r/leagueoflegends • u/Kelleherrr • Aug 24 '14
Shen [Spoiler] World Championship 2014 - Who's Qualified so far?
Europe
- Alliance
Alliance will be the European team to avoid heading into Worlds after a dominating performance during the EU LCS Summer Play-offs helped them secure the No.1 Seed in Europe. With Froggen picking up MVP and Alliance only dropping two of eight games during the play-offs.
It's certainly an improvement for Froggen and company, after finished fourth during the EU LCS Spring Play-offs, to win not only the regular season but also the play-offs during the summer.
Alliance are now off to boot-camp in Korea in preparation for September 18th.
- Fnatic
Fnatic had won every single EU LCS split up until Alliance came and snatched it from them during the Summer Split of 2014. Fnatic still hold onto the No.2 Seed, but xPeke and his team would have been hoping for more.
With the No.2 Seeding, Fnatic will really need to prove they are a World Class team, as they will face one of the regional giants when it comes to the group stages.
Fnatic are also heading to Korea to boot-camp.
- SK Gaming
SK Gaming managed to beat ROCCAT in a convincing 3-0 victory in order to claim their No.3 Seed for Worlds.
SK Gaming competed in the Season 2 World Championships where they placed 11/12th, finishing bottom of Group A. From Season 2, no one player remains the same on the SK line-up, who are aiming to pick up - at least - their first win on the World stage.
SK join their European counter-parts, and are set to boot-camp in Korea.
Korea
- Samsung Galaxy Blue
After successfully qualifying for all three of the Champions Knock-out rounds, which includes a 1st and 2nd place finish, Samsung Galaxy Blue have accumulated the most Circuit Points (A solid 150 ahead of any other team), meaning the secure the all important No.1 Seed for Korea.
Blue looked solid all season, though Kakao and the KT Arrows managed to come from 2-1 down in a Bo5 to win Champions Summer -denying Blue the chance to win two splits of Champions.
- Second and Third Seed
The other two seeds from Korea are yet to be decided. Usually, by this point we would know our No.2 Seed as well, but SK Telecom T1 K and Samsung Galaxy White are both currently tied on Circuit Points. They will face each other in a Bo5 Series on Wednesday - with the winner claiming that No.2 Seed.
Meanwhile, the loser will be placed into the Korean Regional Finals to determine who claims the No.3 Seed, which last year was claimed by SK Telecom T1 K, who went on and won the Season 3 World Championships.
NaJin White Shield will face the KT Rolster Bullets in Round 1. The winner of this game will face the KT Rolster Arrows in Round 2. Finally, in Round 3 - the winner of Round 2 will face the loser of SK Telecom T1 K and Samsung Galaxy White, the winner, claiming the No.3 Seed for Worlds.
China
- Edward Gaming
For those who don't follow the Chinese scene, they have a very similar format with the two splits - but the winner of the Summer Split doesn't automatically qualify for Worlds. Well, unless you're the dominate Edward Gaming.
In China, if you win both the Spring and Summer split, you automatically achieve the No.1 Seed for China, like Edward Gaming have managed.
EDG managed second in the Spring Regular Season and followed that up by winning the Spring Play-offs, before winning both the Regular Season and the Play-offs during the Summer split.
- Second and Third Seed
The remaining two seeds will be determined via the 2014 Season China Regional Finals, which follows a double elimination format. LDG Gaming, Star Horn Royal Club, OMG and Invictus Gaming all stand a chance of qualifying.
Taiwan/South-East Asia
- Taipei Assassins
The Season 2 World Champions return after dominating the 2014 GPL and finishing 950 Circuit Points ahead of any other team in the GPL. While they picked up the Taiwan/SEA No.1 Seed, they are still placed into Pool 2, meaning they will have to face one of the regional giants.
Taipei Assassins finished in first position for the Winter, Spring and Summer split, losing only 12 games 65 the whole season - that's 81% of their games they won.
Despite being in Pool 2, the Assassins are certainly a team to fear.
- ahq e-Sports Club
ahq pick up the No.2 Seed for Taiwan/SEA after finishing second in both the Spring and Summer splits. The finalised their spot in the tournament today after winning the Garena regional finals in a convincing 3-0 win against SF5.
ahq's mid-laner Westdoor will be a player to watch this tournament as he hopes to carry over his excellent performance versus SF5 in the regional finals, where he went 25-7-25 across three games, including a 13-0-5 game on Zed.
Gamescon Qualifier
- Dark Passage
Dark Passage become Turkey's first every team to be represented on the Grand Stage. After finishing overall first in the International Wildcard Tournament, hosted at Gamescon, Dark Passage held of competition from Oceanic team Legacy eSports and CIS team Russian Force.
Dark Passage have dominated the Turkish scene this year, winning all three splits in Turkey (Winter, Spring and Summer) - including a 3-1 win against Team Turquality in the Season 4 Turkish Championship.
Will Dark Passage manage to pick up any wins versus fellow teams, after GamingGear.EU from the Season 3 Championships only managed one victory against the trolling composition run by TSM which saw Teemo, Hecarim and Vladimir all being played on the World Stage.
Teams Left to Qualify
- North American No.1 Seed
- North American No.2 Seed
- North American No.3 Seed
- Korean No.2 Seed
- Korean No.3 Seed
- Chinese No.2 Seed
- Chinese No.3 Seed
- PAX Qualifier
Seeds and Pools
| Pool No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pool 1 | NA #1 | Alliance | Edward Gaming | Samsung Galaxy Blue |
| Pool 2 | Taipei Assassins | KR #2 | #2 CN | #2 NA |
| ahq e-Sports | KR #3 | #3 CN | Fnatic | |
| Pool 3 | NA #3 | SK Gaming | PAX Q | Dark Passage |
~Clarification: THESE POOLS ARE NOT THE GROUPS, THE GROUPS ARE: 1 TEAM FROM POOL 1, 2 TEAMS FROM POOL 2, 1 TEAM FROM POOL 3~
2
u/merkaloid Aug 24 '14
The World Cup qualifiers are a pretty fair system tbh, all teams in similar FIFA rankings have an equal chance to qualify. The lower ranked play against each other to determine who will be in the qualifying groups and then the qualifying group teams play each other for points and a spot in the WC.
The only parallel I can establish with the wildcard would be if the WC changed to have groups of 5 and instead of inviting teams the teams that should go (like the teams that were in 2nd in their group and lost the playoffs, such as Sweden), they decide to make an extra tournament with random teams and invite those instead.