League of Legends Worlds 2019: Team Liquid should win Group D, so stop making excuses for them not to

Team Liquid was the best League of Legends team in North America, so why is there already so much doom and gloom heading into Worlds?

With the main stage of Worlds kicking off tomorrow, it’s time to talk expectations. Specifically, why expectations for the “Best League of Legends team North America has ever produced,” are so low.

Once Damwon Gaming got drawn into Group D along with TL, Invictus Gaming, and AHQ it seemed like the wind was taken out of Liquid’s sails. Doublelift jokingly posted on Twitter that he might be home sooner than he originally thought. MarkZ lamented that Bang, who drew the group “betrayed NA.”

More from Editorials

• Why It’s VETHEO’s fault that Excel are 1-5?!?
• 3 Tips to Rank Up in Season 13
• The LCK is the Premier League Scene
• Looking at Excel’s New Roster Ahead of 2023 LEC Winter
• Worlds 2022 Group Stage Tier List

While these comments were likely made in jest, the fact of the matter is that there really seems to be an undercurrent of feeling that Liquid might be in trouble in this group. Even the top comment on the TL subreddit’s thread reacting to the draw states that “any two” of TL, Invictus, or Damwon could advance out of this group.

But that’s just the thing. We shouldn’t just be expecting TL to get out of this group.

This is a team that, just a few weeks ago, was crowing that they had “finally made it out of groups” and calling their draw “free.” This is the team that claims to be the best team to ever play in the LCS with the ultimate goal of winning Worlds. So why has the addition of the third seed from Korea suddenly thrown that all into jeopardy?

Remember last year, when Cloud9 got drawn into an actual “Group of Death” containing RNG, the defending World Champions Gen.G, and Europe’s surging third seed Vitality, but still managed to make it all the way to semifinals? Remember 2016, when TSM drew into a group with RNG, the eventual runner up Samsung Galaxy, and Europe’s third team Vitality, but took a game off Samsung (the only team other than the champion SKT to do so) and ending tied with RNG, missing on advancing due to tiebreaker? Why are we acting like Liquid, in a group with the LMS second seed and the third seeds from the LPL and LCK is in the same stratosphere as the level of difficulty of those two groups?

Now, I’m not saying that Liquid fans are acting all doom and gloom. In fact, most of the comments on the subreddit have the same basic sentiment of “if we want to be considered one of the best teams in the World, there’s no excuse not to make it out of this group.” But even that belief underlies a bigger issue.

TL shouldn’t be expected to make it out of this group. They shouldn’t even be expected to win this group. TL based on all the hoopla, the adoration, the domestic success, the four out of five players making first team all-LCS, should be expected to dominate this group.

Remember 2017, when TSM got drawn into a fairly easy Group D along with Team WE, Flash Wolves, and Misfits? They missed out on making it out of groups by a game. It was considered a massive disappointment given that they should have been expected to win it.

That group, much like 2019’s Group D, was made up of a surging team from play-ins no one wanted to face (WE), an LMS team most people thought would be bottom of the table (Flash Wolves), and the third seed from another strong region (Misfits). Now, you could say that it’s a bit generous to liken Misfits to Invictus Gaming in this analogy, given that they’re the defending World Champions. But IG has struggled massively in the summer and are going into Worlds with a rookie jungler.

Even if Damwon is the Team WE in this analogy and ends up taking first place in the group, is that really acceptable for NA’s best team? Should we expect them to get heavily outclassed by a team that struggled at times against Royal Youth and Lowkey Esports?

It’s time to stop making excuses for NA teams before they even fail, especially when we should expect more of them. TL isn’t in a situation like Fnatic, going against two of the favorites to win a tournament thanks to an unlucky draw. This isn’t like Cloud9, who will have to overcome Europe’s best team and Korea’s second team.

TL got both third seeds from major regions and an LMS team. This should not be a question that Team Liquid is favored to come out on top. Yet it is.

Analysts and casters are already putting Liquid in that second slot, behind Damwon, or even third behind both Damwon and IG. Doing so, though, is giving a free pass to Liquid if they fail.

As I said yesterday in my Group D preview, TL should have a massive advantage in the bot lane. They stack up well in the solo lanes and the jungle, although they do have some bad match-ups on that top side of the map. Everything is there for Liquid to not just make it to quarterfinals for the first time, but win this group and put them in a position to get a good draw in quarters.

So if you believe in Team Liquid, that they are the best team North America has ever produced, it’s time to nut up or shut up. If you think this is the best team NA has ever had, you need to be thinking that they can make semifinals at least, given how favorable their group draw was.

If you don’t have TL coming out first in this group, then maybe it’s time to admit something that I’ve been saying for a while – and NA fans might not want to believe. Maybe Team Liquid just isn’t that good.

The League of Legends World Championship resumes tomorrow, October 12, at 8:00 EST / 14:00 CEST.