Currently, the World Championship 2022 in League of Legends is underway, and Europe had a solid standing after the first round of the group phase. Theoretically, all three teams had a realistic chance of advancing, and Rogue even dominated Group C with 3:0. Now it is clear: Only one team made it to the knockout stage, and it struggled significantly.
What was the situation after week 1?
- Rogue surprisingly dominated Group C. They managed to defeat every opponent, including Top Esports, one of the favorites to win the tournament.
- Fnatic, in turn, surprisingly defeated Team T1 led by superstar Faker. With 2:1, they had every chance of moving on to the next round.
- G2 Esports was the only European team to disappoint in the first week. They only managed to win against the American team Evil Geniuses and, with a 1:2, only had a theoretical chance of advancing.
What is the situation now? Groups A to C have already played, and thus the decisions for all European teams have been made:
- Fnatic not only lost the rematch against T1 but also against the American team Cloud9. Three losses in three games meant elimination for the European team.
- G2 Esports also lost all three games of the second round of the group phase. They also fell to an American team.
- Only Rogue has made it to the knockout stage. However, the last matches were quite rocky.
US Teams Disgrace Europe
Why is the elimination so painful? Western teams have had a hard time at the World Championships overall. In recent years, Korea and China have dominated. Only G2 Esports made it to the finals in 2019 and the semifinals in 2020.
For the American teams, it was already clear after the first three games that they had no chance. They lost all matches and finished with 0:3 in the last places in groups A, B, and D. Everyone joked whether America could even get a win.
But they could – and it was ironically against G2 Esports and Fnatic:
- G2 Esports lost right at the start of the game day against Evil Geniuses, and it was disastrous. After 15 minutes, EG had 7 kills and a dragon – G2 had nothing to show for it. The team did not recover from this embarrassment and lost to the far stronger opponents as well.
- Fnatic also had to face Cloud9 right at the start and was similarly dismantled. In the end, there were 18:5 kills in favor of the Americans on the scoreboard.
Thus it was clear: 5 out of 6 Western teams were definitely eliminated.
Rogue Dominates the First Four Games but Squanders the Group Victory
What happened yesterday? On Saturday, October 15, the last games of Group C took place. Right at the beginning of the game day, Rogue was able to win against GAM Esports, the clear underdog of the group. With 4:0, everything looked very good.
However, there were still two scenarios that everyone had in mind. On the one hand, Rogue could win the group overall. This required just a win against Top Esports or DRX. On the other hand, an interesting event could still happen: If Rogue lost both games and Top Esports won all three, there could ultimately be a 4:2 among three different teams, leading to a major tiebreaker.
However, Top Esports squandered this tiebreaker right in the second match against GAM Esports. So for Rogue, it was only about the title, which they were to fall short of:
- Against DRX, Rogue opted for support-Nasus – a very questionable choice. On Twitter and in the Twitch chat, criticism rained down. DRX utilized the match and dominated from the start. The game ended after about 30 minutes with 20 to 4 kills.
- The match against Top Esports was already significantly closer. At minute 21, top-laner Odoamme decided to make a move that he did not survive, dragging his teammates down with him. From then on, Top Esports dominated and won.
At the end of the group phase, DRX and Rogue both stood at 4:2 and each won a match against the other. Thus, a tiebreaker was held. Although this match was much tighter than the first meeting of the day, DRX could win again.
Rogue disappointingly landed in second place with three consecutive losses.
What happens next? As the second-placed team, Rogue will face one of the group winners in the quarter-finals. A match against T1, JD Gaming – the tournament’s big favorite – or the winner of Group D awaits.
The matches in the quarter-finals will take place from October 20 to 23. Before that, you can still follow the matches of Group D today, October 17.
Who are you rooting for at Worlds? Do you believe in Rogue or will it ultimately be one of the favorites? Feel free to leave it in the comments.
Even before the crazy pick of Nasus, there was criticism of some pros. This was mainly about an item:
LoL: Pros keep buying the worst item for their position, yet win – but how?
