Night Vision is your nightly recap of the 2020 League of Legends World Championships.

Look below for Recaps, Takeaways, and my pick for which player had a Night to Remember.

Recaps

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LGD vs. R7

Game 1: LGD win
R7 Camille Graves Galio Ashe Leona
LGD Volibear Kindred Twisted Fate Tristana Rakan

Still a few punishable mistakes from LGD in this game, Peanut inefficient and greedy mostly, but the straight-up skill advantages in the lanes, especially xiye, were decisive.

Game 2: LGD win
R7 Aatrox Graves Azir Senna Nautilus
LGD Gnar Kindred Orianna Jhin Leona

Same story as game 1, except R7 held up a little better in the first 10 mins. Too much skill gap. LGD a little cleaner than in groups, but a little is changing the outcome a lot.

Game 3: LGD win
LGD Ornn Kindred Syndra Jhin Leona
R7 Kayle Lee Sin Orianna Senna Sett

Peanut another very early gank that succeeds. Josedeodo superhero Lee Sin and LGD awful desyncs / bad positioning make it close for a while, but LGD have earlier power spikes and better mechanics.

SUP vs. MAD

Game 1: SUP win
SUP Shen Hecarim Galio Ezreal Alistar
MAD Mordekaiser Sett Syndra Senna Wukong

SUP repeated plays into bot lane, better map play, almost wrap it up early. MAD mid-game team fights pull it back. SUP can’t coordinate fights with drakes, but win at soul drake. MAD can’t access Zeitnot.

Game 2: MAD win
MAD Ornn Lillia Lucian Senna Leona
SUP Shen Graves Zoe Ezreal Nautilus

MAD play through top, get help from SUP poor between-towers dive bot. MAD ranged engages come online, SUP finding picks but throw it away with a 50/50 Baron. MAD 5-man pushes end it.

Game 3: SUP win
SUP Sion Lillia Azir Miss Fortune Leona
MAD Sett Graves Syndra Senna Wukong

Lots of skirmishing, KaKAO’s Lillia finally makes the champion look decent again. SUP stack drakes to apply pressure, set up and execute the team fights better.

Game 4: MAD win
MAD Ornn Graves Cassiopeia Ezreal Alistar
SUP Sion Lillia Sett Vayne Leona

Strong engage reception in MAD’s comp. SUP find some mid-game fights, manage to stack 3 drakes, but eventually MAD’s range and damage advantages kick in, they win at soul drake.

Game 5: SUP win
SUP Malphite Lillia Sett Caitlyn Morgana
MAD Renekton Graves Corki Senna Leona

Bolulu KaKAO contest Shad0w’s first raptors, throw him off. He tries bad ganks; MAD fall behind. Armut goes where he wants, creates pressure. SUP play calm, close it out.

Takeaways

Are LGD “Back in Form”?

To a shallow view, LGD Gaming looked massively better in their series vs R7. They blew games open early, Peanut was visible all over the map, and life seemed good. But LGD’s actual mistake count wasn’t reduced by that much in this series, compared to the group stage.

Peanut’s early leads came from level 3 “coin flip” ganks that would have set him behind if they had failed. Credit where it’s due: the ganks worked, and LGD got leads. But you have to acknowledge the risk that was baked into those plays, which won’t go unpunished if they continue in the next series and/or the Group Stage.

LGD had been winning the early games just as convincingly before—more convincingly, actually, with a 59.6 EGR in this series compared to 75.5 EGR in the Play-Ins group stage—but they managed to keep their snowballs rolling better this time with a little bit less getting-picked-off and taking-bad-team-fights.

If LGD want to pose a threat in the main Group Stage, they’ll have to show more tomorrow against LGC.

Also:

• I was impressed with SuperMassive’s patience and reserve when they were playing with a lead. We’ve seen a lot of unnecessary aggression and attempts to punish minor oversteps from teams at this event, but SUP knew when they could allow MAD to take a a small step forward without risking a larger loss, and didn’t try too hard to jump on the next big play. Learning not to throw is arguably even more difficult than learning to generate a lead, and harder to practice!
• Humanoid drew 18 bans in 5 games, and SUP used Sett flex picks to offer Bolulu even more draft advantages. Humanoid still managed to be the main carry in MAD’s wins, before finally faltering with a disappointing Corki in game 5 — though the loss wasn’t really due to his personal play. Humanoid can hold his head high.

Night to Remember

KaKAO and Armut are both worthy mentions.

KaKAO earned the broadcast’s series MVP, and was a very visible candidate. He worked well with Bolulu as a mid/jungle duo, and made plenty of strong plays on all parts of the map.

Armut was all over Orome in lane and made play after play on Shen, Sion, and Malphite. His pressure made KaKAO’s job much easier.