Worlds 2021: Two-sentence summaries for Play-in Day 1

The League of Legends World Championship may be captivating, but they are a handful to follow for busy people. Fortunately, Jaxon has covered the games with quick summaries, including game ratings.

Explaining the ratings

• 0 / 5: a blunder-filled affair, worthy of the infamous Dignitas vs. Renegades 2016 regular season 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. Anything lower is unbefitting of a Worlds-level game.
• 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 2016 Worlds semifinals series between SK Telecom T1 and ROX Tigers.

Games to watch for those who haven’t (yet)

LNG Esports (W) vs.  Hanwha Life Esports: 3 / 5

HLE’s strong early game was not enough to contain LNG’s skirmishing and team fighting. After getting their bearings in order and throwing one team fight, the LPL team dominated a resourceful yet listless HLE.

Unicorns of Love vs. (W) DetonatioN FocusMe: 3 / 5

UoL and DFM had great macro understanding and moved around the map accordingly, but DFM’s teamfighting and sense of initiative was mostly superior. Our commiserations to Nomanz and the many, many missed Orianna ultimates.

Games to watch for fans of the winning teams

Galatasaray Esports (W) vs. Beyond Gaming: 2.5 / 5

Galatasaray’s macro and team fighting were beyond Beyond Gaming’s reach, thanks in part to a comfort-heavy draft. Quick prediction: Zergsting’s Bard will face bans.

DetonatioN FocusMe vs. (W) Cloud9: 2.5 / 5

Cloud9 gained instant favorite status for a direct Group Stage ticket after winning top at level 1, mid through Vulcan, and the game through Perkz. A quality performance from Cloud9, a tough pill to swallow for DFM.

Unicorns of Love vs. (W) Galatasaray Esports: 2.5 / 5

Once again, Galatasaray’s macro overwhelmed an opponent—this time the Unicorns of Love. Slow and methodical is their way, with Bolulu’s Twisted Fate and Crazy’s Gwen dooming UoL.

Forgettable games

RED Canids (W) vs.  Infinity Esports: 2 / 5

RED Canids’ stage nerves and the classic “Brazilian Day 1 blunder” have made an appearance. Despite that, Infinity Esports decided that “YA YEET” was a nice rallying cry as they threw the game all the way to Pluto.

LNG Esports (W) vs.  PEACE: 2 / 5

A small stomp with one team playing well beyond their opponent’s level, a great morale boost for LNG players and fans.

Hanwha Life Esports (W) vs.  Infinity Esports: 2 / 5

Significant blunders on both sides provided a great source of entertainment and hopium for LLA fans, until they ran out of fuel. Fans of quality League of Legends can skip this game, knowing that HLE eventually won.