If there was any year for North America to perform well at Worlds, 2016 was the year. There were high expectations of all three teams representing the region -- Team SoloMid, Counter Logic Gaming and Cloud 9. It was expected that these teams all had good chances of getting out of groups. We know now, that only Cloud 9 was able to get out of groups, barely scraping by in a group that had become far more competitive than anyone had anticipated.

A few weeks ago, Cloud 9 was hailed as the least likely to make it out of their group. TSM, in particular, was expected to easily be at the top of their group but failed to secure one of the top two spots. What is it that went wrong? Is there anything that these teams could have done that they didn't? Were expectations merely too high to meet the standards of reality?

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There is no definitive answer, but what we can look at is what teams did right and what they could and should improve on. It goes without saying that the hope for NA does remain in Cloud 9 moving on, but is the weight of that hope a hindrance and weight holding them down, or will it help them make the next step? It appears that NA teams consistently struggle the more pressure they receive to succeed at major events such as playoffs and Worlds.  With so much on the line, is NA good enough in 2016 to make it past Quarter Finals?

Team SoloMid

Before we evaluate how TSM performed to expectations, let's remember that while the results are the same from 2015, the TSM that we saw this year was massively improved in some areas. While TSM seemed to fall apart throughout many of the 2015 games, having virtually no chance of making it out of groups, they were a strong contender in 2016. The marked improvement that the organization was able to make from one year to the next is not to be overlooked even if we are not able to see them progress to the next stage of the tournament.

The expectations for TSM coming into Worlds 2016 have never been higher for the organization. There were many analysts who commented numerous times that if there was ever a year for TSM to win the World Championship that this was their year. The roster was stacked with some of the best players in the world; Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg are both formidable in their roles.

Coming out of week 1, TSM were still many analysts' favorite to come out as the number one seed in their group. There were some hesitant to say as much given North America's record last year where the region went 0-10, failing to secure any wins. There was nothing that seemed overtly wrong in how TSM played during Week 2 of groups. In fact, they played exceptionally well in some of their games, claiming a convincing victory against Splyce. 

It is quite easy to say a team didn't play well and that is why they did not advance; however, it is fair to say that during both Week 1 and Week 2, TSM was able to perform at a high level, just not relative to the prepared state of their opponents. It is also fair to say that they were not good enough to make it out of groups as was expected of them. Royal Never Give Up and Samsung Galaxy are extremely volatile teams who many did not favor simply because they have often been inconsistent and it was hard to know at what level they would come in at day to day, game to game.

While TSM overall played as expected, where did TSM fall short when often their play was provided at a high level? In multiple games the drafting was poor, and rookie Vincent "Biofrost" Wang was unable to perform at the level needed to be successful on the World stage. These shortcomings were not expected, and the reality of them held TSM back from what their full potential this Worlds had been.

Counter Logic Gaming

Worlds 2015 was a time that CLG probably wanted to leave in the past. Afterwards, we had learned that there was ample internal turmoil among the players -- Doublelift was certainly aware of the knowledge that they were looking to replace him for the coming year. It's hard to know exactly if this is what caused the team to spiral out of orbit last year and fail spectacularly in the easiest group in the entire tournament. We can never know for sure how they might have performed had this inner drama not been taking place behind the scenes. However, this year we are presented with a CLG that was more cohesive and supportive of one another -- their teamwork is unparalleled in the North America region and many expected them to do well, giving them a high probability of progressing to the next stage.

There was certainly not as much confidence in CLG as there was in TSM coming into the group stage; however, Week 1 was promising for CLG. Jaehyun "Huhi" Choi seemed to be playing quite well and Jake "Xmithie" Puchero was also playing at a high level that could certainly not be ignored. Despite the fact that there were games that they were making spotlight worthy plays, overall, the team was not able to perform at even the level they were expected to collectively.

Huhi was inconsistent at best -- despite some solid performance -- and the team seems to rise or fall around his play, despite having strong and experienced players and leaders in game such as Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaha and Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black. Even with these veterans, we did not even see the strengths on full display that got CLG to Worlds in the first place.

Despite the fact that CLG had all the pieces together to be successful, including arguably the best strategic coach in North America, they fell short of what they were capable of, which was unexpected. CLG should have made it out of groups, but once again, it fell apart when it mattered most.

Cloud 9

The most resounding fact when looking at C9 is that in both 2015 and 2016, C9 was not expected to perform well at Worlds -- getting out of groups as a long shot in both Worlds tournaments. During 2015, with a completely out-classed Jungler in veteran Mid laner, Hai “Hai” Lam, and a Top laner who was considered a liability, An “Balls” Le, no one had expected C9 to take a game. However, they started off strong and defied expectations. Alas, the fairy tale ended and they had a devastating week 2.

In 2016, C9 was again not expected to make it out of groups despite having a strong roster coming into 2016 that not only had a strong Jungler in William “Meteos” Hartman but also a Worlds Champion in the Top lane, Eonyeong “Impact” Jung. Despite a strong start in Week 1, unfortunate drafting against SKT aside, C9 started out promising. But still, many analysts doubted the team’s ability to secure a top two spot.

Group B quickly became perhaps the most competitive, if not messiest, groups in the tournament. C9 made numerous drafting errors and barely survived by the skin of their teeth. However, the same drafting errors that were made during Week 1 did not seemed to reappear in Week 2. While it is easy to point out the errors that were made by the team in many games, it is safe to say that along with Impact there are two strong carries for the team in Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen and Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and no team can afford to underestimate Cloud 9 going forward.

The hope for North American fans is in the fact that C9 appears to be well aware of where things went wrong for them and eager to remedy their draft and play issues. North America did not perform to expectations of many and coming out of Groups there is only representative left and it was the least likely to proceed. Again, many are not expecting Cloud 9 to go far in their match against Samsung Galaxy, however, Cloud 9 is a team that performs extremely well under pressure and had shown admirable ability to fix issues that arise.

Being seeded against SSG is certainly not a fatal blow to Cloud 9 with the surprising elements delivered by the tournament so far,  and we might not be seeing the last of them Thursday.

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Photos courtesy of Lol Esports Flickr.