Worlds 2016: RNG Crush the NA Dream

For the final scheduled game of Group D, NA’s Team SoloMid faced off against LPL’s Royal Never Give Up. The winning team would go through to the quarterfinals.

Here is how it all went down:

                         RNG                                     TSM

TOP:                 Looper-Poppy                        Hauntzer-Jayce
JNG:                 Mlxg-Elise                               Svenskeren-Rek’sai
MID:                 Xiaohu-Aurelion Sol               Bjergsen-Ryze
ADC:                Uzi-Ezreal                               Doublelift-Lucian
SUP:                 Mata-Nami                             Biofrost-Braum

BANS:              Lee Sin/Jhin/Karma               Nidalee/Syndra/Caitlyn

Early Game: Early Teamfights go Huge for RNG

Knowing they had strong early game potential, RNG made a big push towards bottom and caught out Doublelift, Biofrost and Svenskeren, which gave RNG three quick kills, all focused on Uzi. Now with first turret gold and a four kill advantage, RNG forced TSM to respect them as they roamed around the map and took nearly every objective they could. 

Mid Game: TSM try to Gain Some Footing

Even being behind in kills by a significant margin, TSM was only down 2k gold at 15 minutes. They even began to trade kills back with RNG, which gave them some sort of gold to almost bring the game back to an even state. Despite being down in map pressure, TSM knew they couldn’t give up on the NA dream, especially after CLG fell in Group A. 

Late Game: RNG Give False Hope to TSM

After taking a Baron, RNG made a huge power play, pulling in a net worth of 5.5k gold. With their newfound power, they took the top inhibitor and left TSM with just four towers and a dream. In a pivotal fight at the bot inhibitor, TSM aced RNG in a huge fight, which gave TSM a glimmer of hope to come back into the game. However, RNG had a different idea in mind. After giving TSM a bit of hope, RNG crushed their dreams and knocked them out of contention for the quarterfinals.

With that win, RNG becomes the second seed from Group D and TSM is sent home.

What do you think about the action so far today at Worlds? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @GAMURScom.