When considering international results, it is well-known that the EU region has historically outperformed the NA region in esports. However, recent developments suggest that North America is catching up to Europe. While all three European teams failed to advance from the group stage this year, two out of three NA teams made it through. This improvement in the NA region can be attributed to their rapid development since Season 3.
To get an idea of the current power balance between the two regions, we can look at the recent IEM San Jose and IEM Cologne tournaments. Both North American and European teams showed great strength, making it difficult to determine which region will perform better at the upcoming Spring Split.
Let’s take a look at my predictions for the Spring Split of both the NA and EU LCS. In the NA LCS, Cloud 9 is predicted to come in first, followed by Team SoloMid in second place. The third spot is a toss-up between Team Liquid/Curse and CLG. Curse Academy is predicted to take the fifth spot, with Evil Geniuses, Team Impulse, Team Coast, Team Eight, and Team Dignitas rounding out the rest of the rankings.
In the EU LCS, Alliance is predicted to take first place, followed by SK Gaming and Gambit Gaming. Unicorns of Love, Team Roccat, Copenhagen Wolves, Meet Your Makers, H2k, Giants Gaming, and Fnatic complete the rankings.
Now, let’s discuss some potential head-to-head match-ups. In a match between Fnatic and Team Dignitas, I would normally call it in favor of Fnatic. However, with Fnatic’s roster changes, it is difficult to predict the outcome, but Team Dignitas may have the advantage. Giants Gaming may have looked strong in the expansion tournament, but Team Eight’s teamwork and synergy should prevail in a direct match-up. The match between H2k and Team Coast is a close one, but Team Coast’s experience may give them the edge. Meet Your Makers, despite a downgrade in their roster, should still fare better than the yet-to-be-finalized Team Impulse. The current EG players may have the advantage over Copenhagen Wolves, given their stronger roster. Team Roccat and Curse Academy present a tough match-up, with Curse Academy having the player advantage, but it could go either way. Unicorns of Love, with their strong performance at IEM San Jose, should be able to defeat CLG, who showed some improvement at IEM Cologne but still fell short. Gambit Gaming, fresh off their IEM Cologne win, should be able to overcome Team Liquid/Curse.
In the highly anticipated match between SK Gaming and Team SoloMid, SK Gaming has two new players, which may put them at a disadvantage, giving the win to Team SoloMid. Both Alliance and Cloud 9 are very close in terms of power, but based on their recent performance at IEM San Jose, Cloud 9 takes the edge.
In conclusion, based on these predictions, North America appears to have a slight edge over Europe in terms of raw power. However, whether this translates to success at Worlds next year will depend on the teams and players from both regions.
Keywords: international results, EU region, NA region, esports, improvement, power balance, Spring Split, predictions, match-ups, head-to-head, raw power, Cloud 9, Team SoloMid, Team Liquid/Curse, CLG, Curse Academy, Evil Geniuses, Team Impulse, Team Coast, Team Eight, Team Dignitas, Alliance, SK Gaming, Gambit Gaming, Unicorns of Love, Team Roccat, Copenhagen Wolves, Meet Your Makers, H2k, Giants Gaming, Fnatic, North America, Europe, Worlds.