South Korea and China are considered the only serious teams at the League of Legends Worlds 2024, and so far that has proven true. FlyQuest was seen as having no chance against the Korean star team Gen.G. However, surprisingly, FlyQuest played confidently and became a silver lining for the US region.
What was the situation for FlyQuest? FlyQuest is a US team that barely managed to advance from the Swiss Stage to the quarterfinals. The team is indeed the LCS champion 2024, but the American league is generally considered to be quite weak.
In the quarterfinals of the current Worlds, they faced the Korean team Gen.G. The team is seen as a strong favorite for the world champion title. Together with LNG Esports, they are the only team that directly advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3:0 record.
On Sunday, October 20, 2024, the match took place and, contrary to expectations, FlyQuest did not let themselves be defeated and delivered an exciting quarterfinal.
The big favorite is sweating
How did the quarterfinals of both teams go? Right from the first game, the US team started with a victory. After less than 15 minutes, the team managed to gain a gold advantage, which they expanded. After about 30 minutes, they won a crucial team fight and thus also the game.
However, the second match was strongly dominated by Gen.G again, and FlyQuest lost.
In the third match, FlyQuest managed to recover and defeat Gen.G. After trailing 2:1, Gen.G could not be defeated anymore and won the last 2 matches. Ultimately, FlyQuest ended up losing 3:2.
Nonetheless, FlyQuest is the people’s champion for many fans, as with unconventional picks like Fiddlesticks and a noticeable will to win, the team showed that the US league still has potential. This is also reflected in the comments under a reddit thread:
- AureliusAmbrose:
Regardless of how the last game ended, I haven’t been this proud of an LCS team in a long time. […] Well done.
- appleandapples:
They need to play this roster again. The way they have improved over the year is amazing to see.
- Syuv:
I don’t care that they lost, they did their own thing and brought Gen.G to their knees. That’s exactly what we EU/NA fans expect from our teams at international events. Stop trying to do what others can do better than you. Well played, guys, keep your heads up.
Despite their defeats, FlyQuest and also G2 have shown many US and EU fans that there is still a lot possible outside of China and South Korea, and that these leagues should not be overlooked. Both regions have talents that can compete with the best of the best. However, despite these glimmers of hope, there are some problems, which even the Twitch streamer NoWay sees: Twitch streamer explains the disappointing performance of Europe and G2 at LoL Worlds – Proves to be a prophet
