It's 2016 and the unthinkable has happened. The same three North American teams have qualified to compete in the 2016 World Championships. It's not only that these teams have all gone through major hurdles within the 2016 season and made drastic roster changes but to the shock of many Immortals were not able to secure a spot, squandering opportunity with hubris and perhaps merely falling short of being the better team. While it wasn't expected at the start, now that we're here, it feels this is the way it should be.

The consistent theme with Cloud 9, Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid is that not only were they dominant teams throughout the season, but they all showed marked improvement. After 2015, these teams were not content. They did not want to go another year of being a top North American team but falling short in international competition time and time again. Drastic changes have been made to lead these same teams here to the same spot again but down much different roads than last time. Does this mean that they're going to have a better shot at Worlds?

We could easily assume the answer to this is yes. They should do better at Worlds this year. Why is that? What exactly, if anything, has changed for our top three North American teams and how is that going to make an impact on the international stage?

Team SoloMid

Going into Worlds 2015, TSM looked completely different than the one that we now see representing North America in 2016. Not only has the roster and coaching staff been adjusted, but we've seen a major shift in the overarching attitude of the organization and the behavior of players and staff involved. Not only has TSM faced major roster changes from Season 5 to Season 6, but between Spring and Summer Split as well.

At the start of the Spring Split, it was anticipated that TSM would dominate North America with the completely revamped roster built around Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg. In particular much was expected when TSM brought on superstar players Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, fresh off the win of  the North American League under rival organization CLG and Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim, who had an impressive regular season winning streak on Fnatic. Despite seemingly having all the pieces in hand, TSM struggled during the Spring Split and only seemed to come together for the playoffs, eventually placing second. It was a disappointing end to the split; despite where they had ended in the standings, it had remained clear that something was not working.

It did not take too long for TSM to continue to make changes. After the troubling Spring Split even with a League of Legends veteran like YellOwStaR, TSM held tryouts and soon picked up rookie Vincent “Biofrost” Wang in May -- a very controversial acquisition at the time. Shortly after, Weldon Green joined TSM as Head Coach, while Parth Naidu is strategic coach. Under this coaching change, massive improvements in not only player performance, but player attitude and team cohesion were achieved.

Why is all of this important?

TSM was quite often either too slow or too fast to change their roster and the mentality of the organization. This has continually held them back both domestically and, especially, internationally. Their attitudes have often served as a hindrance to growth and hubris has quite often been the organization’s downfall. However, these issues seemed to have been addressed and the team has shown stunning progress from where they were last year. The impact of these changes could be monumental for North America at Worlds this year. The true test of Weldon’s impact on the team is just around the corner.

Counter Logic Gaming

The difference from last year’s CLG and this year’s CLG is most notably the fact that Doublelift is no longer with the organization. While that was perhaps the most high profile change for the team, Jaehyun “Huhi” Choi and Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes were also brought onto the starting roster. Huhi has stayed with the organization for over a year before he was ever on the starting roster and giving him the chance was a reward for his dedication and loyalty. Originally, CLG seemed to have the intention of keeping Eugene “Pobelter” Park on their roster as well, but he was dissatisfied with the arrangement and picked up by Immortals.

CLG’s 2016 Spring Split with the two rookies was impressive, to say the least. Huhi has often been criticized as underperforming, but his teammates have consistently shared the blame for this. Despite criticisms, there have been several key moments where Huhi has made vital contributions to the team’s success. An example of this would be the double teleport with Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya that clutched the match game in Spring Split semi-finals against Team Liquid.

As the North American champions for the Spring Split, CLG represented North America at the Mid Season Invitational in Shanghai. This event was arguably CLG’s best international showing, if not the best showing North America has had on the international stage. Going toe-to-toe with the top Korean and Chinese team is no small feat and coming in second overall showed CLG at their peak form.

After MSI, the struggles began for CLG. The regular split was nothing if not a disappointment. During Playoffs, they eventually fell to Immortals in the match for  third place, however, secured enough points to qualify for Worlds on championship points. The tail end of the split and throughout playoffs CLG finally seemed to be catching their stride again. However, we have seen them fall apart internationally before and have to wonder: how they will perform this year? After MSI, there are a lot of hopes for another strong showing, but mixed feelings after watching the team struggle week after week during the Summer.

Throughout ups and downs of the 2016 season, CLG has remained undeniably cohesive and trusting of one another. Is strong teamwork and work ethic enough this year, despite the undeniable fact that several players have been underperforming post MSI? Time will be the only thing to tell.

Cloud 9

The past two seasons there has been more changes for C9 than the team has ever experienced previously. Until this last split, there was seemingly a merry-go-round of players shifting in and out of place on the team. As 2016 began, it was hard to know for sure if things were ever going to settle correctly for Cloud 9. The roster that is making its way to the 2016 World Championship, however, is qualified. With most of the team having previous Worlds experience, notably previous world champion Eonyeong “Impact” Jung, Andy “Smoothie” Ta is the only member of C9 who does not have experience on the international stage as of yet.

As far as the roster goes, the only returning members of C9 from last year’s world run is Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen and Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi. Despite all of the roster changes that the organization has undergone, including bringing in Hangyu “Reapered” Bok, C9 is much stronger than than the one that survived the gauntlet in 2015 and represented North America at Worlds in Europe.

Under Reapered’s guidance, the team has grown and has been able to work through difficult slumps in the Summer Split. Mechanically, the team is better prepared to compete internationally and we have seen tremendous growth in attitude and leadership from many of the players, though especially William “Meteos” Hart, who previously struggled at identifying his own faults, which is crucial to becoming a more successful player and teammate.

Last year, all C9 really had going into Worlds was excellent teamwork and shotcalling. This year, they are equipped with mechanically gifted and experienced players and an experienced coach. It’s a tough road, but if there was a time to succeed, it would be this iteration of C9.

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It’s a rare thing that we see the same three teams from a region returning to Worlds in consecutive years. The difference in these teams from 2015 to 2016 is tremendous. As we look at the top three teams of North America and see how they’ve grown and made difficult changes to their rosters, as well as the way their organizations approach the game, there is no doubt that they are stronger this year.

Is North America strong enough to contend with the ever dominant Korean teams? We’re about to find out.