2016 World Championship: Day two group stage guide

The 2016 World Championship started with a bang, and Day Two features even more action!

What a first night at the 2016 World Championship! Upsets! Bugs! Europe going 0-3! Okay, maybe some people aren’t quite as excited about that last part. But a few weeks without LoL Esports action was made right by a fantastic night of international competition. It looks like Day Two is going to be even better.

Watching all the games is worth it, but also quite the endeavor. So with each game listed below, we’ll include a brief preview as well as a watchability score to let you know how good we think it will be. Of course, good games can come from nowhere — like INTZ vs EDG. You can watch the main streams on Twitch, Youtube and Lolesports. The alternate streams are also on Twitch, Youtube and Lolesports.

SK Telecom T1 vs Cloud9 Gaming: watch score 9/10 (7:00 p.m. ET)

Every single game of Day Two should be highly competitive and have major group implications. We start with Group B, where SKT and Cloud9 are playing our match of the night. The game score would be higher if western teams had any record of success against SKT, but Cloud9 actually match up well against SKT. SKT is clearly better, but C9 at least have some tools to play with.

The key for Cloud9 will be the jungler. Williams “Meteos’ Hartman has been criticized by many, and he really needs to step it up. We still aren’t quite sure who SKT will start: old stalwart Bae “Bengi” Seong-ung has been resurrected for Worlds before. And even though Kang “Blank” Sun-gu has started all summer in an effort to build chemistry, he really struggled against KT Rollster in the LCK Semifinals. On

e thing that could tip the balance to Blank is his ability to play Nidalee.

The alternate will focus on the two star mid laners. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok needs no introduction. Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen is an NA star looking for his international moment. The stream will feature commentary by veteran mid laner Alex “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin.

Flash Wolves vs I May: watch score 6/10 (8:00 p.m. ET)

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This should be a fantastic match between two Chinese-speaking teams. Neither Flash Wolves nor I May looked dominant in the summer of their respective regions. Both did enough in the playoffs to make it here, and both have a history of stepping it up in back-against-the-wall scenarios.

The alternate stream will focus on the jungle matchup between Hung “Karsa” Hau-Hsuan and Fan “Avoidless” Zeon Wai.

Team SoloMid vs Samsung Galaxy: watch score 8/10 (9:00 p.m ET)

TSM is looking to recover from their Day One loss to RNG. Samsung is looking to take control of the group with a second straight win. It’s a complete tossup who should be favored in this match. TSM has talent but will have to draft much smarter to win. They also need to continue focusing on vision against a vision-oriented Samsung team. The meta has shifte

d to aggressive junglers and TSM need more peel for Doublelift at the other positions.

The alternate stream is another fantastic mid lane matchup between Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Lee “Crown” Min-ho. Crown has played more of a utility role for his team over the last several months, but he remains a sick mechanical player. Both of these players can do amazing damage without much help.

Royal Never Give Up vs Splyce: watch score 4/10 (10:00 p.m. ET)

Royal is flying high but need to continue to pick smartly now that their pocket Alistar may have been revealed. Splyce just need to stay true to themselves. They really reached for low-percentage plays yesterday against Samsung. Another area of focus will be on vision. RNG really dominated vision in their win vs. TSM, while Spylce’s vision fell short against Samsung.

Fittingly, vision will be the theme of the alternate stream. It will focus on Splyce’s vision with the new “Fog of War” cam. We will only be able to see what they see, and it will be interesting to see exactly how they roam for vision.

H2K Gaming vs INTZ e-Sports: watch score 7/10 (11:00 p.m. ET)

The watch score for this match went up several points over night! INTZ’s jungler Gabriel “Revolta” Henud was downright dominant in their upset of EDG. Don’t expect to see H2K let Lee Sin get to him this time. But don’t forget top laner Felipe “Yang” Zhao, who just abused Chen “Mouse” Yu-Hao. H2K’s Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu will have his hands full against that duo.

The alternate stream will focus on H2K’s bot lane, but I’m not sure the action won’t happen elsewhere. INTZ did a great job pulling EDG around the map.

Next: INTZ Shock EDG and the World

EDward Gaming vs ahq e-Sports club: watch score 8/10 (12:00 a.m. ET)

EDG cannot afford to go 0-2 in the first two days of Worlds. It’s early, with only six group stage games, 0-2 may not be recoverable. Ahq played a very patient game against H2K on Day One. Expect EDG to up the ante and try to snowball earlier.

The alternate stream focuses on the supports. EDG’s Tian “Meiko” Ye will definitely want to improve on his duo lane performance.

Which game are you most excited for?

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