World Elite

At the beginning of the season, everyone thought that the team would never even reach the finals without ReMinD, SoJu or Lyn; but what do you know – they actually made it up to the 2nd spot, without the need to compete in the playoffs.

They’ve proven well enough that they don’t need the here Koreans to win their matches and eventually, “defend their crown”. However, it is theirs to defend, technically… but at heart – it’s something new for them to win again.

World Elite comes into this tournament as the underdogs. Except for Sky and ReiGn, most of their players are neophytes when it comes to the international LAN circuit. Sky is the only sure point in the team, while the others are out to prove themselves in this respected league.

World Elite's Solo Matches

Like is World Elite's Most Valuable Player. Like is overshadowed by fellow Chinese Orc players such as xiaOt and Fly100%, and hasn’t participated in any international tournaments. But his statistics (compared to the rest of his team) speak for themselves – 6 wins and only 2 losses with a 14:8 mapscore. On top of that, Like has won all his 2v2 matches with TeD – making him an indispensable part of the team.

The rest of the team actually fared well for themselves. Aside from Like, ReiGn has been overlooked as well since people tend to make more noise for ReMinD, SoJu and Lyn. But in World Elite’s case, they’re still fortunate that ReiGn stuck around – he managed to beat Deadman, HoT and Rob – losing only to big names like Grubby, Lucifer and Shy.

Infi has shown to be a capable player on LAN tournaments, but didn’t get a lot of chances to prove himself online. Nevertheless, he beat SaSe, Showbu and Minhyuk – with his only loss coming from Susiria.

World Elite's 2v2 Matches

The team's 2v2 games started off rocky – TeD and Qeki just didn't have what it takes to go head to head with the rest of the players.

The Undead and Night Elf combination only brought in one win out of six matches. They managed to get one game against most of them, but lose nevertheless.

When the team decided to switch the Qeki (Night Elf) to Like (Orc) – then things started to look up. TeD partnered with Like became unbeatable, taking down teams such as Grubby/FuRy, Ohjie/Shy and Rob/Satiini. They found a stable 2v2 team that can perform well under pressure, and they should come to the finals with guns blazing.

Final Outlook

Strengths: Cliché, but obviously – their greatest asset is Sky. Sky has been a dominating factor in Warcraft III for years, and is one of the most consistent performers in the scene. While he did not perform too well on the online rounds... well, Sky never did perform well online – ever. But offline – we all know that he's a different kind of beast.

The other players on their roster are not too exposed as compared to Sky and their potential competitors – they may throw off their opponents with new and unexpected strategies. The team is also roughly underestimated with their young roster, which might work to their advantage.

Weaknesses: Inexperience can also be a downfall for the team’s younger players. Infi has shown prowess against bigger names, successful in bringing down popular players in several Chinese tournaments. Will it be the same when he plays in Germany? The rest of the players are less triumphant on offline tournaments – it’s still guesswork on how they will perform in the finals.

Prediction: As much as I always love rooting for the underdog, I can only see World Elite with a 3rd place finish.