In League of Legends the World Championship takes place in Iceland. Group A was considered the death group at the LoL Worlds 2021. It was taken for granted that the teams from South Korea and China would advance. But the Croatian Luka “Perkz” Perković simply wouldn’t allow that.
Here’s the situation in the “death group” A:
- At the LoL Worlds 2021, Group A was considered from the start as the “death group”: Because two favorites for the tournament victory faced off here. The South Koreans and 2020 World Champions DWG KIA, the Chinese FunPlus Phoenix and 2019 World Champion FunPlus Phoenix. The teams Rogue (Europe) and Cloud 9 (USA) were considered hopeless.
- In the first week, everything went according to Plan A: DWG Kia won all 3 games, FunPlus Phoenix beat the two teams from the West; Cloud 9 (0-3) and Rogue (2-1) were facing elimination.
- But when the teams faced off again on Friday, everything suddenly went differently than planned.
After 6 games, 3 teams are at 2-4
This is how strangely the group ended: The highly favored Chinese FunPlus Phoenix simply didn’t win any more games, losing all three group games in a row. They lost against DWG KIA, Rogue, and Cloud 9. The US team Cloud 9 surprisingly defeated Rogue, leaving three teams at the end of the group stage with 2-4. It went to the decisive matches.
The Korean casters seemed slightly biased when Cloud 9 suddenly defeated the Chinese:
Ultimately, FunPlus Phoenix had to face the Europeans from Rogue in the tie-breaker, but then Rogue’s ADC, Hans sama, turned it on, outclassed the opposing bot lane, and decided the game in favor of his team.
Thus, the tournament favorite FPX was already eliminated in the group stage, despite outstanding individual talents in mid lane, top lane, and jungle.
But the Europeans from Rogue could not celebrate their success either. Because they lost the second tie-breaker of the group against the clearly weaker assessed Cloud 9 from the USA.
After no team from the USA could qualify for the quarter-finals in 2020, Cloud 9 has now made it.
Perkz moves to the USA, runs into top form
What makes Cloud 9 suddenly so strong? For the bookmakers, Cloud 9 was clearly a candidate to be eliminated in the group stage before the Worlds. And the group stage was terrible until Friday: Cloud 9 lost all 3 games.
But on Friday, there was the “Perkz” show: The Croatian mid-laner from Cloud 9 obtained 9 of his team’s 17 kills in the crucial match and was the outstanding player on LeBlanc. This decisive match started terribly for him, and Rogue punished him several times for his over-aggressiveness.
But ultimately, Perkz stayed cool and was able to lead his team to victory.
This is how “death group A” ended:
This is the special note: Perkz is considered one of the best players Europe has ever produced. He is extremely ambitious and plays like a driven person. But before the season, he moved to the USA for a lot of money, which no one seemed to understand. Because the USA is considered the weakest region among the “4 major LoL regions”.
From his coach at G2, Grabbz, the saying has been passed down: “Whoever moves to the USA gives up winning.”
But how the season ultimately turned out underscores the impact Perkz has on a team’s success:
- His European core team, G2, missed the Worlds for the first time without Perkz.
- Now he leads a US team to the quarter-finals, something the USA failed to achieve in 2020. All teams were eliminated in the group stage.
Perkz has probably secured the title of “best player in Europe” on Friday.
Even if group A became exciting towards the end and with Doinb, the formally best player in China was eliminated, DWG KIA emerged from the group stage unscathed with a 6-0 record and is regarded as the clear favorite to win the tournament, also because they have the “final boss” in their ranks:
LoL has 2 final bosses at the Worlds, which no one has been able to defeat
