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Two of the loudest followings in professional League of Legends—both in-person and across social media—are those of the LCS and CBLoL. Two teams representing these regions, Evil Geniuses and LOUD, once more had the chance to meet at the 2022 World Championship tonight, with the final stretch of the road to the group stage on the line.
While both teams are moving on to the knockout stage, EG beat LOUD to earn their spot in second place in their group after their third game of the day, allowing them to advance straight to the qualifying stage. LOUD will need to overcome the LJL’s DetonatioN FocusMe in a best-of-five before moving on to face the LPL’s RNG in their side of the qualification stage.
EG carried their momentum from their vengeance over DFM straight through to this game against LOUD, highlighting their top laner Impact once more as a force that has brought the team plenty of victories throughout the year. Before they can join the main event’s group stage, however, they’ll need to get past either the LEC’s MAD Lions or VCS’ Saigon Buffalo.
Impact makes an early impact
LOUD’s early game plan was to exploit the immobility of Impact’s Mordekaiser. Croc and Robo engaged heavily on the EG top laner, only for him to dodge their skill shots and provide time for Inspired to assist him, taking advantage of Robo’s strategy to bring Ignite instead of Flash.
Almost immediately after Impact’s first blood, LOUD sought vengeance with yet another roam up to the top lane—knowing that Inspired was busy elsewhere on the map. The LOUD top laner and jungler jumped out of the brush onto the unsuspecting EG top laner, only to both be taken down with a few swings from Impact’s mallet.
Within five minutes, Impact had become the equivalent of a raid boss that LOUD would need to work together to overcome. Yet at Impact’s side were four other capable players, all of whom had been crucial in EG’s climb to this point, ready to support their teammate and lead an uncontested charge into another victory for the team.
LOUD’s lack of vision across the map became their downfall as they looked to meet EG at mid-to-late-game epic objectives. One by one, the members of LOUD walked straight into the waiting clutches of the LCS’ third seed, bringing the members of the Brazilian team to their doom before they could initiate a teamfight.
With 32 kills in a near-28-minute game, LOUD were only afforded six of them. The monstrous Impact ended with a KDA of 9/0/10, unable to be taken down by any of the CBLoL representatives after that early lead.
The stage is set
The play-ins culminate in the knockout stage, consisting of four best-of-five games across two rounds to determine the final two teams advancing to the group stage. The LEC’s Fnatic and LCK’s DRX earned an immediate spot in the group stage for finishing their respective play-ins groups in first place.
The LEC’s fourth seed, MAD Lions, will begin the elimination round of the knockout stage tomorrow against the VCS’ Saigon Buffalo, the winner then moving on to face EG for group stage qualification. Immediately afterward, LOUD will face the LJL’s DetonatioN FocusMe to determine who will face their bracket’s leader, RNG, to advance in the tournament.
If LOUD can successfully win both of their best-of-fives over the next two days, they will be the first CBLoL team in the history of Worlds to advance to the group stage. Meanwhile, if EG secure a victory for themselves, all three LCS representatives will take part in the group stage, each entering the international tournament following an eventful two splits.
But for tonight, these four teams can rest after what has been a long play-in stage complete with a handful of tiebreaker matches. The knockout stage will begin tomorrow at approximately 1pm CT.
