Analysis and Opinion

Insight Into Iceland: MSI Recap for May 8, 2021

Insight Into Iceland is your daily recap of the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational.

Look below for Recaps and Takeaways from today’s six games, or watch the video version of the Takeaways.

Recaps

You can also get these recaps live on Twitter.

Game 1: RNG vs. UOL – RNG win
RNG Lee Sin Rumble Orianna Kalista Nautilus
UOL Nocturne Nidalee Kassadin Varus Leona

Xiaohu takes Lee Sin mid, roams bot for repeated dives. AHaHaCiK and SaNTaS try to counter with top side invade, get picked off. Game basically over pre-5:00.

Game 2: UOL vs. PGG – PGG win
UOL Jayce Udyr Viktor Kai’sa Galio
PGG Gnar Morgana Lee Sin Samira Rakan

AHaHaCiK Udyr pacing gets FD+H1. Chazz Lee Sin mid prio -> dive bot. UOL side-laning growing gold lead but PGG win 5v5, take Baron, use mid control to force more winning fights.

Game 3: DK vs. DFM – DK win
DK Gangplank Morgana Viktor Xayah Alistar
DFM Urgot Udyr Zoe Tristana Rell

Steal camps top. DFM diving bot, mixed results. Evi solo kills Khan. DK over-defend a dive. Cheeky Baron backfires. DFM stack Barons, soul. DK miracle team fight steals the win.

Game 4: C9 vs. INF – C9 win
C9 Renekton Morgana Tristana Jinx Thresh
INF Gangplank Udyr Viktor Kai’sa Rell

Zven Vulcan good laning bot; INF attack with ganks/TPs. Perkz punishing w/ Trist shoves, snowballing himself. C9 control river w/ Fudge flanks, stack drakes. Perkz pops off.

Game 5: MAD vs. PNG – MAD win
MAD Lee Sin Morgana Kog’maw Aphelios Thresh
PNG Camille Olaf Zoe Jinx Tahm Kench

Elyoya pressuring jungle. Armut solo Ks Robo. MAD can’t handle Camille split, forcing Baron 5v5s to compensate, lose 50/50 Baron and inhib. PNG try to rush nexus, throw.

Game 6: PSG vs. IW – PSG win
PSG Renekton Rumble Sylas Aphelios Thresh
IW Gangplank Morgana Yone Kai’sa Nautilus

Serin bad TP to bot punished by River+Maple. Slight sloppiness gives IW 2 Ks to start a comeback but PSG rotate between sides, win team fight, unlosable game early on.

Takeaways

ヽʕ •ᴥ•ʔﾉ RAISE YOUR KOALAS ヽʕ •ᴥ•ʔﾉ
Photo of 99566406317824602.pngI was excited to see Pentanet.gg take a game off the Unicorns of Love today, not because I’m a particular fan of the Oceanic region or any of the players, but because it was cathartic after seeing the kind of abuse the team and some of its players had been receiving from the community. In a media scrum, Pabu spoke to the community’s “overreactions” to PGG’s losses, and called it “stupid” that he was being flamed as hard as he was, feeling that some of it stemmed from his creative “antics.” (“Sorry for having a personality,” he deadpanned.) I completely agree that the flame he has received has been ridiculous and pointless, and it feels great to see him and his team taking the win today over a very respectable UOL team.

YOU DON’T KNOW WHO IS GOING TO WIN: Despite the MAD Lions and DWG KIA winning their games today, as expected, the game states along the way were anything but predictable.

In fact, both paiN Gaming and DetonatioN FocusMe had victory within their reach and arguably should have won their games, given the control they had, but both teams became overzealous and tried to force an end to the game rather than maintaining their patience and self-control. There have been a lot of one-sided stomps at MSI so far, but there have now been enough very close games and upsets that the new group stage format is proving its entertainment value.

MONKEY OFF THEIR BACKS: There were some nervous moments early in the Cloud9 vs. Gillette Infinity game, but through Perkz‘s appropriately selfish mid lane snowballing on Tristana, they pushed their way into a lead and closed out a relatively straightforward game. There were still some clear signs of nerves from Blaber, and Fudge lost his lane harder than necessary, but Perkz’s carry performance and more strong laning from Zven and Vulcan showed that the LCS representatives can be much better than they’ve shown at MSI so far.