Analysis and Opinion

NIGHT VISION: Group Stage, Day 8

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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FLY vs. DRX: DRX win
FLY Ornn Graves Azir Jhin Thresh
DRX Jayce Lillia Galio Senna Pantheon

Santorin repeated ganks bot don’t connect. Doran Pyosik smash through top side. FLY get 2 drakes; DRX gold lead too big to get 3rd. DRX starve the map, close easily.

UOL vs. TES: TES win
UOL Wukong Lillia Lucian Ziggs Nautilus
TES Sion Graves Syndra Ashe Lulu

JackeyLove yuyanjia crush bot lane. Minor pushback from BOSS AHaHaCiK on top side, UOL don’t roll over, but TES skill level can snowball like no one else.

DRX vs. UOL: DRX win
DRX Ornn Graves Orianna Caitlyn Lulu
UOL Camille Lillia Lucian Ziggs Nautilus

Pyosik risky early invade punished, UOL all over him. DRX massively outfarming though. UOL find some plays, AHaHaCiK Baron steal stalls, but DRX lead way too big.

TES vs. FLY: FLY win
TES Urgot Graves Galio Caitlyn Lux
FLY Gnar Lillia Azir Ashe Blitzcrank

FLY lvl 1 FB + IgNar WildTurtle 2v2 kill yuyanjia. Solo outplays dive, PoE bullies knight. FLY clean mid game, stack drakes. Great fight gives up drake 4 to get 4-1 and Baron.

UOL vs. FLY: UOL win
UOL Malphite Graves Kassadin Twitch Lulu
FLY Renekton Lillia Vayne Jhin Blitzcrank

PowerOfEvil solo kills Nomanz three times with the Vayne counterpick. That’s basically the story of the game.

DRX vs. TES: TES win
DRX Ornn Kindred Galio Caitlyn Bard
TES Vladimir Graves Orianna Ashe Lulu

DRX aggressive securing Kindred marks. Super close deathless team fights. TES break game with wombo into Baron. TES sneak next Baron. DRX win 1 fight, can’t get another; TES scaled.

Takeaways

Is the LCS bad enough to fix itself?

FlyQuest did their best Team Liquid impression, going 2-1 in the second week of the Group Stage, finishing 3-3 in their group, and leaving Worlds on a relatively positive note. One possible takeaway: North American teams aren’t that bad! But that takeaway sucks, not because it’s wrong but because it downplays the need for the LCS to reflect on itself and seek out positive changes.

There will be, and always has been, all kinds of variety in the opinions on “the problem” with the LCS, and how to go about finding fixes. I have opinions of my own. The point is that the LCS needs to have an underdog mindset, a “this isn’t working” attitude, starting at the level of ownership, senior management, and league operations. Any sense that Worlds 2020 was just an unlucky tournament will only hurt the LCS.

NA can take pride in the wins Team Liquid and FlyQuest posted, but that should not distract from the growing gap between the LCS and China, Korea, and Europe.

Top Esports is Vulnerable

The skill on the Top Esports roster is undeniable. JackeyLove and knight were huge at different times today, each carrying very hard. But the loss to FlyQuest and the super close contest against DRX showed that they can be set behind by stronger early-game planning and either draft or execution differences. There are absolutely teams at Worlds that can match TES’s skill checks, and if even a team like FlyQuest can build a snowball against TES with the right planning, then clearly Damwon or JD Gaming or Fnatic or anyone else can be capable of the same.

On the flip side, TES did mount a comeback to beat DRX in the final game of the day. It wasn’t the biggest margin ever, with DRX favoured around 68% just past 20:00, but that’s still a good sign that TES don’t have to play from ahead.

Overall, I stand by my (revised) opinion that TES are now the #2 favourites for the tournament, behind Damwon.

Night to Remember

PowerOfEvil‘s flank around the dragon pit was a game-winning move against Top Esports, and put a bow on a great performance in which he had basically lane kingdomed knight’s Galio. Then he style-picked Vayne as a counter to Nomanz’s blind Kassadin and picked up three solo kills in the early game. His showing against DRX was decent, too. IgNar and WildTurtle also had good days, but PowerOfEvil was the real standout.