Quarterfinal matchups for the 2016 World Championship

The 2016 World Championship will have an exciting quarterfinal round.

Time usually seems to move way too fast when looking back on things, and it’s hard to believe that the group stage has already come to an end in the 2016 World Championship.

Many have been calling this the best Worlds of all-time, but that’s a bit premature. Was this the best group stage a Worlds has ever had? Absolutely. However, there’s a chance that the next couple of rounds are incredibly boring and anticlimactic, so we can’t say it’s the best Worlds quite yet.

The draw for quarterfinal matchups took place immediately after the group stage ended yesterday, and it’s safe to say that we have some exciting best-of-fives on the way.

Left side of the bracket

SK Telecom T1 vs. Royal Never Give Up (Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET)

Talk about a monster second-round matchup. Faker, Mata, Uzi….there is some serious all-time greatness in this contest.

This series will surely get hyped up a lot, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if SKT underwhelmingly win in three or four games. RNG looked incredible in their two games against TSM, but they were very lackluster in the rest of the group stage. They are a team with tons of micro talent that can snowball games, but their ability to make macro decisions and play from behind is simply awful.

It would be great for this to be a good series, but all signs point towards SKT moving to the semifinals.

ROX Tigers vs. Edward Gaming (Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET)

This has to be the best quarterfinal matchup out of all of them. Coming into the tournament, there were two consensus favorites to win it all — these two teams.

However, both had an incredibly shaky and disappointing group stage. If these two didn’t come up clutch when it mattered the most, there’s a change that they both would have missed making it out of groups. That would have been mind-boggling.

But both teams prevailed, and they are here meeting in the quarterfinals thanks to H2K taking home first-place in their group.

While the group stage wasn’t hot for either team, we should expect to see them at the top of their games coming into this one. They have a lot of time to prepare, and best-of-fives are a completely different beast.

Who knows who will win, but we are in for a treat.

Right side of the bracket

Samsung Galaxy vs. Cloud9 (Thursday at 6:00 p.m. ET)

SSG dominated their way out of groups while C9 crawled through the finish line. Oh well, they are both in the same position.

Going against a Korean team that is on fire may seem terrifying for Cloud9 and North American fans, but they actually got lucky. Sure, the best-case scenario would have been playing against H2K, but this is a much better matchup than having to face SKT or ROX.

This seems like a win for Korea at the moment, but Cloud9 might have some tricks up their sleeve.

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H2K vs. Albus NoX Luna (Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET)

H2K played out of their mind in the second week of groups to take home a top seed, and they were greatly rewarded with getting the best possible quarterfinal matchup.

ANX was great during the group stage, but it’s hard to put much faith into them moving forward. We have no idea how they will perform when everything is on the line in a best-of-five. However, while this was the best draw for H2K, it was also the best draw for ANX. If they were going to beat any of the top seeds, it has to be H2K.

It looks like H2K might go to the semifinals without having to face one Korean opponent. How lucky is that? To take things even further, they could possible go to the finals without facing a top Korean team if Cloud9 find a way to upset SSG. Sounds like someone at H2K sold their soul to Teemo.

Initial reaction

The left side of the bracket is a complete monster compared to the right side. Sorry, but it’s true.

Just think about it. If only upsets happen during the quarterfinals, the left side would have Royal Never Give Up vs. Edwarding gaming in the semifinals while the right side would have Albus NoX Luna vs. Cloud9.

Because the right side of the bracket is so weak, it looks like this will be another year of a Korea vs. Korea finals. What a magical run that would be for Samsung Galaxy, as they were originally put into the group of death as a third-seed.

As things currently look, it seems certain that the winner of the 2016 World Championship is sitting on the left side of the bracket.

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