This season showcases more European talents compared to the past few seasons. Season 11 and 12 marked the influx of new teams such as wNv Gaming and Beijing E-sports Team, making those seasons very Asian-heavy compared to the past. In season 12, the previously European dominated league found itself with more Asian-dominant teams than ever before – 7 teams in fact, out of the available 12.

The 13th season is entirely different from the last. All four newly qualified teams are mainly European – starcoma (now aTTaX), Serious Gaming, mTw and hoorai. The qualifiers had other potential strong European teams that unfortunately got knocked out – favorites Gravitas Gaming were knocked out of the lower brackets by mTw; while former WC3L’er PGS was taken down by hoorai.

Chinese hopefuls didn’t get slack this season – wNv Gaming got blanked by both Serious Gaming and mTw during the qualifiers while Colorful was knocked out by Serious Gaming (again!) and PGS.

Despite the sudden influx of European players, the skill level of this season appears to be better than ever before. While we have lost the quintessential “European-mix” team when fnatic disbanded, they have been replaced with better teams with more motivation. It will be interesting to see how these new teams perform this season.

SK Gaming

Past Ranking: Overall Champions, 3rd online (won vs mouz during playoffs)

Anything less than a top 2 finish for SK Gaming during the online qualifiers will be a major disappointment. They are currently the reigning champions, and obviously boast the strongest roster of them all.

Not only are SK’s players talented in the 1v1 arena – this group of friends stuck together for years, and have been incredibly successful as a team.

SK has built up a reputation of being the most dominant clan, and now they would want to continue on with that long standing tradition after their off days.
The entire lineup – Lyn, SoJu, ReMinD and ReiGn have proven time and time again that they’re close to unstoppable together, even back during their time with World Elite. Back then, they were good, but now they’ve improved their game so immensely that they can be considered the best.

Strengths: Their entire roster is too much to handle for most of their opponents. The lethal combination of these players are sure to take down any team easily.

Weaknesses: There's a weakness? They don't have a great Human (no offense to Miou) comparable to the rest of their lineup, but they don't really need it.

End Result: Basically, The Front Runner, a top 2 finisher. Anything less is a fluke. They should potentially finish 1st on the online qualifiers, and probably the finals as well, although they might get upset by another team during the LAN finals.

Meet Your Makers

Meet Your Makers has always butted heads with Four Kings in the WC3L. This season, this rivalry is laid to rest.

Not only is 4K no more – but their main player Grubby decided to join up with MYM. This further reinforces the MYM roster.

Their previous roster was erratic (sometimes losing to lower-tier teams) but with Shy and Grubby as their latest additions with this coming season, they look to be in better shape than ever before. They have enough players at their disposal even if 3 of them decide to bench it out.

Strengths: They have a rather large roster to roll players around, on top of having some of the best players in the world. It's obvious who they are.

Weaknesses: MYM is known for being erratic. Lucifer is good offline but not online, Susiria is good online but not offline, and Moon sometimes wins big then loses hard. But their new additions give them stability.

End Result: Grubby’s an amazing recruit, but SK still has a slight upperhand (emphasis on slight) against this team. They should still be able to take the top spot if everything goes well.

World Elite

Past Ranking: 3rd Place Overall, finished 2nd online

World Elite has proven that they are capable of keeping their team in the top despite losing their former star players. Recently they lost ReiGn, who joined his former Korean teammates, leaving them with an all Chinese lineup.

We started to see more of players such as Like and Infi, who have proven that they are very much capable even without their South Korean cohorts.

Last season, they finished 2nd, just below MYM in the online rankings. They finished 3rd in the finals, losing to SK in the upper bracket and MYM in the lower brackets. Nevertheless, even with the significantly weakened lineup (without the now SKer’s), they performed way better than expected.

Strengths: Highly motivated Chinese players who have high morale and incredible backing from their home country.

Weaknesses: The perils of Chinese internet along with being overpowered by upcoming new teams and players. They are good, but they need to get better fast to be competitive.

End Result: It’s hard to say if they would improve this season since there’s actually a huge possibility that they might wane performance-wise. The talented kids win, but might end up being erratic in the long run. They should still be able to win to get a playoff spot, but depends on who they meet to eventually get to the finals.

Mousesports

Past Ranking: 6th place online, lost to SK in playoffs

Mousesports is one of the more exciting teams coming in this new season. With their addition of ToD, mouz elevated themselves to a top-tier team.

They have always been good – but just not good enough to be able to actually get to the finals. Fly100% is an amazing player, but playing online just isn’t his forte. SaSe has his ups and downs, but is not entirely dependable. Happy and Hasuobs have proven that they can hold their ground when needed.

Last season they were 5-5 with their old roster. Having ToD around would mean a sure 1 point to propel them to win more matches than last season, and hopefully a spot in the LAN finals.

Strengths: Mousesports just needed an extra player who can win a sure point to make themselves a final-four team. With ToD, Fly and SaSe (in shape), they can win a lot of games.

Weaknesses: Will Chinese internet affect this team with most of its players in China? Probably. Also, they don't have a lot of players to play around with the roster. I doubt they will use the lesser known Chinese recruits.

End Result: There’s a chance they might make it to the top two in the online rankings if they get lucky, although it’s highly unlikely. They would probably win the spot through the playoffs.

Beijing E-sports Team

Past Ranking: 4th Place overall.

This team is a mixed bag. They appear to be a struggling team with a star lineup. This is probably attributed to the fact that they are overshadowed by other Korean lineups such as MYM and SK.

They basically still have the same roster since last season, except for the old-timer newcomer Myth. Although I don’t think we can expect him to make a big dent this season to elevate BeT up top.

FoV should be the top performer in this group when it comes to 1v1 matches. WhO is showing great promise as well, as was shown last season. ChecK, Sweet and Showbu should finish up with some wins themselves.

Strengths: This team is filled with experience, most of the team's roster are bonafide pro gamers.

Weaknesses: And with age comes being has-beens. ChecK for example, does not perform as well as when he was part of FrienZ.

End Result: A potential top 3-6th finisher, but might falter during the playoff rounds for the LAN finals.

PGS

Past Ranking: 4K was ranked 7th last season.

PGS entered the WC3L race by absorbing the old 4K players and taking their old spot.

They came close to qualifying for the WC3L, but lost to hoorai in the final round. Their team is comprised of a mix of lesser known Europeans, who have performed well in their own right.

It will be hard for PGS to butt heads with the better teams even with the addition of Zeus[19], LiiLD.C and FuRy. This isn’t the old 4K, but nevertheless they can certainly defeat some of the European teams.

Strengths: A good amount of players who have shown results in the past. They will be able to beat some tier-two teams with their roster.

Weaknesses: The roster is bloated with Night Elves. While the race is good, this might work at their disadvantage in the end.

End Result: They would probably end up in the lower tier and hopefully away from the bottom two.