In dominant fashion, Royal Never Give Up defeated Evil Geniuses in the first semifinal of the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational. Despite a valiant effort in Games 2 and 3, the LCS champions are eliminated from the competition.
WELCOME TO THE #MSI2022 FINALS:@RNG sweep the series against @EvilGeniuses! pic.twitter.com/nfAWbQFAuW
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) May 27, 2022
Impossible task
You can say whatever you like, but Evil Geniuses made history: they are the first North American team to be eliminated in the semifinals of MSI. In the previous editions, it was either the group stage or the finals for North America. Quite the flex for EG to land in the middle, isn't it?
Evil Geniuses were the underdogs, and their gameplay showed that. There was a clear difference in the level of both teams as the semifinals kicked off with an insane 22-1 kill stomp in favor of RNG.
Despite the monumental skill difference, EG somehow overdelivered. Despite a silent exit from the tournament, EG left a good impression, and the ground for improvement is there.
Signs of hope
Source: Lee Aiksoon/Riot Games
Despite going 1-12 against the major regions at MSI, Evil Geniuses have improved since the tournament started. Yes, EU > NA, but EG were progressively playing better as the tournament was advancing. They even picked up a win against T1. If you think about it, that's a huge confidence boost for the rookies in the team.
Even after the brutal Game 1 loss, the LCS representatives didn't give up without a fight. Despite the obvious shortcomings in laning and macro play, EG fought back during teamfights and scrapped huge gold leads from RNG.
Although they lost 3-0, they played better than what many would have expected in this match-up.
Silent call for MSI changes.
I’m just glad that it’s over. good luck t1 and g2 tomorrow 🫡
— ‘, (@realdannylol) May 27, 2022
(1/2) Proud of our players for supporting each other and fighting through the fatigue to put forward a decent showing at MSI. Most of our team had less than 24 hours break between LCS finals and flying to Korea
— Peter Dun (@pcdv8r) May 27, 2022
Whilst not the best result, we had some promising performances.
“Glad it's over” is what Danny tweeted after the game. After five months of competition, EG's players will finally receive their much-needed break. This topic is not a joke as burnout does exist in esports.
We can’t help but think about how useless MSI can be. The tournament gave us a total of 66 bo1s, and most of them were not even close. Other than G2 dropping some games against the lower-seeded regions, there were no surprises.
Additionally, while those teams were playing in MSI, their regional competitors were resting and preparing for the 2022 summer split.
So, imagine how much catching-up the MSI attendees must do when they return home. Many new patches (especially Patch 12.10) lead to a different game with different optimizations. As MSI teams scrim and play solo queue to catch up, burnout occurs. As competitions resume roughly two weeks after MSI, do you think there is enough time to even rest? Not at all.
The format was a complete disaster to start, and it feels like a waste of time for the fans and most players. The call for a change is here; let's hope that Riot Games can answer it.
