The World Championships in League of Legends have started and the first favorite has stumbled: the Chinese champion Bilibili Gaming loses the match against LNG Esports. The decisive player was midlaner Lee “Scout” Ye-Chan (26), who actually wasn’t allowed to travel to Europe. Meanwhile, Germany is cheering for G2 and Caps and is following along on Twitch. Let’s take a look at the most important results of the first two days of the Swiss Stage of the LoL Worlds 2024.
What is the surprise at the LoL Worlds?
The big surprise is that the favorite for the World Championship victory, Bilibili Gaming, lost against LNG Esports, another team from China. This was not anticipated. LNG Esports barely qualified for the Worlds, while Bilibili Gaming dominated the Chinese league LPL in 2024.
The match was a first highlight of the Worlds: LNG managed to win the match with an outstanding midlaner Scout on Yone (7 kills, with only one death). It was questionable whether Scout could even participate in the tournament, as a legal dispute with his former team jeopardized the participation of this key player.
In Bilibili Gaming, knight plays as one of the midlaners on whom the eyes of the world are fixated. The 24-year-old has been considered a massive talent and a rising star in LoL for years, but he has yet to prove his class internationally.
A lot of money and effort apparently could resolve the situation around Scout
How could Scout still participate in the Worlds? According to reports from South Korea (via reddit), Scout’s participation was allegedly hanging by a thread. The South Korean is involved in a legal dispute, and as an immigrant, he is actually not allowed to leave China. However, the World Championship takes place in Europe. Therefore, participation was not possible.
The precarious situation had to be clarified under significant time pressure, as Scout’s team could only qualify at the last moment.
Allegedly, Scout’s agency resolved the situation and showed “excessive support,” meaning they really went all out. Apparently, a high bail had to be posted to make this work and allow Scout to travel to Europe.
Scout also impressed against DK Plus:
Gen G. now looks almost unbeatable
How are the other favorites doing? Two teams are already through, these are Gen G., who managed to defeat three teams from Asia and started the tournament strongly. They are considered favorites to win the World Championship in 2024.
Their midlaner Chovy is alongside knight the second star still missing the big international success and could inherit Faker as the face of LoL.
Unfortunately awesome: Chovy and Gen G. defeat the South Korean champion Hanwha Life.
The second team that has already qualified for the knockout round with a 3-0 record is LNG Esports with Scout, who were able to defeat Bilibili Gaming along with Dplus KIA and Showmaker.
All other teams have already faced a defeat, including T1 with Faker.
G2 loses to the Korean champion
Which game had the German fans fully engaged? The German fans were especially excited on Friday afternoon when the top European team G2 had to face the champion from South Korea, Hanwha Life Esports.
The Europeans around Caps managed to keep the match balanced for a long time, but in the end, a small mistake in the fight at Baron caused G2 to be overwhelmed without a chance.
The German co-stream by Tolkin reached a peak of 44,575 viewers on Twitch:
The 5 teams from the West fight for survival in LoL
How are the teams from the West faring? Not well at all. Fnatic, G2 Esports, and FLYQUEST each managed to win one match, but only against the absolute underdogs from the smaller regions.
Mad Lions, KOI, and Team Liquid are both sitting at 0-2 and are therefore just one step away from flying home. One team from the USA has already been eliminated in the preliminary round of the World Championship: LoL: The World Championship claims its first victim in Berlin and reddit is merciless to young US professionals
