4 key matches to watch during the 'League of Legends' group stages this weekend

The first weekend of the World Championships is upon us, and the group stage matches will begin soon. With the best of the best getting ready to square off in a partial round robin format, fans have many hours of League of Legends to look forward to.

If you need a little guidance into how the brackets work as the 16 teams fight to be crowned the best of all, then check out our bracket explainer. If you’re all ready to dive into the group stage excitement, then be sure to keep an eye out for some of the most compelling match-ups. Here are the pairs we’re most excited to see take the rift from each of the four groups.

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G2 Esports vs Counter Logic Gaming

This won’t be the first time these two organizations have faced off this year, but the circumstances are entirely different. During the Mid-Season Invitational, G2 was shaky and underwhelming as CLG rose to the runner-up position. Now, with a revised roster, G2 is back with a purpose. The players have had their sights set on Worlds since the summer began, and they’ve been confident in their plans to push out of the group stage.

Counter Logic Gaming, on the other hand, faltered once they returned to the NA LCS in summer. The lineup has not changed, but the players are not demonstrating the same peerless confidence and teamwork that won them fans in their previous international competition. This match will kick off the group stage and will surely set the tone for whether G2 has earned that confidence or whether CLG has some hidden magic for a surprise upset.

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SK Telecom 1 vs Cloud9

The pedigree of SK Telecom is well known. The team has won multiple world championships and already has top finishes this year at IEM Katowice and MSI. The current roster includes legends like Faker and Bang. So it’s actually a bit of a shock for them to be the No. 2 seed from Korea, but that does mean its match against long-time worlds competitors Cloud9 is certain to be a good one.

Cloud9 is coming in as the No. 3 seed from North America, but that doesn’t mean the international competition won’t be taking them seriously. This is one of the strongest squads C9 has assembled, and some of their individual players should be able to go toe-to-toe with the SKT lineup. The standouts to watch will be Impact in the top lane, who delivered monster performances through the final weeks of the summer split, and solo-kill master Jensen in mid. If the whole roster can reach peak performance, then they could be able to push past the other Group B contenders to make a real threat to the Korean crew’s dominance.

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H2K vs ahq e-Sports Club

Group C is the only one without a Korean squad, but there’s still loads of strong talent across these four teams. Top seed Edward Gaming is the heavy favorite to exit groups in first, meaning the real tussle will likely be between the EU LCS and LMS squads. Both have had less-than-ideal summer splits, and this first match between them could set the tone for who has been able to bounce back to top form.

H2K was ferocious in tearing through the summer's final weeks of play AD carry Forgiven seems to pull out the best in this team, and his unexpected return could make this run in worlds a memorable one. Combined with a surge in power plays out of mid-laner Ryu and jungle Jankos, H2K is going to be making a serious push to escape the group stage.

Standing in their way will be ahq. Jungler Mountain is one of the critical players for this crew, and he can play a big part in boosting his laners’ performance. If they can ride momentum from the massive wins of the regionals, then they could make things very difficult for H2K. But consistency is a well-known question mark for this LMS team. We won’t know which version will show up for the group matches, but the first day of group play should provide an answer.

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Royal Never Give Up vs Samsung Galaxy

Group D has been deemed the Group of Death this year. Although its avid fan base is certainly excited to see what North America’s Team SoloMid can accomplish in international play, the more compelling story in this group will be between the teams from Korea and China.

Royal Never Give Up turned in an impressive performance earlier this year at MSI, advancing to the knock-out stage. Although the players had a strong summer split, they come to Worlds as the #2 seed from the LPL after falling in quick fashion to Edward Gaming in the LPL finals. Royal Never Give Up does have the potential to be a threat in Group D, but only if they can remedy some of the issues that are now well known to their upcoming opponents.

From the LCK, those opponents will be the unexpected success story of Samsung Galaxy. Samsung had an uncertain spring, and remained shaky enough that experts assumed KT Rolster would be the squad to secure the #3 seed. Instead, Samsung reversed their very long losing streak against KT and now finds itself facing an even taller mountain. Momentum is a big x-factor in League, and it’s hard to argue that Samsung is on an upswing. If they’ve also put in work to shore up their shortcomings, the match against RNG is bound to be one of the highlights in this stacked group.