We roundup the action across all four groups, pick out some of the highlights and look ahead to the quarter finals...
Group A: The big surprise
This was the scene of one of the biggest shocks – and most exciting matches – in League of Legends history.
As expected, Korea’s ROX Tigers topped the group.
Albus NoX Luna – a lesser known team from Russia – were the ones to qualify in second place, though, becoming the most successful League of Legends wildcard team in history.
Albus beat ROX Tigers in a thrilling 66-minute match, with defiant support player Likkrit going up against four of ROX’s players to take their Nexus in the end.
Despite going on to lose the tie-breaker, they still finished second.
A heart-warming post-match speech from Likkrit, praising G2 and his teammates also made him an admirable name in League of Legends.
Elsewhere, Europe’s number one seed G2 and NA organisation CLG left empty handed.
Group B: NA’s silver lining
Cloud9 were the only North American team to progress to the quarter finals of Worlds 2016.
They beat China’s I May 25-18 in the decider, with C9 mid-laner Jensen and ADC Sneaky boasting impressive individual scores of 10/3/11 and 9/2/14 respectively.
Reigning champions SKT Telecom T1 topped the group comfortably, with their only loss coming against Flash Wolves.
Duke, Bengi, Faker, Bang, Blank and Wolf once again showed the world why they are the best with solid team plays and ruthless efficiency.
Flash Wolves themselves will be disappointed with their performance.
A couple of victories aside, they did not perform in their remaining games and will head home earlier than expected.
Group C: H2K get revenge on EDG
H2K are in brilliant form.
It was H2K’s turn to beat Edward Gaming twice – after last year’s reversal at the Worlds – including a win in the decider for group C’s top spot.
Well-known Greek ADC Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou has been H2K’s MVP in the group stages.
He ran riot as Caitlin in a few games and boasts some of the top stats of the tournament so far.
An overall KDA ratio of 9.4, 21 kills, five deaths and 26 assists, along with 54% kill participation, an average CS of 10.2 per minute and an overall CS of 2,831, is impressive.
H2K’s performances pushed Edward Gaming into second place, with Taiwan’s AHQ e-Sports Club and Brazil’s INTZ failing to progress to the next stage.
Group D: The group of death lives up to its name
The biggest story from this group was NA organisation TSM failing to qualify for the quarter finals at home.
They entered the tournament as one of the outstanding teams, having topped the NA LCS Summer 2016 Split with 17 wins and one loss.
Ultimately, though, they fell short of expectations.
Korea’s Samsung Galaxy dominated group D with five victories and one defeat, which came in 18-1 loss to TSM.
Galaxy also won the fastest game in Worlds so far, beating Royal Never Give Up emphatically after just under 24 minutes.
But it was the latter who secured second place following a 22-11 victory over TSM – a result that meant they advance by virtue of a superior head-to-head record.
It was a tournament to forget for Europe’s Splyce, though, who just a single win.
Picture credit: Riot Flickr
And then there were eight…
Samsung Galaxy kick off the quarter finals against Cloud9.
It will be a challenge for Cloud9 to win this one, but they tend not to stick consistency in the Worlds.
Anything can happen in the knockout stages, though.
On 14 October, current champions SKT face Royal Never Give Up, and one would expect SKT to progress.
The next day, ROX Tigers play Edward Gaming and 16 October sees H2K and Albus NoX Luna do battle.
An SKT v Samsung Galaxy final is the logical expectation. But tournaments do not always run to logic.
