Worlds Wrapped - Groups Day 8
The group stage of Worlds has been concluded, and only 8 teams are left standing. Today saw Group D clash for the last two spots in the quarter-finals, and in unsurprising fashion, two more Eastern teams qualified.
Gen.G and RNG Cruise Through to Quarters
Heading into the tournament, Gen.G were one of the favourites after claiming the LCK Summer trophy. Though their week 1 performance was adequate, they finished with a 2-1 scoreline and their victories lacked the dominance many expected from a tournament favourite.
However, Gen.G showed UP in week 2 and absolutely decimated the competition. It was a huge turnaround for the squad, as they advanced to quarters as the first seed and went undefeated on the day. This was the Gen.G that many expected, and people were right to fear them.
RNG narrowly missed out on the first seed after losing their tie-breaker to Gen.G, but still advanced to the quarter-finals. They were also facing very difficult circumstances, as their players/coaching staff were sick and had to play from isolation.
This makes their performance today even more impressive; Gala finished their victory against CFO with a ridiculous 45k damage as Lucian, while Xiahou dealt 10k damage in a single fight against 100T to turn the game around:
Here's hoping they'll be healthy and recovered in time for the quarter-finals.
The Western Slump
With 100T falling alongside CFO, it was the end to a dismal week for Western teams. The LEC started off looking strong with a 5-3 record in week 1, but were routed in week 2 and finished with a bleak 1-9 record. The LEC's only week 2 win was Rogue's victory against GAM.
Though the LCS improved from their crushing 0-6 week 1 start to 3-9, the only teams they defeated were the slumping LEC representatives and CFO. This was another underwhelming year for the LCS, with all their teams failing to advance past groups.
The gap between Eastern and Western League has never felt more vast, and a lot of the games were reminiscent of major vs emerging regions games from play-ins. Had it not been for GAM pulling off a miracle base defence against TOP, it's very likely the top 8 would have been 4 LCK and 4 LPL teams.
Quarter-Finals Draw
With the conclusion of the group stage, the draw for the quarter-finals took place:
We're in for some spicy best-of-5s, especially with T1 facing RNG and a rematch of the extremely close MSI finals. There's also some regional rivalry as GEN.G play DK, and a storied battle between DRX and EDG as Deft attempts to knock out his former team and last year's champions.
Highlight Play
This was an incredibly clean team fight from Gen.G, helping them extend their lead against RNG.
Peanut was not only able to blow up GALA's Lucian, but also escape thanks to some fancy footwork. The rest of Gen.G then collapsed to clean up the fight, utilising a great Camille/Lulu ult combo to finish off the last few kills.
Worlds will be taking a few days break before the quarter-finals kicks off on Thursday. With some teams battling illness, here's hoping they're all recovered and on top form in time for the knockout stage.