Worlds Wrapped - Groups Day 3

The third day of groups was a one-sided affair, with many teams stomping their competition. The LCK were able to bounce back after going winless yesterday, while the LPL and LEC continue to shine.

A Series of Stomps

Rogue started off extremely strong against GAM Esports, locking in Malrang's signature Jarvan IV and Trymbi's Soraka. Malrang's creative pathing got Rogue massively ahead in the early game, but they struggled to transition this advantage into the late game.

This bought time for GAM's Camille, Varus and Viktor to scale, as they were able to steal a Baron and win a couple of skirmishes. However, Rogue composed themselves and won the game after securing the Hextech Soul. Though their early game was extremely impressive, they should have closed out the game much earlier given their lead.

The LCS continued to struggle and have yet to find its first win in groups. T1 were seeking vengeance after losing to FNC yesterday, and took out their frustration against C9. It was a brutal dissection by T1 who crushed in every single lane, allowing Faker to win his 100th game at Worlds. He is the first player in our sport to do so, and the undisputed GOAT.

100T were able to put up a slightly better fight against Gen.G, staying relatively even in the early game. However, the game slipped out of their hands when the LCK summer champions took a very early Mountain Soul. This led to a swift Baron, and the Nexus being destroyed in under 30 minutes.

The day was rounded out by DRX vs TOP, and featured a very spicy bot lane matchup; Caitlyn and Braum were locked in against Jackeylove's infamous Draven. All eyes were on the bot lane to see if Draven could secure an early kill, but a clutch Braum shield prevented him from cashing in:

With the Draven falling behind, DRX seized control of the game and never let it go. Not only did they completely nullify the Draven, but they cleaned up the game with some impressive team fights.

EDG Strike Down FNC

Group A continues to be the most compelling group to watch at Worlds, as EDG took a huge victory off FNC. The game got off to a flying start for EDG, after Viper's tenacity punished FNC for a chaotic level 1 play:

With Sivir heading into lane with a Pickaxe at 2 minutes, the early game was doomed for FNC and they could never get their Kalista ahead. Nevertheless, FNC demonstrated incredible poise and kept the game remarkably close:

Humanoid has looked like one of the best players at Worlds so far, if not THE best. His laning has been exceptional, and he has pulled off clutch plays in team fights time and time again. Unfortunately for EU fans, it wasn't enough to overcome EDG's huge gold advantage and late game power:

Despite EDG taking the victory, this was still a great game by FNC; they had absolutely no right to make this game so close after being absurdly far behind in gold from the first minute.

It would have been great if the game didn't have the madness at level 1, as it could have been an incredibly tense and competitive battle. Still, we'll have to wait for the rematch for that.

Standings

The standings are really heating up in Group A, with 3 teams tied at 2-1 but only 2 spots in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately for C9, they've been left by the wayside as their fate is no longer in their hands.

It's the last day of the first round-robin tomorrow, with some key matchups in groups B and C. Rogue face TOP Esports to determine who will claim possession of first place in Group C, while G2 must take down JDG if they want a shot of making it out of Group B; don't miss it.