G2 bounce back, close out rumble stage with much-needed win over Evil Geniuses

After losing five games in a row during the Mid-Season Invitational rumble stage, G2 Esports will march into the knockout stage of the event with a victory. The team snapped their near-disastrous five-game losing streak with a win against Evil Geniuses to close out the rumble. 

Coming into the game, G2 had already taken all five of the previous meetings between these two teams at MSI. Between the group stage and rumble stage, every game between Europe and North America at MSI went in favor of G2. Their sixth meeting may have been the closest one yet, though, as it took G2 over 35 minutes to close out a relatively hard-fought game and earn the sweep over EG. 

Although G2 avoided elimination earlier in the day when PSG Talon lost to Royal Never Give Up, this game against EG helped the team in the way of seeding, as they successfully locked up third place in the rumble stage just hours after teetering on the brink of fifth. Despite a sweat-inducing effort on the losing end, G2 finished the rumble stage with an even record of 5-5. 

This game saw Evil Geniuses jump out to an early (albeit narrow) lead. After jungler Inspired wrecked havoc upon G2 in back-to-back skirmishes, G2’s team-based macro play shined in the mid-game. The team successfully applied pressure on the side lanes, while keeping enough of a looming presence around the map to prevent EG from sneakily taking any objectives of their own. 

In the end, it was a series of late-game teamfights that sealed the deal for G2, who went on to garner enough of an advantage in the latter stages to put the game out of reach for EG. It was AD carry Flakked who ended up playing a major role for G2 in those final moments, as his late-game-focused Kai’sa pick was the focal point of G2’s damage throughput—especially in the game’s clinching moments. After earning only one kill through the game’s first 29 minutes, Flakked emerged from the shadows to close things out with a quadra kill, finishing the game with a scoreline of 6/0/2. 

Had Evil Geniuses won this game, there would have been a chance for them to potentially face off with T1 in a tiebreaker for second place. Instead, there will be no tiebreakers to close out the rumble stage. G2 secured third place with this win, with their 2-0 head-to-head record over EG serving as the difference-maker. They will play either RNG or T1 in the knockout stage, depending on who the LPL representatives select as their opponent.