As teams ease to the Worlds stage, so does their quality of play, leading to a better game day in the 2021 Play-ins. However, the number of lopsided games also increased as, apart from Infinity Esports vs. PEACE, there was little room for comebacks for the losing teams.
As for how the games went and what games to watch, it is as follows:
Reminder of the Jaxon Worlds 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.
Game to watch if you haven’t
Beyond Gaming vs. (W) Cloud9: 3 / 5
A solid effort on both fronts led to entertainment and a contested game. In the end, BYG were helpless against Fudge’s Malphite, and Cloud9 converted their teamfights into objective takedowns—nexus included.
Game to watch for fans of high-paced action (not necessarily macro)
Infinity Esports vs. (W) PEACE: 2 / 5
A close and exciting game lots of action all over the place, and with INF throwing their mid-game to Andromeda. Good news: any comatose Oceanic League of Legends fans woke right back up after that loss to Hanwha Life Esports.
Decent games with glimmers of solid gameplay
RED Canids vs. (W) Hanwha Life Esports: 2.5 / 5
RED Canids delivered a somewhat competitive game for 23 minutes but many desperate attempts at fighting doomed them against a relatively patient HLE. So it was that Chovy Deft Life Esports awakened with a 9/2/3 KDA.
Cloud9 (W) vs. Galatasaray Esports: 2.5 / 5
For a while, Galatasaray Esports made a 4.5k gold deficit look like a minor inconvenience. However, a few bad teamfights led to a swift Cloud9 victory, with C9’s splitpushing shining bright.
Game to watch for fans of the winning team
PEACE vs. (W) Hanwha Life Esports: 2 / 5
Hanwha Life Esports lifted a finger and apparently generated enough wind pressure to collapse PEACE’s card castle. Here’s to hoping that Oceanic League of Legends fans have not gone comatose.
RED Canids vs. (W) LNG Esports: 2.5 / 5
Although not the cleanest, LNG Esports got the job done against a resilient but erratic RED Canids. It took a while for the game to reach Tarzan o’clock, but it was over when his skirmishes started landing kills.
Galatasaray Esports vs. (W) DetonatioN FocusMe: 2 / 5
DetonatioN FocusMe bounced back from their one-sided loss to C9 with a vengeance, inflicting one such loss to Galatasaray. All it took was a great early Evi teleport in the bot lane to seal the deal.
Beyond Gaming (W) vs. Unicorns of Love: 2 / 5
Doggo (8/0/4 KDA) showed his aimbot-like skillshot accuracy on Ezreal, and the Unicorns of Love crumbled. Thus did Beyond Gaming earn a much-needed victory and morale boost for themselves and the LMS region, setting them up for an explosive Day 3.
