East beats West: Worlds 2022 Groups Day 5 recap
Despite some back-and-forth games, LCK second seed T1 and LPL third seed EDward Gaming advanced from Group A to the Knockout Stage on the first day of Week 2 of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
In the first game of the day, LCS first seed Cloud9 beat LEC third seed Fnatic 18-5 in a dominant 27:50 game. C9 looked entirely different from how they looked in Week 1, with midlaner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen finishing 8/2/7 on the recently re-enabled Orianna and botlaner Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol going 5/1/8 on Jinx. C9’s scaling teamfight composition — and strong supportive play from top lane, jungle and support — kept North America’s hopes alive and gave Fnatic only their third loss of the tournament.
T1 secured a 15-7 win against Fnatic in 29:07 after FNC left up Sivir and Yuumi, arguably the best champions of T1 botlaner Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong and support Ryu "Keria" Min-seok. The T1 botlane logged 4/0/6 and 2/0/8 KDAs respectively in their second deathless game on the picks during Groups. T1 toplaner Choi "Zeus" Woo-je’s pocket Yone pick made T1’s teamfight comp impossible for Fnatic to deal with.
In one of the most dominant games of Worlds 2022 so far, LPL third seed EDward Gaming ended Cloud9’s chance at Knockouts with a 19-1 win in just 26:07. Cloud9 were unable to find a single tower, dragon or Baron and only found a single kill — EDG support Tian "Meiko" Ye’s otherwise flawless Thresh gave a kill to C9 support Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen — in their second-to-last game of the tournament. EDG botlaner Park "Viper" Do-hyeon finished 8/0/5 on Aphelios, and midlaner Lee "Scout" Ye-chan notched a 6/0/5 scoreline on Akali.
Capping off an 0-3 day for the European squad, Fnatic lost another in 29:42 — a third straight sub-30 loss — to EDward Gaming by an 18-2 scoreline. EDG jungler Zhao "Jiejie" Li-Jie turned in a 7/0/10 carry performance on the unsuspecting Sejuani, while the team’s Fiora, Jinx and Akali picks brought EDG to another easy victory. FNC support Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov had an unfortunate game on Nautilus, finishing 0/8/2, but FNC’s issues were too widespread on Thursday to blame on one player. FNC exited the tournament with a 2-4 record, later locking third place in their group after the results of the following game.
Cloud9 lost their last game of 2022 to T1 in a quick 23:19 game with a 16-8 killscore. With their Knockouts chances gone, C9’s draft prioritized fun and mechanics over an actual team comp and picked up five squishy carry picks. The mid game was scrappy, but T1 managed to find all 15 turret plates while C9 only found two drakes. C9 jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang did his best on Bel’Veth, but the low kill, high volatility game rarely allowed C9 more than a retaliation kill. T1 Gumayusi’s 10/0/3 Lucian was unstoppable with buffs from Keria’s 0/0/15 Nami. C9's loss put the team at 1-5, an unexpectedly low placement for the top team in NA and good for fourth place in Group A.
In a 23-8 game that lasted 28:14, the 5-1 T1 beat the 4-2 EDward Gaming to secure first place in Group A. For the third game in a row, EDG Meiko locked Thresh, and for the first time since March, he lost with it. While the early game was back-and-forth, T1 found a pre-20-minute 5-for-0 teamfight to snowball their lead. T1 Zeus went 10/2/3 on Gangplank in the win. The second place EDG now awaits the Knockout Stage, where they'll be seeded against a first seed from another group.
Featured image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games.
Fnatic vs. Cloud9
In the first game of the day, LCS first seed Cloud9 beat LEC third seed Fnatic 18-5 in a dominant 27:50 game. C9 looked entirely different from how they looked in Week 1, with midlaner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen finishing 8/2/7 on the recently re-enabled Orianna and botlaner Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol going 5/1/8 on Jinx. C9’s scaling teamfight composition — and strong supportive play from top lane, jungle and support — kept North America’s hopes alive and gave Fnatic only their third loss of the tournament.
T1 vs. Fnatic
T1 secured a 15-7 win against Fnatic in 29:07 after FNC left up Sivir and Yuumi, arguably the best champions of T1 botlaner Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong and support Ryu "Keria" Min-seok. The T1 botlane logged 4/0/6 and 2/0/8 KDAs respectively in their second deathless game on the picks during Groups. T1 toplaner Choi "Zeus" Woo-je’s pocket Yone pick made T1’s teamfight comp impossible for Fnatic to deal with.
Cloud9 vs. EDward Gaming
In one of the most dominant games of Worlds 2022 so far, LPL third seed EDward Gaming ended Cloud9’s chance at Knockouts with a 19-1 win in just 26:07. Cloud9 were unable to find a single tower, dragon or Baron and only found a single kill — EDG support Tian "Meiko" Ye’s otherwise flawless Thresh gave a kill to C9 support Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen — in their second-to-last game of the tournament. EDG botlaner Park "Viper" Do-hyeon finished 8/0/5 on Aphelios, and midlaner Lee "Scout" Ye-chan notched a 6/0/5 scoreline on Akali.
Fnatic vs. EDward Gaming
Capping off an 0-3 day for the European squad, Fnatic lost another in 29:42 — a third straight sub-30 loss — to EDward Gaming by an 18-2 scoreline. EDG jungler Zhao "Jiejie" Li-Jie turned in a 7/0/10 carry performance on the unsuspecting Sejuani, while the team’s Fiora, Jinx and Akali picks brought EDG to another easy victory. FNC support Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov had an unfortunate game on Nautilus, finishing 0/8/2, but FNC’s issues were too widespread on Thursday to blame on one player. FNC exited the tournament with a 2-4 record, later locking third place in their group after the results of the following game.
T1 vs. Cloud9
Cloud9 lost their last game of 2022 to T1 in a quick 23:19 game with a 16-8 killscore. With their Knockouts chances gone, C9’s draft prioritized fun and mechanics over an actual team comp and picked up five squishy carry picks. The mid game was scrappy, but T1 managed to find all 15 turret plates while C9 only found two drakes. C9 jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang did his best on Bel’Veth, but the low kill, high volatility game rarely allowed C9 more than a retaliation kill. T1 Gumayusi’s 10/0/3 Lucian was unstoppable with buffs from Keria’s 0/0/15 Nami. C9's loss put the team at 1-5, an unexpectedly low placement for the top team in NA and good for fourth place in Group A.
EDward Gaming vs. T1
In a 23-8 game that lasted 28:14, the 5-1 T1 beat the 4-2 EDward Gaming to secure first place in Group A. For the third game in a row, EDG Meiko locked Thresh, and for the first time since March, he lost with it. While the early game was back-and-forth, T1 found a pre-20-minute 5-for-0 teamfight to snowball their lead. T1 Zeus went 10/2/3 on Gangplank in the win. The second place EDG now awaits the Knockout Stage, where they'll be seeded against a first seed from another group.
Featured image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games.