In League of Legends, the tormented Americans finally have a reason to cheer. At the LoL Worlds 2022, the US team, Evil Geniuses, defeated the European team MAD Lions (Spain) with a 3-0 score and eliminated them. The first team from the West is out of the Worlds. The schadenfreude is high.
How was it for 8 years?
- For over 8 years, European teams won every “best-of” series against teams from North America. Even worse: the NA teams virtually always lost without winning a single match.
- The last time a North American team won at least one game against a European team was in the quarter-finals of the Worlds 2013. There, Cloud9, with Meteos, lost 1-2 but at least secured that one victory (via dotesports).
- After that, the NA teams always got defeated by Europe: in 2019 G2 swept Team Liquid 3-0 away, and in 2018 Fnatic eliminated Team Cloud9 in the semi-finals of the Worlds with 3-0. But now everything has changed.
MAD Lions Have to Face Evil Geniuses in the Play-Ins
What a game it was yesterday! It was the final of the play-ins. The winner gets to continue in the Worlds. The loser goes home.
- For Europe, MAD Lions played, with the German Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser as support, the Turkish Armut as top laner, and the Spanish jungler Elyoya. MAD Lions had been criticized for reaching the Worlds 2022 without winning a single “best-of” series in the European playoffs.
- For the USA, Evil Geniuses competed: With the veteran Impact on the top lane, the young and highly talented mid laner jojopyun, and the Pole Inspired in the jungle. Their actual star, bot laner Danny, is not playing in the Worlds but is sitting out.
In the scene, the German Kaiser performs quite poorly – he dies before the team fight even starts:
Evil Geniuses Break “the Curse” with Ease
How did the match go? Evil Geniuses destroyed the MAD Lions and it wasn’t even close:
- The 1st match lasted 37 minutes and ended with a score of 14-7 for Evil Geniuses. Impact secured 5 kills on Aatrox. Jungler Inspired on Maokai and Vulcan on Tahm Kench each contributed 10 and 12 assists.
- Match 2 lasted only 24 minutes and ended 22-6. Again, Impact was the top killer with a score of 6-2-12 on Gangplank.
- In Match 3, there were only a few kills with 13-3. Here, Inspired took over on Lee Sin (4-0-6) and substitute ADC Kaoir 5-1-13 got the kills, while Inspired played supportively on Sejuani and contributed 7 assists.
Such fights decided the fate of MAD Lions at the Worlds 2022:
Evil Geniuses Taunt During and After the Match Against Europe
What was the atmosphere like before the match? There have always been many barbs flying between teams from the USA and Europe.
Before the match, Elyoya said: He didn’t think much of North American teams, they did not look strong at all. He was not impressed by Evil Geniuses (via inven).
From the USA, top laner Impact stated: The West teams are much worse than the teams from Asia. Especially MAD Lions (via inven).
Evil Geniuses is known for trash talking.
Quickly Finished, “So That the EU Fans Can Get to Bed on Time”
How is the match being discussed? After almost 10 years in which North Americans were mostly the losers of LoL, fans are now celebrating on reddit and mocking the MAD Lions:
- “Congratulations to the MAD Lions, they are the first team from a major region to manage to lose the play-ins twice.”
- “The MAD Lions have managed to lose the play-ins 2 times before a US team has managed to win once.”
- “Nisqy [mid laner of MAD] promised us a 3-0 – and we got a 3-0”
- “The nice guys from Evil Geniuses quickly wiped out MAD Lions 3-0 so that the EU fans can get to bed on time”
- “As a fan of North America: I don’t care anymore about what happens in the rest of the Worlds. This is a victory.”
Quite a mean farewell, Inspired waves goodbye to the losers, Armut looks frustrated:
How are the Worlds going for Europe? It doesn’t look too good:
- Fnatic won their group in the play-ins, but now has to face EDward Gaming and T1. Here, Upset can show what his amazing statistics are worth against one of the best bot lanes in the world.
- Rogue has to deal with DRX and Top Esports in their group. While DRX is nominally the “weakest” Asian team at the Worlds, it is still a real challenge.
- G2 has to face DWG KIA and JD Gaming: So it’s again the duel of Showmaker vs. Caps, Canyon vs. Jankos. Probably the most spectacular duels from a European perspective.
These are all tough groups with 2 heavyweights from South Korea or China. There is no “easy group” at the Worlds this year.
For the US teams, things don’t look much better: Evil Geniuses got drawn into Group B. They play against G2 Esports, the best team in Europe. Maybe they’ll lose their laughter again.
The last time Evil Geniuses made fun of Europe, they regretted it fairly quickly:
