Well Worlds 2020 has begun and with it the first game of Play-Ins. Day one saw plenty of regular nerves and even some nerves of steel. It also saw some interesting picks like Tristana mid, Twitch adc and more Evelynn. To see what all happened on Day one checkout this recap of each game. gclub.
[Realted: TGH Top 30 Players at Worlds]
Nerves were the name of this game. Between misclicked teleports, bad ganks and huge misplays this game was definitely worrisome for MAD Lions. This was especially true considering Urgot was the one who missed an early kill due to his TP misclick, was down 50+ cs and still managed to go 9/2/3. Had the rest of his team made some plays, this could have been the first upset at Worlds.
Instead, despite the many misplays from Shadow, MAD Lions were able to win handily. It showed the pretty large gap in competition between regions considering had MAD done this to any major region teams, they would have likely lost. Instead, they entered the base up 10k gold and closed it out with relative ease.
This game was much more action-oriented than the first game of Worlds. Even though Rainbow had all of their members, PSG Talon missing three of their main roster due to visa issues, Talon reminded everyone that their region deserves respect. In the early game there was a big fight bot that seemed to be going Rainbow 7’s way and then Talon collapsed like they had been playing together for years. This resulted in multiple kills and snowballed the constant fighting.
After the fun early game, PSG Talon took over the game. Even with a substitute jungle, mid and adc, this team was on the same page from the first play. Konguyue, a sub, played out of his mind. Along with this, Kaiwing, not a sub player, was leading his team the whole way. PSG Talon made their region and the players who couldn’t be there proud with a massive first win at Worlds 2020.
From the very beginning, this game was back and forth. But the whole time that the teams were fighting, INTZ were working on a late-game strategy of stacking dragons. Legacy used this time to get a gold lead. This included Topoon getting some major kills and plays on his Camille. In the end, this game would still go long.
This was because INTZ were able to get the Mountain Soul. INTZ were able to get back in the game thanks to this. In the end, though, it would not be enough as Legacy had much better macro and map control. They were able to win a late fight and convert it into an Elder dragon. This in turn got them the Baron and even with shaky fighting in INTZ’s base, Legacy were able to pull out their first win of Worlds.
Definitely the slowest game of the day to this point. PSG showing their ability to play multiple styles. The first kill came in a top lane gank on Hanabi at 10 minutes along with an early split of drakes. The first major fight started at 25 minutes around the fourth dragon of the game. This showed that PSG were here to make a statement no matter who is on the roster. They wiped the team, after a long chase of Peanut, and got their third drake of the game.
Only a few minutes later, with PSG setting up at baron, another major fight broke out. Yet again PSG not only pushed them off of the Baron with a major fight win but then took the baron. This allowed them to rotate for the Ocean Soul. PSG pushed their advantage to pull out the first upset of Worlds going 2-0 and taking down the power LPL team.
Another game that started off pretty slow, which was not what MAD wanted. After the first gank though, pandoras box opened up when the teams hit level six. MAD got kills early in the first fight but Tactical and CoreJJ fought back. With Impact getting a solo kill on Orome, Team Liquid took an early lead. This in spite of MAD having the first two drakes and a tower advantage. Off of a pretty even fight in the bot lane, TL were able to catch back up and use a Rift Herald to match in towers and get Tactical very farmed up.
The game became an ARAM after this and as most fans know, this is the LCS’ bread and butter. Two fights go TL’s way continuing to feed Tactical. They used these advantages to take their second drake and Baron. This pushed TL’s gold lead to nearly 10k. With this, Team Liquid were able to take a fight in the MAD Lions base and win their first game of Worlds.
This is a paid guest post.
You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Robert!
“From Our Haus to Yours”
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
