Worlds 2021: Two-sentence summaries for Group Stage – Day 1

The World’s best sixteen teams entered the 2021 League of Legends World Championship stage, and some regions wasted no time to assert dominance. Indeed, the LCK surged to a fast start, whereas the LEC and LCS snagged.

As the group stage starts, the quality of the games has increased noticeably – but some one-sidedness remains.

Explaining the ratings

• 0 / 5: a blunder-filled affair, worthy of the infamous Dignitas vs. Renegades 2016 regular season game. Anything lower is unbefitting of a Worlds-level game.
• 1 / 5: a blunder-filled affair, but one that makes a slight bit of sense as both teams have played to an otherwise passable level.
• 2 / 5: a forgettable or lopsided game on one end, without anything redeeming from the other team. Either that, or a contested game filled with macro errors.
• 3 / 5: a competitive game, but some mistakes have ensued on both sides.
• 4 / 5: a high-quality game with few mistakes deciding the outcome.
• 5 / 5: a game that should be immortalized forever, as is the SK Telecom T1 vs. ROX Tigers series.

Game to watch if you haven’t

DWG KIA vs. FunPlus Phoenix: 3.5 / 5

The World Championship started on a one-sided note with DK’s lane-focused draft making short work of FPX. Unlike other lopsided losses thus far, the credit goes to DK for executing their gameplan to perfection and for foiling FPX’s solid attempts at recovery.

Contested games worth watching by anyone

Royal Never Give Up (W) vs. PSG Esports: 3 / 5

After throwing a huge lead in an ill-fated top lane towerdive at the 17-minute mark (feeding PSG Maple’s Tryndamere a quadrakill), RNG grinded it out and eventually outfought their opponent. A solid game all around as both teams

Team Liquid (W) vs. MAD Lions: 3 / 5

A calm and methodical Team Liquid nearly fell prey to MAD Lions’ team fighting, but subsequent errors from MAD Lions allowed the North American second seed to beat Europe’s first seed. MAD translated their topside dominance and jungle lead across the map, and they scaled better than MAD did.

Games to watch for fans of the winning teams

Hanwha Life Esports (W) vs. Fnatic: 2.5 / 5

Fnatic’s creative early-level pathing was not enough to overcome Hanwha Life Esports’ during the laning phase. From there, HLE played the game as a team and secured unrecoverable leads from minute 12 onward, ultimately earning the victory.

EDward Gaming (W) vs. 100 Thieves: 2.5 / 5

EDward Gaming outmatched 100 Thieves through better wave management and better roam timings, but 100 Thieves’ cautious management of the mid-to-lategame transition slowed down the game. Nevertheless, Jiejie’s Lee Sin would not be denied a quadrakill.

Rogue (W) vs. Cloud9: 2.5 / 5

Rogue redeemed the LEC in a nearly uncontested game as they led from the start. To Cloud9’s credit, they prolonged the game and held the initiative at times, until a few teamfight misfires doomed them.

Gen.G (W) vs. LNG Esports: 2 / 5

Alright, we’ll cheat in this summary by using more than two sentences because Gen.G were underestimated, and Bdd took that personally. Bdd uses Zoe! It’s SUPER EFFECTIVE! LNG faints.

T1 (W) vs. DetonatioN FocusMe: 2/5

T1 transferred a significantly better draft into the most one-sided game of the day. DetonatioN FocusMe’s attempts at coming back fueled the takeovers of Keria’s Yuumi and Oner’s Talon.