Worlds 2017 Group Stage: Group B finale recap

After almost eight hours of games, we finally know who is making it out of Group B.

At the beginning of the day, there was one specific set of events — that seemed entirely unlikely — that could produce one of the strangest, most unpredictable and exciting group finales in Worlds history: a three way tie for second.

In order for that to happen, Immortals needed to lose every game they played, Fnatic needed to turn around their 0-3 start from week one, something no one had ever done, and GIGABYTE Marines would have to prove that they were even better and more versatile than anyone expected. Somehow, all of that happened.

The outcome that seemed impossible at the beginning of the day was the group’s reality six hours later. Finally, after both the tie-breaker games were played, Longzhu Gaming left Group B in first place, while Fnatic, the group’s second seed, become the first team to ever advance from their group after starting out 0-3.

For a full breakdown of what exactly happened on an unbelievable day of Group Stages, check out our summary of each game.

Immortals vs GIGABYTE Marines

Winner: GIGABYTE Marines

Riot Games

The first time the Marines won, it was thanks to an off-the-wall playstyle that no one expected. That was definitely not the case this time. Sure, there were some weird picks — shout out to Urgot top — but the team also played sound strategic League of Legends. GAM took advantage of one key early mistake from Immortals and played around it perfectly building it into a gold lead and eventually a game win.

Longzhu Gaming vs Fnatic

Winner: Longzhu Gaming

Longzhu continue to be completely dominant at Worlds 2017. Fnatic played their best game of the tournament so far, but it wasn’t much use with Longzhu winning every lane split pushing with incredible speed and playing some near perfect teamfights that were almost always engaged by Fnatic

Fnatic vs Immortals

Winner: Fnatic

This game was back and forth, but it probably shouldn’t have been. Early on, things seemed to be going pretty definitively in Fnatic’s favor. However, one bad teamfight gave IMT a path back into the game and it seemed that they wouldn’t be giving it up anytime soon. But, thanks to an awful fight in the bottom lane Immortals gave the game back to Fnatic, who were finally able to take the game.

GIGABYTE Marines vs Longzhu Gaming

Winner: Longzhu Gaming

In one of the best and most exciting games in League of Legends World Championship history, Longzhu managed to pull off a comeback from a more than 10k gold deficit through absolutely perfect team fighting and some of the most impressive shot calling ever. Meanwhile, GIGABYTE’s shocked everyone by making the game that close to begin with. This team has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are more than their strange champion picks and deserve to be taken seriously.

GIGABYTE Marines vs Fnatic

Winner: Fnatic

In order to keep things on pace for the wildest possible ending to the group, Fnatic absolutely dominate GIGABYTE Marines less than an hour after GAM took the best team at Worlds down to the wire. Regardless, Fnatic have a fantastic early game and never gave Marines a chance to come back, taking them down in under 40 minutes.

Immortals vs Longzhu Gaming

Winner: Longzhu Gaming

It may sound odd in a game that went over 50 minutes, but it never really felt like Immortals had a chance here. They may have slowed Longzhu down, and prevented them from getting too big a gold lead early, but there was never any doubt that Longzhu was in control as they proved once again that they could play a methodical slow style alongside the speed they showed in week one.

Fnatic vs Immortals

Winner: Fnatic

Riot Games

Fnatic move onto the final tie-breaker match against GIGABYTE Marines. Immortals never really looked ready to play in the first tie-breaker match for Group B. With a lack luster early game on a similar composition similar to the ones they played over the rest of their 0-4 day two. For Fnatic, the standout pick was the Malzahar mid lane which helped them zone Immortals off of the most important objectives in the game.

GIGABYTE Marines vs Fnatic

Winner: Fnatic

This game was a near constant back and forth thanks to both teams selecting compositions designed to do nothing but teamfight. While they may have been the more exciting and impressive team throughout the tournament so far, GIGABYTE Marines simply couldn’t hang with Fnatic’s experience and individual talent when the game came down to teamfights only giving Fnatic the edge it took to help them win the game and advance from the group.