What we can take away from All Stars

All Stars has come and gone this weekend and while a "slumping" Korean team has once again swept an international event there are still some lessons we can take away from the event.

Korea has it figured out.

A lesson we mostly already knew but is good to have a reminder as more and more people are discussing what western teams have to do to catch up. It's clear by by how utterly slumping Korean teams have dominated the last few international events that Korea's support staff and deep rosters have made their teams a cut above.

SEA's underdog story is not repeating anytime soon.

There were some rumblings that SEA's representatives at Season 3 Worlds were not the best of the region. There were occasional suggestions that TPA, or TPS would have put on a better show even with their changes. Now TPA has been destroyed out of two international events in a row and it's finally put those ideas to rest. The SEA scene seems to have imploded since TPA won season 2 and they've clearly got a long way to go before they're competitive again.

NA is closing the international gap.

We already knew that Cloud 9 at their Hai point has been competitive with the best of Europe. Fnatic and Cloud 9 had a 4-4 head to head record before the event and it was one of the initial story lines people were quick to latch onto for all stars. Then Hai's lung collapsed and everyone expected that a weakened Cloud 9 would be knocked out of All Stars in the group stage. Instead Cloud 9 with Link subbed in the mid lane took second in the groups taking games off everyone but SKT. If a weakened Cloud 9 can take games off the best of EU and China it's not hard to imagine CLG and TSM, who were only just behind C9 during the spring split, could have similar results. This means potentially great things for NA fans at worlds as the summer split looks to be an even stronger split than spring was.

EU might be in trouble.

Certainly the most unpopular opinion to take away from All Stars, but one that needs to be considered anyways. Fnatic is 3 time EU LCS winner, making them clearly the best of Europe. If the best of Europe only manages a pathetic 1-5 record, barely escaping groups by beating TPA, at All Stars it should set off warning bells for EU fans and players alike. Those warning signs are made worse when you remember that the entire top half of the EU LCS has opted to make no roster changes. EU currently seems to sit content because they were all just a game or two back from Fnatic, but if Fnatic  is not competitive on the world stage then being slightly better than them should definitely not be the goal.

Worlds promises to be incredible. 

Riot already promised that Worlds would not have byes this year and now we've been given a little taste of what the Worlds format might look like. A full group stage with more than a dozen of the best from around the world is exactly what League fans have been clamoring for. And with NA promising to be even stronger leading into worlds we could be in for some amazing games this fall.