Only one Evil Geniuses player sits in the top 3 for kills through the Worlds 2022 play-in stage

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After a week of frantic and exciting gameplay, the 2022 League of Legends World Championship is ramping up for the group stage of the event. Only four teams made it from the play-in stage—Evil Geniuses, DRX, Royal Never Give Up, and Fnatic—but a select few players sit at the top with the most kills through the first seven days of the tournament.

Among the kill leaders, the LJL’s DetonatioN FocusMe is represented well with AD carry Yutapon sitting in the No. 1 spot with 75 kills through 14 games, according to League stats aggregate Oracle’s Elixir. His mid lane teammate Yaharong is a ways away, but still has the third spot with 52 kills.

There is, however, one LCS representative in the mix, with Evil Geniuses’ starting marksman Kaori holding down the second-place spot with an impressive 57 kills over only 10 games played. It’s impressive seeing that he has racked up that many kills compared to ADCs on teams like DFM, the LEC’s fourth seed MAD Lions, and the CBLOL representatives, LOUD—who all played just as many games or more than EG.

Kaori also had some pretty good stats to go with his kill count, including a 32.9 percent share of his team’s total kills, the second-highest average gold difference at 15 minutes of any play-ins ADC, and a 5.7 KDA. He was a solid insurance plan to build off of while EG played through both Jojopyun and Impact, as a top-side-focused squad should.

Even still, the 21-year-old is stepping up big for a team that just lost its superstar AD carry, Danny, after the young phenom took an extended break from professional play following EG’s playoff series against Team Liquid. During EG’s sweep against MAD Lions to lock in their spot in the group stage, for example, Kaori racked up 16 kills, 21 assists, and only four deaths over the course of the series.

With such big shoes to fill, many people had low expectations for Kaori, but he and his team showed fans that they are still a threat, even if they had to field a new player so late into the season. You can catch Kaori and EG in action when the 2022 World Championship continues on Friday, Oct. 7.