Welcome to Dawnbringer, your daily recap of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship.
Every day of Worlds competition, I’ll post a brief rundown of each game, along with some larger takeaways about the team and player performances we’re seeing and what it might mean for the rest of the tournament.
For live updates, make sure to follow me on Twitter!
Game Recaps
FPX vs DK: DK win
FPX Gragas Lee Sin Irelia Jhin Braum
DK Jayce Poppy Twisted Fate Miss Fortune Leona
Khan bullies top. Doinb farms v. well. DK kill Nuguri repeatedly, but FPX get HLDs, trade turrets. DK 5-1 dragon fight off great Canyon control. DK Baron into end.
C9 vs RGE: C9 win
C9 Graves Lillia Irelia Miss Fortune Leona
RGE Gwen Qiyana Ryze Draven Braum
C9 win lvl 1, Blaber executes to turret but snowballs anyways. Perkz awkward bait death works out. Blaber/Perkz crush the whole map. Zven massive MF ults to close.
FPX vs C9: C9 win
FPX Graves Jarvan IV Rumble Kai’sa Rell
C9 Jayce Xin Zhao Twisted Fate Tristana Rakan
C9 win skirmish bot. Blaber Vulcan hit top, skirmish mid->Blaber 3K. C9 huge lead, play with tempo, resist FPX low-chance comeback attempts, close firmly.
DK vs RGE: DK win
DK Lucian Qiyana Twisted Fate Draven Thresh
RGE Jayce Olaf Ryze Miss Fortune Leona
Khan Lucian smashes lane but Trymbi roams create RGE kills. Tight mid-game. DK crush 5v5 for dragon, get Baron. RGE pick Ghost; Khan pentakills them, DK Baron 2.
RGE vs FPX: RGE win
RGE Jayce Fiddlesticks Leblanc Lucian Nami
FPX Kennen Lee Sin Sylas Aphelios Lulu
Lwx Crisp 2v2 FB. RGE bot dive fails. Game close; heavy crossmaps. RGE set traps, eke out 5v5s. FPX great Baron rush. FPX rush inhib; Inspired flanks, RGE ace, end.
C9 vs DK: DK win
C9 Kennen Graves Twisted Fate Kai’sa Leona
DK Jax Lee Sin Kassadin Miss Fortune Shen
DK weather C9’s early aggro. C9 win H1 fight. ShowMaker scaling. Canyon Baron steal. DK 5v5 brilliantly. DK play sides hard. C9 desperation engage fails; DK win.
TIEBREAKER – FPX vs RGE: RGE win
FPX Jayce Viego Twisted Fate Jhin Thresh
RGE Kennen Jarvan IV Sylas Miss Fortune Rakan
Trading side lane dives, RGE slightly ahead; Inspired is fed. FPX get H1, take lead. FPX dive bot, it fails, RGE ace. RGE pick Lwx, Baron. Hans sama 4K at dragon. RGE win!!
TIEBREAKER – C9 vs RGE: C9 win
C9 Wukong Lee Sin Leblanc Miss Fortune Alistar
RGE Jayce Olaf Ryze Jhin Rakan
I can’t summarize this game for you. You need to watch it for yourself. One of the great games in the history of the LoL World Championships in my opinion.
Takeaways
This Is Why We Watch
I honestly, legitimately, sincerely believed that Cloud9 had the lowest chance of any NA or EU team to reach the Quarterfinals, after their 0-3 start in the first round robin.
BOY did I turn out to be wrong.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – OCTOBER 15: Cloud9’s Luka “Perkz” Perkovic (L) and Robert “Blaber” Huang walk on stage to compete at the League of Legends World Championship Groups Stage on October 15, 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Joosep Martinson/Riot Games)
Blaber had an enormous day, leading C9 to an upset over FunPlus Phoenix and a pair of wins over Rogue and ultimately advancing them to the Quarterfinals. It’s the first time an LCS team will be in the QFs since C9 got there in 2018.
Blaber today:
7.1 KDA
85.1% KP
+515 GXD10
21.7% DMG%
1 STLUnironically one of the best players NA has produced, and with so much future still ahead.
Even after today, he's only looking forward. pic.twitter.com/tWW0WRn1Zq
— Tim Sevenhuysen (@TimSevenhuysen) October 15, 2021
So many things about today were impressive, but the biggest thing that stands out to me is C9’s ability to improve from the first round robin to the second, when the opposite has so often been the case for North American teams.
Perkz nearly gave me a heart attack multiple times with bone-headed errors, but he made up for every single one with a great play later. You can believe he’ll be held accountable for his showing today, and his account will have a positive balance!
The final tiebreaker game against Rogue was an instant classic, one of the most compelling, tense, consequential games I’ve ever seen at an international tournament. I may have some bias as a North American, but even if Rogue had won the game, I think I’d be saying the same thing. If you haven’t already watched this game, then I’m sorry for spoiling the result, but you need to watch it right now anyways.
I’m sure we were all prepping our how “how to fix NA” opinions and making our “who’s to blame?” tier lists, but maybe this year we can actually relax a little on that front!
Congratulations to C9 on their accomplishment today, and good luck in Quarters!
The Biggest Worlds Implosion Since…?
I don’t know exactly how to contextualize, let alone explain, FPX‘s very early exit from Worlds. I’m sure it’ll be the topic of a lot of discussion among the LPL fans and the rest of the global LoL community, not to mention the team itself, as they try to decide what changes will be necessary to avoid a repeat disappointment in 2022.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – OCTOBER 15: FunPlus Phoenix’s Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang walks on stage to compete at the League of Legends World Championship Groups Stage on October 15, 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Joosep Martinson/Riot Games)
Fans can be brutal, so I can only repeat the call I made earlier on Twitter to extend some support and well-wishes to the whole FPX roster and staff. Let’s not revel in someone else’s pain, or pile on. This is going to be hard enough for them already.