League of Legends: Worlds 2019 | Group B Play-Ins Preview

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League of Legends: Worlds 2019 | Group B Play-Ins Preview

The 2019 League of Legends World Championship is drawing nearer by the day. This is the most important tournament of the year and every team is eager to prove themselves as the best team in the world. The groups have been drawn and now some teams must fight through the Play-In stage to make it to the Main Event. Today we're looking at Group B, consisting of Splyce, Isurus Gaming and DetonatioN FocusMe.

Splyce

LoL Splyce Roster 2019 Worlds

First up is Splyce, the LEC's third seed. Splyce comes into this group as the favorites, due to being from a major region and playing the likes of G2 Esports and Fnatic in the regular season. This year, those two teams have overshadowed every other team in the league, but Splyce has managed to solidify their spot just below them in third. Their Spring Split ended at the hands of Fnatic in the post-season, but their Summer Split was mostly better.

This is where Splyce claimed their spot as third-best in the league. It's partially because of Origen's downfall, but for the most part, Splyce stepped up in Summer. That was until playoffs, where they did lose to Rogue in the Quarterfinals. But they managed to play well in the Regional Qualifier to secure their Worlds spot.

The one who improved the most though is Humanoid, the mid laner for the team. He was the Lissandra player in Spring, but in Summer, he showed he was more confident by playing champions like Akali and Qiyana. He hard-carried many of these games too.

But Splyce's primary carry on the team is Kobbe, their ADC. Jungler Xerxe typically plays around the bottom lane with the intention of getting Kobbe ahead. Splyce is an outlier in the LEC, choosing to play a late-game oriented style instead of the aggressive early game style many other European teams utilize. It can be exploited by strong early game teams, but if it isn't, Splyce will out team fight nearly anyone. They also have veteran LEC talent that will be crucial to their success.

Europe is considered a favorite region to win all of Worlds this year. Splyce will want to show they're worthy of being under the same banner as G2 and Fnatic.

Isurus Gaming

Isurus LoL

The second team in Group B is the South American team Isurus Gaming. As the representatives for the LLA in this year's World Championship and Mid-Season Invitational, Isurus is far above any other team in their league. They won the first-ever LLA Finals in the Opening (Spring) Split and qualified for MSI. Their MSI run was shorter than they would have liked, but this experience seemed to have awakened something in them.

Isurus Gaming returned to the LLA in the Closing (Summer) Split and absolutely crushed the competition. In fact, they went 17-4 in the regular season. Then, the team went on to win every series in the post-season while only dropping a single game. Perhaps the biggest threats in this team are their solo laners, Bugax and Seiya. These two aren't interested in playing scaling picks or champions with low agency. They're commonly on the melee picks like Akali, Sylas and Irelia that want to fight. They're capable of solo killing their opponents in lane and are very threatening.

Though Buggax typically stays on the top lane island, the rest of Isurus commonly makes plays around their bottom lane.Warangelus, their ADC, is another fantastic player with quite an aggressive playstyle. He's the type to jump forward on Tristana to start a fight for his team, and he looks good doing it. This team is terrifying with a lead because they can split push and team fight well. But even if they're behind you can't count them out. Warangelus has an impeccable ability to stay in the game and carry his team when he's needed in team fights.

Isurus Gaming is carrying the hopes of Latin America on their shoulders, and though most will count them out, they're here to make a statement.

DetonatioN FocusMe

DetonatioN FocusMe LoL 2019 Worlds

Last but not least is DetonatioN FocusMe (DFM). They're representing the LJL, Japan's regional league, and are looking to finally make it out of the Play-In stage. Many fans will remember the emotion from DFM when they made it to the Play-In's Knockout Stage for the first time in the LJL's history last year. They nearly made it out of Play-Ins at MSI, so it's more than possible they can at the World Championship.

This is especially true with the form they've shown this year. DFM has crushed the LJL in both splits, going 20-1 in Spring and 17-4 in Summer. Plus, they handily won both splits' Finals. In the current meta, most would expect such a dominant team to be strong in the early game. But for DFM, that's not necessarily the case. Typically, their early games are relatively quiet as the lanes scale up. There is some skirmishing, but DFM tends to focus on the mid/late game.

At this point, DFM flips a switch. They travel as a pack to find winning team fights and objectives to build their lead. Their drafts promote this style, utilizing tankier top laners and junglers with scaling mid lane mages and marksmen. It will be interesting to see them match up against Splyce, the other team fighting squad in the group.

Perhaps the most notable player on this squad is Gaeng, DFM's support. Gaeng is an exemplary playmaker in lane and in the mid/late game. He's often the reason his team can accumulate early advantage in the bottom side of the map. Later on, he's usually the one hitting the hooks and kicking off team fights.

DetonatioN FocusMe made it farther than ever last year, and they'll want nothing more than to finally break through to the Main Event this year.

Group B Video Preview

Worlds Broadcast Information

Watch the 2019 World Championship here at ESTNN TV. For more information on the tournament, teams, standings, and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Stay tuned here at ESTNN and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more League of Legends news, articles, opinions and more.

Avatar of Brandon Sturak
Brandon Sturak
Brandon is a writer and editor for ESTNN with a passion for esports. He writes about League of Legends and esports generally, providing analysis and commentary on both. He is a founding member of Niagara University Esports, while being the previous mid laner and Head Coach for the NU Esports LoL team as well. Twitter @GhandiLoL