Analysis and Opinion

DAWNBRINGER: Worlds Daily, October 17

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

HLE vs PSG: HLE win
HLE Renekton Viego Twisted Fate Aphelios Thresh
PSG Graves Xin Zhao Sylas Miss Fortune Leona

HLE win every lane, good vision, win river skirmish. Morgan takes over vs. Hanabi. PSG are never in the game, completely stifled.

RNG vs FNC: FNC win
RNG Gragas Lee Sin Leblanc Aphelios Rell
FNC Jayce Viego Ryze Miss Fortune Nautilus

Teams trade pressure early. FNC 3-1 at H1, stack dragons. FNC can’t land knockout; RNG punish Baron, clutch 5v5s. FNC pick Cryin into Baron. Hylissang Bwipo make huge picks to win.

PSG vs RNG: RNG win
PSG Gwen Talon Leblanc Jhin Yuumi
RNG Camille Jarvan IV Twisted Fate Miss Fortune Nautilus

RNG ahead early off bot prio. Hanabi 1v2 double kill bot, starts to snowball. RNG dragon dance better, get soul. PSG try for Baron, RNG defend. RNG pick off Hanabi in mid to seal it.

FNC vs HLE: HLE win
FNC Olaf Xin Zhao Twisted Fate Miss Fortune Rakan
HLE Renekton Viego Leblanc Ezreal Leona

Ganks traded. Bwipo Adam get FT. Chovy takes mid outer while FNC get kills in both sides. Back-and-forth mid game. Chovy is super fed; HLE 5v5 a little better.

HLE vs RNG: HLE win
HLE Aatrox Lee Sin Sylas Aphelios Rakan
RNG Gwen Jarvan IV Twisted Fate Miss Fortune Braum

HLE FB Xiaohu lvl 1, kill him repeatedly. Cautious mid-game. HLE better dragon setups, get inf soul. HLE play for macro, choke out RNG who lack engage tools and map control.

FNC vs PSG: PSG win
FNC Graves Viego Zoe Xayah Rakan
PSG Jayce Jarvan IV Syndra Miss Fortune Nautilus

Both teams focus top side, Adam Hanabi even solo K each other. PSG take over 5v5 in mid-game, get a Baron. FNC don’t stop trying: fun game with a lot of kills.

TIEBREAKER – HLE vs RNG: RNG win
HLE Jarvan IV Viego TF Aphelios Gragas
RNG Kennen Xin Zhao Galio MF Rell

Chovy gets ENORMOUS lead. HLE way up in gold; RNG get dragons. RNG struggle to engage 5v5. RNG good Baron defense, better patience, get Baron themselves, ocean soul, end.

Takeaways

I Believed, Briefly

I came into today predicting Fnatic to fall short. In fact, I thought they would go 0-3 and end the group stage winless.

But the way they played against Royal Never Give Up had me believing that anything was possible, and for most of their game against Hanwha Life Esports, I thought the Quarterfinals were in reach.

Chovy shut that down pretty hard. (Can this guy carry, or what?) But all things considered, Fnatic’s showing today should by no means feel like a disappointment, perhaps minus the slight letdown of their no-consequences final game.

What’s Next for FNC?

Now FNC management will turn their eyes to the offseason. They’ve got some big questions to answer, especially in regards to one of their veteran anchors, Bwipo, who is set to become a free agent. NOTE:  If the team wants to retool at all, that’s the most likely place they’ll do it.

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – OCTOBER 17: Team Fnatic walks off stage after a victory match at the League of Legends World Championship Groups Stage on October 17, 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)

There have been rumours around Bwipo and whether he’ll want to return, partly spurred by him unfollowing several FNC Twitter accounts and going dark on socials, and even though he played so well in the jungle this split, you have to wonder whether he’d prefer to be back in his natural top lane role.

I don’t have solid ground to speculate from, when it comes to Fnatic’s future, but I’ll be watching very closely to find out what they do, not only with Bwipo, but with their roster as a whole.

LPL Weak 2

Maybe people who are more closely familiar with the LPL teams can identify specific tendencies or concerns that explain their poor results in this second round robin, but to my eye, I just saw them playing generically worse than their opponents. That doesn’t mean RNG and EDG will struggle in the best-of-fives, but it does raise more questions than we might’ve had if the games were decided by level 1s or cheeses strategies or other unusual circumstances.

Today RNG struggled in the early game in both games against HLE, especially in mid lane where Cryin got smashed by Chovy. RNG have a reputation of being cautious and macro-oriented, in comparison to the rest of the LPL, and we saw that caution today but we didn’t see their team-fighting or objective setups work out until the last 10 minutes of the tiebreaker.

FPX were just way off in their read on, and execution of, the Worlds meta. EDG got stifled by T1’s macro and got beaten through bot lane ganks and losing 2v2. The explanations vary by team. What will LNG do tomorrow? I have no idea.

Maybe this is all just a symptom of best-of-ones. LPL fans will certainly hope so.