions, and the results so far
For the last couple of weeks, group stages for the League of Legends 2017 World Championship have been underway, with teams competing for those precious spots in the quarter finals. Now, we're doing to just 8 teams, and today's the first quarter final match. For the next four days, teams are competing in a best of five series each, where the winners will move forward to the semi finals next week, and the grand finals taking place the week after that.
Where to watch
All of the League of Legends 2017 World Championship is being streamed online at the official League of Legends esports site, with embedded streams from YouTube and Twitch included. It's the best place to watch the tournament, if only for the added statistics and data the site has on each game.
Longzhu Gaming v. Samsung Galaxy - Thursday October 19
Prediction
The first series of the quarter finals is going to be tough for both teams involved, as they were both expected to be contenders into the semi finals and finals. As the way these things go though, one has to be eliminated.
Longzhu Gaming have had the most impressive run throughout the 2017 World Championship so far, being the only team to go 6-0 in the previous group stages, proving themselves against their competition. It can be argued that they did so well because of a weaker group than Samsung Galaxy, but they've definitely shown themselves to be on form for this World Championship. As strong as Samsung Galaxy are, the added confidence of being on home turf and the dominance Longzhu have shown so far means they're likely to come out on top.
Result
Longzhu Gaming 0 - 3 Samsung Galaxy
Longzhu Gaming were 6-0 going into this series, and left it 6-3, Samsung Galaxy sweeping them. Few people expected Samsung Galaxy to win, even less expected it to be so comfortably. Longzhu just weren't on form, and lots of small mistakes just snowballed the game into Samsung Galaxy's hands. They'll be moving on to the semi finals next week, with Longzhu now knocked out.
SK Telecom T1 v. Misfits Gaming - Friday October 20
Prediction
Unfortunately for Misfits Gaming, SK Telecom T1 will always be the favourites going into a World Championship game. Fighting for a hat trick of successive World Championship titles, SK Telecom T1 perhaps haven't been quite as impressive as some people expected, which may be a sign for Misfits Gaming.
SK Telecom T1 have, unlike previous years, shown very distinct weaknesses throughout the group stage though. If Misfits Gaming can capitalise on that, they've got a shot, but never bet against SK Telecom T1, they're the two-time World Champions for a reason.
Result
SK Telecom T1 3 - 2 Misfits Gaming
We definitely expected Misfits to capitalise on SK Telecom T1's weaknesses, putting up a good fight, but nobody expected it to be so close. For a long time, it looked like Misfits Gaming would knock SK Telecom T1 out, despite 98% of people expecting SK Telecom T1 to win. They put up a fantastic fight though, this series was one of the most impressive in World Championship history. Misfits Gaming didn't win, but they're now very clearly a world-class team, and 2018 is going to be a great year for them. SK Telecom T1 move on to the semi finals next week.
Royal Never Give Up v. Fnatic - Saturday October 21
Prediction
Despite never reaching the legendary status of other teams, Royal Never Give Up have quickly shot up in people's ratings in the west. Coming second in the LPL, they have the advantage of fighting with a home crowd, as one of the two Chinese teams left in the tournament.
Fnatic are Europe's strongest team though, and despite having a tough time getting through the group stages, they've got some serious individual player skill. It's likely that they'll have some flashy moments, but Royal Never Give Up are the favourites to win the tournament in many people's eyes. It's unlikely Royal Never Give Up will struggle too much.
Result
Royal Never Give Up 3 - 1 Fnatic
Royal Never Give Up went 2 - 0 up, punishing Fnatic's lack of confidence especially in game 2. In game 3, though, Fnatic showed an absurd amount of strength and perseverance, getting close to winning for a full half an hour, in one of the longest games in this World Championship, and one of the most intense.
Unfortunately, Royal Never Give Up strapped themselves back into the driving seat for game 4, and despite some promising plays from Fnatic, Royal Never Give Up showed why the theme of this tournament is the late game. Draft a team that will win fights 40 minutes into a game, don't make mistakes, and wait until you're able to come out on top.
Royal Never Give Up are moving forward to the semi finals next week, where they will face SK Telecom T1, in what will be an incredibly close game.
Team WE v. Cloud 9 - Sunday October 22
Prediction
The last hopes for a North American team in the 2017 World Championships rest on Cloud 9. TSM and Immortals were knocked out earlier on in the competition, and now it's up to Cloud 9 to prove North America can compete on the world stage. They've got some clearly defined strengths and weaknesses though, and despite current strategies working well with Cloud 9's strength in Zachary 'Sneaky' Scuderi, they'll need to make sure those weaknesses can't be abused.
Team WE, on the other hand, have the home advantage, as another Chinese team left in the competition. Team WE are responsible for knocking out the North American favourites, TSM, so Cloud 9 are definitely fighting for a bit of revenge now. That home advantage, couples with those clearly defined weaknesses, mean Cloud 9 are unlikely to be successful though.
Result
Team WE 3 - 2 Cloud 9
After four quarter finals filled with "what ifs," where wondered what if Fnatic had gone on to do the reverse sweep, or what if Misfits had knocked out the reigning champions, Cloud 9 were the most hopeful what if of them all. Going 2 - 1 up after three games, they looked confident and set to win, especially with how dominant their two wins were.
But their strategy, running the Singed toplane, fell to pieces as Team WE banned it out, and took the last two games pretty decisively. Similarly to the Royal Never Give Up v. Fnatic series, we saw yet again how Western teams just don't know how to deal with the current popular strategies of drafting a late game team and waiting it out. As such, Cloud 9 were punished, and were knocked out of the tournament.
What happens next?
Team WE go on to face Samsung Galaxy, while Royal Never Give Up will be facing SK Telecom T1 next weekend. The winners there will move on to the grand finals, taking place in two weeks.
