One week off was not enough time for the European champions Rogue to find answers to their disastrous first round. The team was also outclassed in the quarter-finals of the LoL Worlds and eliminated. The overview:
“It’s horrific to watch,” said caster Sam ‘Kobe’ Hartman-Kenzler during the second game, succinctly summing up the events. European champions Rogue went down in the quarter-finals of the League of Legends World Championship. Not in style or with a bang, but with bangs and trumpets. 0:3 after games, the team lost to the Chinese champion and title favourite Jingdong Gaming (JDG). Rogue is thus eliminated from the tournament, but at least cements Europe’s 3rd place by region.
Rogue “Best of the rest “
It would be unfair to say Rogue didn’t see a stitch and had no chances. For as disastrous as the series against JDG was, there were always brief moments when the Europeans showed up. They are placed just right behind the Koreans and Chinese: Better than the rest of the world, no chance against the Asian teams.
The quarter-finals continued seamlessly from the second round, which went 1-3 for the European team. We wrote that Rogue would find an answer against the many attacks on their own toplaner ‘Odoamne’.
So far it worked, the European champions came into the best-of-five with determined plans. Already in the first game, JDG spent three of the five bans to leave ‘Odoamne’ as few champions as possible. Smiling, he took the onslaught and stole ‘Renekton’ from his opponents. The first-round hero even got his infamous “Maokai” in games 2 and 3, which helped but whose effect fizzled out due to JDG’s superior skills and game knowledge.
Over two games, the European botlane relied on “Lucian” and “Nami”, and went down crashing. Especially supporter ‘Trymbi’, who still shone in the duo in the first round, was caught alone, or too far in front, time and again. He also repeatedly blew his skillshots in the sand.
In the end, Rogue did not fail because of their understanding of the game, their will or their luck: It was the individual performances that did not reach the level of the Asians. The Europeans made various mistakes that a Chinese team always punishes quickly and cold-bloodedly.
Rogue only causes “the slightest hiccup” in the opponent
29, 29 and 33 minutes were each enough for JDG to win, with not a single real lead for Rogue. Although there was a flare-up in Game 2, which caster ‘Kobe’ commented on after the match with “the smallest hiccup for JDG, just a ‘speed bump'”.
Rogue threw all made plans into the ring in Game 3, logging all champions immediately and also gaining at least perceived advantages with ‘Soraka’ and ‘LeBlanc’. In terms of gold, however, the Chinese always stayed ahead or tied from minute 10 onwards, despite various defeats in the game.
One bright spot might have been that JDG’s AD carry ‘Hope’ said in the interview that they were also in a particularly good mood today.
In the semi-finals, the title favourites will face either ‘Faker’s T1 or the fourth-placed team in their own league, Royal Never Give Up.
The quarter-finals will continue until Sunday, with matches being played every night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament is always broadcast from 11 pm German time. Tonight the match between T1 and RNG is on the agenda.
