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: EDG win
DK Yasuo Xin Zhao LeBlanc Ziggs Rakan
EDG Graves Jarvan IV Ryze Jhin Zilean
Slow early. EDG 4-man bot for FB. DK rotate better to H1. EDG 3-0 fight at H2, get FT. DK test Baron, Ks traded. EDG catch ShowMaker poking at Baron, get Baron+soul.
GAME 2: DK win
DK Graves Qiyana Malzahar Jhin Leona
EDG Irelia Xin Zhao Leblanc Kai’sa Rakan
Flandre Viper up CS. DK get H1, plates mid. ShowMaker catches Flandre at dragon, DK 4-1. JieJie steals Baron. DK still control, win dragon 5v5->inhib, close at next Baron.
GAME 3: DK win
EDG Jayce Xin Zhao Twisted Fate Jhin Leona
DK Gragas Lee Sin Sylas Aphelios Braum
Slow early again, DK H1 again. EDG pick off Khan a couple times, have gold lead. DK stack drakes. Big 5v5s over neutrals, DK win them with ShowMaker carrying.
GAME 4: EDG win
EDG Graves Viego Zoe Lucian Lulu
DK Gwen Talon Orianna Jhin Nami
Scout JieJie FB Khan at crab. Scout mid prio nets FD. Khan takes FT with JieJie’s cover. H2 gets EDG mid outer. JieJie wins smite->EDG soul. Baron bait, weak DK contest, EDG win.
GAME 5: DK win
DK Graves Trundle Syndra Ziggs Leona
EDG Kennen Xin Zhao Zoe Aphelios Rakan
Canyon early gank top, invests tempo for FD. BeryL dies to secure H1. DK get H2 and a 1-0. EDG catch ShowMaker near dragon, 4-1 fight. Khan Canyon sneak 2-man Baron, but EDG ace at soul.
Takeaways
Best Worlds Ever?
We got a 5-game cross-region Finals with a winner that went against the grain of most pre-Finals expectations.
We got EDward Gaming breaking their Worlds Quarterfinals curse and riding that momentum all the way to a championship. We got players like Meiko and Scout delivering for an org that they’ve helped lead for years. We got Flandre making his long-awaited international debut after several years of domestic excellence but a total lack of quality team results, and parlaying that debut into the ultimate achievement. We got a rookie jungler outmatching one of the great players in the world as JieJie put together his strongest performances of the tournament. We got the expected brilliance from Viper.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – NOVEMBER 6: EDward Gaming celebrates with a Trophy lift on stage after winning
the League of Legends World Championship Finals on November 6, 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Photo by
Clive Rose/Riot Games)
We also had two 5-game Semifinals, a bunch of group stage tiebreakers including a 4-way tie, a Cloud9 run to Quarters for the NA fans, and a very entertaining Play-In stage way back when to start it all off.
This may be immediate-recency bias, but I honestly think the 2021 tournament is a candidate for the best LoL World Championship ever.
Literally the only thing missing was in-person audiences.
So let’s do it all again next year, even better, hopefully with the fans in place.