G2 Esports vs Team Liquid

What a spectacular way to start the day off! Well, it's spectacular only if you're a Western fan of League of Legends and are hyped by exquisite narratives and age-old clashes. Then, this is as good as it gets. If, on the other hand, you're itching for some top-tier play and a fight between two equally talented teams, then you'd best look elsewhere.

G2 and Team Liquid compete in the same group, and yet it feels like they're a world apart. That holds true in nearly every possible regard. Liquid, despite being stacked with talented players, is currently sitting on a pretty dismal 0W-2L record and have done very little to earn anyone's benefit of the doubt. The fact that they've lost to nearly every team in their group means they're all but guaranteed to finish in fourth place. And, frankly speaking -- with absolute honesty -- they don't deserve any better. Their one-dimensionality, their limited and shallow approach to the game simply isn't enough in today's day and age. Sure, they have a ton of talent and experience, but these virtues mean very little in a meta that favors non-stop skirmishing and unrelenting aggression. Team Liquid failed to adapt, and that's been the case for years now. They've been dominating locally only because they're better on an individual level than the vast majority of their region -- not because they're necessarily worthy of being deemed as one of the best teams in the world.

Liquid is, simply put, too good of a team to be slowed down in North America, but on the Worlds stage, the challenges they've been facing have been far too great for them to handle. And now they're up against the biggest challenge of all in Group A: the most stacked and dominant LEC team ever assembled. How's that for a resume?

G2 Esports, on the other hand, looks downright fantastic. Heck, maybe that's even an understatement. They're still a bit sloppy in patented G2 ways, but they're no less dominant. When they impose their own playstyle and start off on the right foot, they're definitely a force to be reckoned with. Whether someone like Top Esports and DAMWON will be able to exploit their weaknesses still remains to be seen (hint: almost certainly), but that's still a ways off. Right now, however, G2 Esports has a very simple challenger in front of them, and if they play their cards right and bring their A game, they shouldn't have too much trouble in taking Liquid down.

With their backs against the wall (and a chip on their shoulder), Liquid might fight harder than most people expect; by the same token, G2 Esports -- in an attempt to jumpstart new memes and style over their Western adversaries -- could draft for fun and fool around, seeing how they're all but guaranteed to make it out of groups. This means that, while the outcome should remain the same, the path towards it might look a lot different than what we expect. Either way, G2 Esports is favored and with good reason.