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The first day of the Season 6 League of Legends World Championship tournament kicked off with a bang, with one of the tournament’s biggest upsets, some star performances and a clue as to some of the narratives that will run through the next month.
It also looks a lot better than years past — the quality of the stream has improved, and it shows.
We're 1080p60 over on Youtube for the first time today. Let me know how it's looking. #Worlds
— Ariel Horn (@ArielHorn) September 30, 2016
If you missed the day’s action and want a quick recap of what went down, well, that’s what we’re here for. Here are the three things for you to know as the tournament moves forward.
- It’s early
This bears repeating. It’s really early. The tournament meta hasn’t even remotely been set yet, and many teams that will be very good are still sloppy after a month off from play (the ROX Tigers were losing at 10 to minutes to Albus NoX Luna. Albus NoX Luna!).
2. That being said, some teams look much better than expected
INTZ e-Sports freaking beat EDward Gaming! In real life! And looked awesome doing it!
Listen to the Brazilian casters go absolutely wild:
CLG also pulled off an upset of its own, although not nearly at the same level of magnitude, taking down G2 Esports. It was an especially strong game for jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero, who carried his team to victory with excellent Olaf play.
Even Albus NoX looked better than expected. The Russian Wild Card team played the tournament favorites close, and it sure looks like all 16 teams have at least some shot of winning a game.
3. Europe has to be concerned after that day
All three European teams played Thursday, and all three lost. Splyce’s loss to Samsung Galaxy was expected, but many experts predicted H2K to beat ahq e-Sports Club, and European champions G2 Esports were widely expected to defeat Counter Logic Gaming.
After a strong early game that earned a lead, H2K showed the same mid-game problems we saw all split, throwing that lead thanks to poor decision-making around fights.
Albus NoX, which doesn’t even count as a European team because it plays in the Russian league, was arguably the most competitive Europe-based team on the day. That’s ... not good.
Europe’s day, summed up succinctly by Deficio:
I dream of the day where EU reaches the same level as CBLOL
— Martin Lynge (@RiotDeficio) September 30, 2016