Hardly anything went together for the Europeans in the second round of the LoL Worlds. The result: Two teams are out, the third faces a Herculean task. How the second week went, you can read here:
Disaster. There’s hardly a better way to sum up the second round of the European teams at Worlds. Only Rogue made it out of the group and into the quarter-finals, thanks to a phenomenal first round.
The group stage of the League of Legends World Championship is over and the teams for the knockout round have been determined. At the beginning, we suspected that China and Korea would settle it between them. The first round and the good performances of the Europeans made this assessment recede into the background. All in all, and after the second round, it is now clear that everything will remain the same. With the European champions Rogue as the only exception, one Chinese and one Korean team each occupy the first ranks of the groups and are thus one round further.
Odoamne Lo L Worlds Exchanged
‘Odoamne’ Rogues hero of the first round, was effectively taken out of the game by his opponents.Lance Skundrich/Riot Games
As a European fan, you can only be sad about this to a limited extent. For it was a declassification that Fnatic, G2 and Rogue had to accept in the second round. Only the European champions were able to win a match at all, and that only against the blatant outsiders from Vietnam. There was also a small upset about the latter: the team surprisingly won against Top eSports. They were only two shots on the Nexus away from a win and would have forced a tiebreaker against Rogue. Lucky for the Europeans, because they probably wouldn’t have won that one:
1:8 after games – the result, almost as bad as the American teams, who were 0:9 after the first round.
Almost nothing worked
The troubleshooting shouldn’t take too long for the three teams. Just about everything went wrong in their games. Picking the wrong champions, either not implementing the plans that were made with the champions or getting them destroyed, individual mistakes, poor coordination. In some rounds, the Europeans did not even get to destroy a tower.
The last deciding game of Rogues can serve as an example. They were tied on points, 4:2 after games, with Korea’s DRX for first place in the group. In less than 25 minutes, DRX dismantled the Europeans to perfection. 16:5 after kills, 8:1 after towers and a corresponding 10k gold advantage for the Koreans.
The analysts already worked out in the draft that Rogue had manoeuvred themselves into a corner and after the match they were ruthless: another game in which the Europeans could not find any answers in the early game. While the difference in damage dealt was not too great, that can hardly be considered a positive: Rogue was unable to get anything done on comparable attacks on the opponent on the map, i.e. to make up ground.
Americans save honour – a bit
The American teams managed to avert a disastrous 0:18 result on their part. And they did so by defeating the Europeans. So at the end of the day, a 3:15 score, the American region is most likely facing structural reforms. But that is not much worse than the European 6:12.
So now, as expected, one Chinese and one Korean team will enter the final round. With the exception of Rogue, who took a game from the Chinese runners-up Top eSports and are also in the quarter-finals.
Knockout round begins Thursday – Rogue face Herculean task
As disastrous as the second leg has been, it’s important to remember that the first leg went 3-0, so there is a glimmer of hope. The team has one week to find answers.
One starting point is already clear: in the second round, the Europeans’ opponents shifted to attacking the hero of the first round: ‘Odoamne’, Rogue’s Toplaner. He was forced to choose other champions and was less able to influence events. Rogue will find a solution for this and will be able to test it on Thursday 20 October from 11pm.
Then it’s on to the first of Group B: JDG from China. Champion against champion – the prognosis is bad against Rogue. Almost 85 percent of the participating spectators are betting on a victory for the Chinese. Not without reason: JDG came out of the group 5:1. However, best-of-five will now be played. No advantage against the Chinese and Koreans either: they are masters at adjusting to their opponents. It looks bleak for Europe’s chances.
But it is also clear: although the rest of Worlds will once again be an Asian affair, it will offer League of Legends at the very highest level. Whether that’s ‘Faker’s T1 against the resurgent RNG from China, DWG against Korea’s champion Gen.G or the reigning world champion EDG against Rogue conqueror DRX.
The World Cup will remain in Los Angeles for the quarter-finals and will take place from Thursday to Sunday from 11pm German time each night.
