Clutch Gaming Moves on to Group Stage at Worlds 2019

Clutch Gaming has advanced to the main event of the 2019 World Championship after getting past Turkey’s Royal Youth.

Last month The Bayoucitian reported that Clutch Gaming had qualified for the play-in stage of the 2019 World Championship.

After escaping a competitive group featuring Australian team Mammoth and Berlin’s Unicorn of Love, it dominated Turkey’s Royal Youth in the knockout round. Clutch Gaming joins Team Liquid and Cloud 9 as one of three North American teams in the main event.

While Clutch’s play-in group fished in a “rock, paper, scissors” style three-way tie, they managed to outperform Unicorns of Love in a tie-breaker and went on to handily defeat Royal Youth in a 3-0 rout.

Yet, despite their promising performance in play-in, and their 2019 come-from-behind underdog story (rallying from ninth place in their league to eventually qualify for Worlds) Clutch now faces the toughest challenge of their collective careers.

The Houston-based team, that’s seeded third out of North America, has been placed in the dreaded group of death (group C) alongside two of the most dominant organizations in the professional League of Legends.

Besides Clutch Gaming, Group C includes the Chinese team Royal Never Give Up, Fnatic of the European LEC, and SK Telecom T1 of South Korea.

Fnatic, the dominant team in Europe, won the first Worlds back in 2011 and were last year’s runners-up. Their roster includes the talented bottom laner, Rekkless — considered by many to be one of, if not the, best player in his position on earth. But the real threats in Group C are Royal and SK Telecom.

Royal, one of the best teams in the Chinese LPL, won both their league’s spring and summer championships last year. Meanwhile, SK Telecom, the undisputed best League of Legends team in the world, has won three Worlds titles (the only team to ever do so).

SK Telecom is also the only team to ever defend a World Championship. Most importantly, the have Faker, likely the best LoL player in the world.

To say Clutch are the underdogs of Group C would be a gross understatement.

Despite their impressive and at times dominant performances in their most recent international matches, Clutch enters the group stage as the third-seeded team from a region that has still failed to win a world title.

Were they to advance out of their group, it would be among the most impressive accomplishments for any North American organization in recent memory — think “Miracle On Ice”.

Things may look grim for Clutch, but if there’s a silver lining in all this it’s their attitude. Clutch players have spent the last few days since advancing to Group C having a bit of fun online and in interviews regarding their upcoming matches. ESPN Esports reporter Tyler Erzberger recently tweeted the following about the Clutch players’ apparent “alpha” attitude:

Tbh I don't know if NA has ever had a team as alpha as Clutch Gaming

I asked Damonte what group he wanted and he told me he was going to show Faker what time it is

Huni is putting bounties out on his former coaches and teammates

Vulcan treating Group C like scouring grounds

— The Esports Writer (@FionnOnFire) October 9, 2019

Whatever the outcome, Clutch has so far outperformed all expectations in 2019.

After starting the year a directionless assortment of players cut and traded from other rosters, Clutch Gaming transformed into one of the most effective and talented squads in the world.

Behind the incredible play of top-laner Huni and bottom-laner Cody Sun, Clutch might just pull off the greatest esports upset in recent memory.

The 2019 Worlds group stage begins on October 12, 2019, at 8:00. Group C will feature Clutch vs Royal and Fnatic vs SK Telecom. Steam the matches live on YouTube, Twitch, or at https://watch.lolesports.com/