MSI Group Stage - Days 3 & 4

The MSI Group Stage continues to struggle through the 35 ping controversy, as history was made during today’s broadcast.

RNG Forced to Replay Matches

After a plethora of pros criticised the enforced latency and claimed it felt worse than 35 ping in solo queue, Riot confirmed the teams playing in Busan were not playing on the intended latency. Considering this only affected every team but RNG – who were not playing on an artificial ping – the Group B matches featuring RNG will be replayed.

Prior to this announcement, RNG had yet to drop a game and were set to cruise through to the Rumble Stage as the group's first seed. The team is understandably frustrated, but didn't let the news affect their performance as they continued their winning streak and went 3-0 today. They will replay the affected matches tomorrow, and judging from their extremely impressive form throughout the tournament, will still top the group.

This decision must not have been made lightly by Riot, and they should be commended for prioritising competitive integrity above all else. Maintaining this integrity was always going to be difficult with RNG being unable to travel to Busan, and hopefully the tournament can move forward with less controversy and fewer questions raised over its legitimacy.

The Rumble Stage Looms

Elsewhere in Group B, PSG Talon bounced back after their surprise defeat to the Red Canids and currently hold second place with a 3-2 record. They can qualify for the Rumble Stage tomorrow should they beat RNG or the Red Canids lose against RNG. However, if PSG lose and RED win, they will play a tie breaker to determine who will be eliminated from the tournament.

Unfortunately for TCL fans, the fastPay Wildcats were knocked out from MSI after finishing today's matches with a 1-4 record.

T1 and G2 remain undefeated in Groups A and C, and continue to look incredibly impressive. After a tough 0-2 start, NA fans can breath a sigh of relief as EG stabilised their scoreline to 2-2 by taking down Oceania's ORDER twice. Should they continue their impressive performance tomorrow, it's very likely they will advance to the Rumble Stage alongside G2.

GALA's Pentakill

RNG's GALA picked up this extremely clean pentakill against the Red Canids. Lucian has been an incredibly potent pick so far in the tournament, and GALA proved why as he uses his mobility and high damage output to clean up. This penta also highlights the power of Lucian/Nami, as Nami can increase Lucian's movement speed with her passive and proc his passive using her E.

Unfortunately for GALA, this took place during one of the games RNG will have to replay, and is immortalised as an unofficial competitive pentakill. Clearly GALA wasn't happy about this, as he picked up another on Kai'Sa:

The outcome of Groups B and C will be decided tomorrow, while Group A will finish out the rest of their games on Sunday. T1, RNG and G2 look guaranteed to advance to the Rumble Stage, but who will join them?