The LoL Worlds 2019 group stage is complete as the fans in attendance at Berlin's Verti Music Hall were treated to a spectacular fortnight of games that boasted everything you could ask for. There was everything you could ask for with comebacks, upsets, backdoors and even a base race.
Ahead of the quarterfinals next weekend, here's what we learned from the LoL Worlds 2019 group stage...
Which teams are in the LoL Worlds 2019 quarterfinals?
- Griffin Gaming
- Invictus Gaming
- FunPlus Phoenix
- Fnatic
- SK Telecom T1
- Splyce
- G2 Esports
- DAMWON
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Group A
All eyes were on G2 to top this group, as the reigning MSI champions there was a lot of pressure on the LEC team - especially from the local European crowd.
Yet, historically G2 supporters will know that the team always struggles in World Group Stages and this year was no different. The LEC's first-seeds dominated the first half of the Groups despite making large mistakes every game. G2 were far from their best and their mistakes were eventually punished in Week 2.
Though, honestly, it may not of mattered if G2 had been at their peak as Griffin underwent a spectacular transformation in the second half of the Group Stages and now look like serious title contenders.
The young Korean side topped the LCK during the regular season of both the Spring and Summer Split this year but crumbled under the pressure of the Playoff finals on both occasions. There were questions over the team's ability to perform in big matches and while that still stands, Griffin earned the important first-seed placing and have a lot of momentum to take into the Quarters.
Meanwhile, G2 picked up second-seed and perhaps a much-needed wake-up call. They now have a week to clean up their play and show their true potential in the Knockouts.
Group B
As many expected, Group B most likely wasn't up to the same standards of the other groups with none of the teams looking particularly fearsome. The most impressive team was the eventual first-seeds FunPlus Phoenix who look extremely strong when Kim "Doinb" Tae-sang gets rolling.
However, if the mid-laner gets shut down then the team leaves a lot to be desired. We saw just that in Week 2 as Splyce were able to handle Chinese champions fairly easily. The European third-seeds showed a significant level of improvement from the Play-Ins and they, along with FunPlus, were quite clearly above the LMS's J Team and Vietnam's GIGABYTE Marines who were both rather disappointing in the end.
Splyce and FunPlus are impressive teams but neither will be the favourites in their respective Quarter-Final match-ups.
Group C
Every year there is a Group of Death but there perhaps hasn't been a tougher group than this one. Fnatic, Royal Never Give Up and SK Telecom T1 are three of the greatest teams to ever grace League of Legends. And of course, spare a thought for North America's Clutch Gaming who put up a fight but didn't really have much hope of finding a win.
SKT are seemingly back to their world-conquering best and RNG were once again unable to overcome their Korean opposition. Fnatic had looked devoid of confidence and following a poor performance in a 50-minute mess of a game against Clutch, the Europeans didn't seem to have much hope.
In the very next game Fnatic had to somehow try to end SKT's undefeated streak and astonishingly did just that. Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek and Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau crushed Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and Kim "Khan" Dong-ha and suddenly Fnatic were just one game away from reaching the Quarter-Finals with an impressive RNG side in their way.
Related: LoL Worlds schedule
Fnatic Superstar Martin "Rekkles" Larsson has repeatedly struggled to get the better of Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao, one of the greatest ADCs of all time. However, RNG's odd choice of Ezreal and Lulu bot ended in disaster as support Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov had a field day as Pyke which allowed Rekkles to finally shine and guide Fnatic to escaping the group along with SKT.
Group D
Finally, Group D had four teams who all had a huge point to prove. Team Liquid and AHQ were their region's last hopes while DAMWON Gaming in their first pro season wanted to prove they are a global force and reigning World Champions Invictus Gaming attempted to prove they hadn't lost their touch.
AHQ were slaughtered without winning a game and while TL did show some glimpses of quality, they simply made too many mistakes to progress through the tournament.
That left IG and Damwon in a battle for first-seed in one of the most exciting games of the tournament. The match was action-packed with sensational individual outplays from the likes of Heo "ShowMaker" Su and Kang "TheShy" Seung-lok but it was a Baron steal by Damwon jungler Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu which swung the game in Damwon's favour. Keep an eye on the young Korean side because they are seriously impressive.
Pictures: LoL Esports / Flickr
