This has been the best team in China in 2017. Although they had to go through the regional qualifier and the Play-In Stage in order to get to Worlds after losing to Royal Never Give Up 3-2 in the Summer Split semifinals, they were great in the regular season and are battle tested on the international stage.
By virtue of winning the Spring Split Playoffs, Team WE qualified for the Mid-Season Invitational and shined in Brazil. Team WE went 7-3 in Group Stage and beat every other team present at least once. They crashed out in the MSI Semifinals, but came back strong again at Rift Rivals. There, they beat Flash Wolves and SK Telecom T1 to help China beat Korea and Taiwan.
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Team World Elite +1150
Top Lane
The only team that 957 has ever known is Team WE. He is one of the more underrated top laners in the world and showed as much at the Mid-Season Invitational. There, he flummoxed opposing teams with his use of Kled, a champion that not many others have had success on.
In the Play-In Stage he was unstoppable on everything but Cho’Gath. 957 posted at least a 14 KDA on Maokai, Rumble, and Shen and led Team WE to rout its opponents in Group A.
Kled is mostly out of the meta now, but he is great on both Maokai and Rumble and very good on Jarvan IV and Shen. Those will likely be his main selections throughout Worlds.
Jungle
There aren’t many junglers better than Condi. He was named one of the 20 best players in the world prior to this year’s Worlds and came up big during the Play-In Stage for Team WE. Condi proved why he is nicknamed ‘Son of Baron’ with two big Baron steals that helped lead Team WE to a sweep of YG in the Play-In Knockout Stage.
Recently, he has started to play a lot of Ezreal in the jungler. He is able to go ultra-aggressive on that champion, constantly invading enemy jungles and stealing camps. Condi has had some hiccups recently, most notably against Royal Never Give Up, but is one of the keys to Team WE’s success.
Mid Lane
The rise of Xiye as a mid laner was what pushed this team from a contender to a champion. It has taken some time for Xiye to get his feet under him, but he has been great this year.
Xiye showed why he is considered one of the best on assassin champions at the Mid-Season Invitational. His play on Lucian was exquisite and helped to repopularize him as a champion.
There are few mid laners that have the robust champion pool that he does. He is more confident on strong champions, but can play a support role when necessary too. Xiye will need to play well in a group where every team has a strong mid laner.
AD Carry
Team WE have an all-Korean bottom lane with Mystic as the full-time AD Carry. He has been in China for the past three seasons and knows what it takes to win there.
Although you’d think they hypercarry meta really suited his skillset well, Mystic was only so-so in two games on both Tristana and Xayah in the Play-In Stage. He had a 3.4 KDA on those two champions, despite playing weaker competition than what Team WE will see at Worlds.
No one is disputing how dominant he can be on Kog’Maw though. He shredded through teams with Kog’Maw at MSI and did so again in the Play-In Stage. Don’t be surprised if that champion is kept away from him.
Support
Both of Team WE’s supports hail from Korea too, which is important for communication with Mystic.
This is a position that other teams can exploit. Zero has scarcely played this year and although he looked good in three games during the Play-In Stage, that’s not enough to have confidence in him. Ben, the regular starter, was the starter for almost the entire Summer Split and usually played well. However, his performance has dipped recently and now Zero is seeing time on the Rift.
Zero and Ben both like to play Janna, and that champion should see plenty of action in Team WE’s lineups.
Prediction
Team WE had to go through the Play-In Stage to make it this far, but is instantly the favorite in Group D. They were better than both Flash Wolves and Team SoloMid at MSI and are expected to best those teams once again. With a very partial crowd cheering them on in Wuhan, China, they should win this group handily.
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