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After the play-in stages of the League of Legends World Championship, which began on the 25th of September and boasted multiple thrilling and enticing games, we finally got underway with the group stages of the tournament from the 3rd of October.
The first day saw both the League of Legends European Championship teams and the League of Legends Championship Korea team end the day on a high.
League of Legends Worlds: Day 2 of Group Stages
The second day of League of Legends Worlds however, was not much different from the opening day as the teams from League of Legends Champions Korea reigned supreme while teams from the League of Legends Championship Series(NA) were still kept longing for their first win.
The League of Legends European Championship teams had a mixed day as G2 secured a win yet Fnatic failed to make a mark.
The day began with Machi Esports taking on Team Liquid as Huang “Gemini” Chu-Xuan made his presence felt with two well planned ganks on top of controlling neutrals for the initial 15 minutes of the game.
The mid game however was full of close calls in teamfights as both the sides over-extended their engagements near the tier 1 turrets on all three lanes. This split-up enabled Team Liquid to secure both the Rift Herald as well as a Dragon while taking the top tier 1.
This game surely marked one of the closest games in the group stages as both sides were evenly poised even after 23 minutes on the clock. The late game however was harsh on Team Liquid as they lost neutral fights repeatedly without a route to comeback as Machi’s draft scaled much better than TL’s.
The following game is arguably one of the greatest games of recent LOL history as we saw League of Legends European Championship's G2 Esports locking horns with the League of Legends Pro League's powerhouse Suning. Suning were looking for an early game dominance as they drafted Renekton for Chen”Bin” Ze-Bin and Lee Sin for Le “SofM” Quang Duy.
The strategy seemed to be paying off for the Chinese team until an ill fated fight around the Herald put them at a disadvantage.
The mid game pressure was rising on G2 after Luka “Perkz” Perkovic got caught out in a crucial Baron fight which gave Suning a chance to come back into the tie. The Chinese side capitalized on the slim advantage they had got and managed to secure the Ocean Soul with an excellently played out team fight.
The late game brought forward some of the most enthralling League of Legends action that one might have witnessed in recent history.
Both the teams engaged in a back and forth as Suning finally forced a fight near G2’s Nexus which turned out to be fatal for them as Perkz was in position to backdoor Suning’s crystal as the rest of G2 somehow managed to stay alive and keep their chances alive.
The third game of the day, Rogue vs Damwon Gaming, was a rather one sided match as Rogue’s Finn ‘Finn’ Wiestal faced issues in the Lulu vs Gangplank matchup on the top lane, getting killed and losing his tier 1 turret within the 12 minute mark.
In spite of being at a disadvantage, Rogue managed to keep things right in the mid lane as they held on to the midgame, avoiding any all-out fights before the 30 minutes point. Damwon closed out the match moments later as they secured Baron as well the Dragon Soul and ended up stomping.
For the fourth match of the day between team PSG Talon and JD Gaming, the latter came out all guns blazing. Apart from a few clever plays from PSG Talon, it was a stomp for JD Gaming as they terrorized the entire map.
In spite of their best attempts, PSG Talon were left to realize the gap between the two sides as JD Gaming stomped to victory following an arrow from Ashe during a Baron fight which resulted in an ACE for JD Gaming.
The 5th game of the day saw the disappointment rise for NA as Team SOLOMID lost out to Gen.G. In spite of having Soren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg’s Zilean, the LCS top seed side are yet to pick up a win.
The game started well for TSM with strong suited picks, however Gen.G were smart to realize that and ended up mobilizing all of TSM’s pressure across the map while also taking control of TSM’s jungle.
The early kill advantage for TSM never managed to pay off as Gen.G managed to hold on to a steady 1-2k gold advantage. Gen.G seemed to be a step ahead of TSM and their strats as they managed to outplay or counter anything that TSM threw at them.
In the end, TSM were left questioning their own draft as no one from their team could dish enough damage to stage a comeback as Gen.G's standard of playing League of Legends was simply out of their reach.
The final game of the day saw LGD Gaming going up against Fnatic. The early game saw Fnatic manage an early gold advantage as LGD kept taking dragons in the bottom side of the map.
The game looked over for Fnatic once LGD Gaming secured a lead of their own virtue of the dragon kills, as LGD Gaming wiped the floor with Fnatic before closing out the game with a march down mid proving why they are a force to be reckoned in the ongoing League of Legends Worlds Championship.
The day ended with the League of Legends Champions Korea teams yet to drop a game as the League of Legends Champions' Series teams are yet to win one.
