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.
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Game Recaps
GAME 1: RNG win
EDG Jayce Jarvan IV Malzahar Lucian Nami
RNG Irelia Xin Zhao Ryze Aphelios Nautilus
Wei controls bot early; RNG stack dragons. Xiaohu solo Ks Flandre, trades kill getting dove. RNG first to setups, more pace. Wei steals for soul. RNG win comprehensively.
GAME 2: EDG win
EDG Graves Olaf Ryze Ezreal Yuumi
RNG Jayce Xin Zhao Annie Miss Fortune Alistar
JieJie double crabs. Scout Meiko nice Herald fight. EDG trade up in skirmishes. Viper is fed but RNG pick him off a few times. JieJie wins Baron smite. EDG end with messy siege.
GAME 3: EDG win
RNG Lucian Xin Zhao Galio Miss Fortune Rakan
EDG Graves Olaf Azir Aphelios Lulu
RNG pick on Flandre. Viper way up in CS+plates. EDG pull RNG around the map, drake 3, TP adv. RNG force Baron twice; JieJie steals both. EDG soul first time, end second time.
GAME 4: RNG win
EDG Graves Xin Zhao Ryze Miss Fortune Yuumi
RNG Kennen Jarvan IV Annie Aphelios Lulu
GALA Ming control bot, all-in for FB (but EDG win skirmish), roam mid to help dive. RNG get H1, use it bot and ace EDG when they try to resist. Game over early.
GAME 5: EDG win
EDG Graves Jarvan IV Ryze Ezreal Yuumi
RNG Gwen Lee Sin Orianna Miss Fortune Nautilus
Wei early bot gank. JieJie counters next one. EDG rotate better for H1. JieJie delivers Meiko to bot, EDG ace, huge gold surge. EDG avoid flank setups well, close at Baron.
Takeaways
GG JieJie
You could definitely look at the bot lane for a standout player of the series. Both Viper and Meiko performed well But my eyes were drawn repeatedly to JieJie, whose stable pathing proved more influential than Wei‘s more aggressive approach, and whose clutch Baron steals and counterganks were decisive in multiple wins.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – OCTOBER 23: EDward Gaming’s Zhao “Jiejie” Li-Jie competes at the League of
Legends World Championship Quarterfinals Stage on October 23, 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by Liu
YiCun/Riot Games)
Maybe I just have a soft spot for junglers.
I definitely have a soft spot for junglers.
It’s always impressive to see young kids like JieJie, who is 19, show up internationally and have a big influence. That’s the kind of thing that keeps me excited for the future of LoL esports.
The Dub Is What Matters
This was not the most well-played series we’ve ever seen at Worlds. Far from it. Mistakes abounded.
But the way you win matters far less than the win itself. The important task in front of EDG is to put this series behind them and prepare to play better in the next one. You always set yourself the task of improving for the next game, whether your previous showing was peak performance or completely forgettable.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – OCTOBER 23: EDward Gaming appears on stage after a victory match at the League
of Legends World Championship Quarterfinals Stage on October 23, 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)
Gen.G and Cloud9 might take some encouragement from what they saw here in the first three or four games. (They should be focusing on their Quarterfinal prep first, but I’m sure at least some of the players or coaches were watching.) But as fans or commentators, we definitely should not get carried away with that perception and raise our hopes of a C9 Finals run too high, as some might be tempted to do. EDG entered Worlds with very high expectations, and even if they had some shaky outings today, every Bo5 is a brand new series. I still see EDG as a strong favourite against either GEN or C9.