SK Telecom T1 may have won this year’s Mid-Season Invitational, but the talk of the tournament was the GIGABYTE Marines. The representatives from the GPL were not expected to do much at the Mid-Season Invitational, much less be the qualifier out of the Play-In Stage. However, they were fantastic in the Play-In Group Stage, winning their first five matches to earn the right to take on BAU SuperMassive for a spot in the Group Stage.
GIGABYTE Marines were underdogs to Team SoloMid in the second round of the Play-In Stage, but took TSM to five games. That turned a lot of heads and proved that this team was for real. They easily dispatched BAU SuperMassive after that in order to be one of the six teams to make it to the actual Group Stage.
In the Group Stage, GIGABYTE Marines were massive underdogs, but again surprised. Their ultra-aggressive playstyle led to very exciting, short games with lots of kills. They were rewarded with wins over Team SoloMid, G2, and Team World Elite before bowing out.
Opening Betting Odds to Win 2017 League of Legends World Championship
GIGABYTE Marines +3800
Top Lane
Archie has done it all over the course of his career. He was originally an AD Carry for GIGABYTE Marines’ previous team, Boba Marines, and transitioned into being a support player at the Mid-Season Invitational.
At MSI, Archie performed well on the traditional supports even though he was on the wrong end of a couple highlight reel plays in the Group Stage.
Now, Archie is the top laner for GIGABYTE Marines after Stark left the team following MSI. He has acquitted himself in that role too and is the leader of this team. Don’t expect him to carry, but rather play tanks and act as a second support in team fights.
The GIGABYTE Marines brought over a carry top laner in Nevan for their one substitute. If he plays, he will choose an aggressive champion, so keep that in mind if you see him in the lineup.
Jungle
The star of GIGABYTE Marines is Levi. He is the playmaker for this team and the key to their success. Levi is remarkably aggressive, perhaps the most aggressive jungler at Worlds. He is constantly invading enemy camps and looking to gank one of the lanes. That led to a 5.2 KDA at MSI, and he tallied an incredible 119 kills in 25 games.
At MSI, Levi did not select one team focused jungler, instead taking power picks in the prospect of getting ahead. He used Graves in almost half of GIGABYTE Marines’ matches, but also played Kha’Zix, Lee Sin, and Elise. If GIGABYTE Marines take Worlds by storm like they did MSI, Levi’s play will be the reason why.
Mid Lane
Optimus has been the mid laner for GIGABYTE Marines for the past two and a half years. In that timeframe, he has played an incredible number of champions despite not playing that many games. His favorite champion by far is Orianna, who he has played twice as often as any other champion.
Versatility makes Optimus dangerous. He doesn’t have the name power associated with him as other mid laners in this group do, but can play any champion in any lineup. That makes him very hard to match up against.
AD Carry
NoWay joined the team after Slay left following MSI and has picked up where Slay left off. He has no experience on the international stage though, so he is a relative unknown. However, that can be a good thing as there is no way to really scout him.
Support
Like his bottom lane partner, we really don’t know much about Sya as GIGABYTE Marines’ support. When he joined, Archie moved into the top lane, so we know he must be decent if he supplanted Archie. Anything besides that though is a mystery as he has yet to play outside of Vietnam.
Prediction
Despite the odds on GIGABYTE Marines, don’t expect them to make it out of Group Stage. The bottom lane is a total question mark, and teams will come up with specific strategies to limit Levi’s effectiveness.
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