When it was announced at the Worlds Group Draw show that North America's champion Team SoloMid, China's second-place Royal Never Give Up, and South Korea's third-place Samsung Galaxy would all be in the same group, the label of "Group of Death" (appropriate for Group D) was quickly slapped onto it. At the bottom of the heavyweight trio was the third-place team from Europe, Splyce, who were in relegations of the EU League Championship Series before developing into one of the region's best teams by the end of the split. A team anointed the role of spoiler, with the ability to take games off any of the three other clubs in the group.
After the first week of matches, Group D(eath) has lived up to its billing. The three teams expected to challenge for a semifinal berth or higher have all impressed in one way or another, and Splyce, 0-3 and with little to no chance advancing from the group, is positioned to drag one of the power punches down with them.
Rock: Royal Never Give Up
In this situation, China's RNG is the rock. Strong, powerful, and a force to be reckoned with. The big question mark for the team coming into the competition was balancing its individual talent with actual team synergy and map play, and for the most part, Royal has exceeded expectations. Although it fell down to TSM early in the opening match of the tournament, the team didn't force the issue and no player tried to be the lone hero that saved the day. Instead, RNG played a smart mid game and waited for TSM to make a mistake.
The North Americans did make those costly mistakes with mispositioning and getting caught out, and RNG capitalized repeatedly in rhythmic fashion. Although it was TSM's bottom lane that was picked on for large portions of the game, almost every single player on the TSM starting roster was caught out before the game was finished. Anytime it appeared like TSM was going to set up a strong defense inside its base to try and see if it could punish RNG's known over-aggression, another TSM player would get caught, and Royal eventually took home the win.
In its sole loss of the first week, Royal was surprised by Samsung's newfound forward thinking ways after playing primarily passive compositions the first two days of the competition. Liu "MLXG" Shi-yu's Nidalee was manhandled by Samsung's Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong on Skarner, and RNG looked caught off guard by a team that completely changed its style in the middle of a match week. The ace of the team Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao was still ahead in the laning phase per usual, but RNG did the complete opposite of what it did against TSM; when it tripped up early against the North Americans, Royal played smart and relaxed.
After Uzi gave up first blood to a nicely timed gank by Ambition in the bottom lane, RNG took a risky collapse and dive under Samsung's bottom turret that resulted in MLXG's demise. And although the Chinese team was able to bring the gold back to even in the late game, it meandered in the middle of the map after Samsung took an uncontested Infernal Drake, which led to them getting pounced upon by Skarner and Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin's Kennen, getting run over in an impromptu teamfight.
RNG looked brilliant in its two games with engage-heavy options, yet, when Samsung was the aggressor to Royal's siege composition, the team looked full of holes in its decision-making and overall map play.
While Royal is arguably the least adaptable of the trio tied atop the Group D standings, its overall power is unquestioned. We saw that in action when it played Splyce in one of the biggest routs of the entire tournament, where Uzi had a field day picking apart a team that simply couldn't keep up with him or his teammates.
Paper: Samsung Galaxy
Paper, like Samsung, can be folded into different things depending on the end goal. While Samsung was seen as a pretty basic, by the numbers club for a majority of the domestic season in South Korea, it has gained a new edge to its roster with the addition of AD-turned-support Jo "Core JJ" Yong-in. Core JJ might not be as good of a support player individually when compared to teammate Kwon "Wraith" Ji-min, but he's brings a much needed dimension to the Samsung lineup: the ability to make plays.
Through the first two days of the competition, Wraith started and Samsung played pretty standard compositions with lots of poke and disengage. It worked to near perfection against Splyce on day one, manhandling the European side, but was ripped to shreds in the second match against Team SoloMid. TSM got ahead early and never looked back. Samsung was never given a moment to breathe with Lee "Crown" Min-ho in the mid lane on Varus consistently dying to the combined efforts of Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen. What was a patented Korean-style dissection against Splyce was a lame sitting duck against a stronger opponent.
In its third game of the tournament versus RNG, however, the team flipped the script on its head. It brought in Core JJ for Wraith, and the team went from trying to beat teams with a thousand paper cuts to bludgeoning them with a sledgehammer. Samsung deployed a more proactive style, and it worked, with Ambition's Skarner and Crown's Ryze steamrolling through any Royal player in their sights.
Going into the second week, Samsung is the only team in the group with the potential to change supports, and effectively play styles, on a dime. Wraith is better at big picture macro games while Core JJ is more useful when Samsung wants to speed up the tempo and mix it up in the early game. You don't know if Samsung is going to build an origami crane out of its piece of paper or an airplane. This flexibility is what saved Samsung from going down 1-2 in the group and almost assuring RNG a place in the quarterfinals.
Scissors: Team SoloMid
TSM had the strangest week of any of the teams in Group D. On one hand, you can argue that it should have gone 2-0 against Samsung Galaxy and Royal Never Give Up. It got the lead in both games, and it was silly mistakes against the Chinese that lost them the game. Simple mistakes that you don't usually see from TSM, and aspects of the game you'd expect them to fix the next time it faces RNG.
On the other hand, TSM is the only one of the trio to almost lose to Splyce. Despite Samsung's methodical beatdown and Royal's one-hit knockout against Splyce, TSM struggled mightily in its series against the third-place European team. To be honest, Splyce should have closed out the game, and TSM should be sitting a disastrous 1-2 going into the second week. Fortunately for them, Splyce wasn't able to shut the door, and the North American champion won a game that it was lucky to get out of with a W.
At its peak, TSM can be considered the best team in the group, and it proved it in the early games against RNG and SSG. On a whole, the team has great communication, and the synergy between Svenskeren and Bjergsen is the best out of any jungler/mid combination in the group. Outside of Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and Vincent "Biofrost" Wang struggling in the first week, the rest of the team played some of the best League of Legends in the tournament. If Doublelift and Biofrost can regain their normal form and cut down on the mistakes, it'll make TSM the most complete starting five in Group D.
As Doublelift mentioned in an interview following the Splyce game, Bjergsen not being able to talk due to sickness will hurt the team if he's not recovered for Week 2. TSM at the 2015 World Championships also had a strong early-to-mid-game but came apart at the seams when shotcalling and closing out the game was next on the things to do. TSM's shotcalling, centered around Bjergsen and Doublelift, has been the biggest difference on the team this summer split compared to last year's 1-5 disaster at Worlds.
At the core of TSM are Doublelift and Bjergsen. When the two of them are at their best, you can see why South Korean and Chinese teams believe they can go far. The two compliment each other like few carry duos in the world, and the added voice (and consistent damage output) of Doublelift has saved Bjergsen from doing almost everything for TSM.
When TSM is in form and sharpened, it can even cut through rock.
Splyce
One week of experience at Worlds and a few days of rest with preparation should serve Splyce well. With TSM, RNG and SSG all tied at a 2-1 record, a single loss to Splyce, which TSM came dangerously close to in the first week, could spell disaster for the victim.