Insight Into Iceland is your daily recap of the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational.
Look below for Recaps and Takeaways from today’s games, or watch the video version of the Takeaways.
Recaps
You can also get these recaps live on Twitter.
Game 1: C9 vs. DK – C9 win
C9 Lee Sin Udyr Viktor Tristana Alistar
DK Jayce Rumble Sylas Kai’sa Nautilus
Fantastic game. Canyon Blaber trade ganks. Fudge solo Ks Khan. DK incremental gains, great Baron call. ShowMaker beasting. Vulcan engages win key team fights. Fudge pops off.
Game 2: DFM vs. INF – DFM win
DFM Gnar Udyr LeBlanc Tristana Alistar
INF Lee Sin Volibear Syndra Kai’sa Nautilus
Both teams focus top side. DFM do it better, get H1+FT. Aria active into side lanes. DFM mid siege explodes with poor INF defense, game effectively over from there.
Game 3: DK vs. INF – DK win
DK Gnar Udyr Orianna Kai’sa Rell
INF Jayce Rumble Zoe Tristana Nautilus
DK eke out top side gains. SolidSnake ganks relentlessly. DK edge ahead, stack drakes until cody steals Baron. DK reset, macro it out, eventually get inhibs, soul, and close.
Game 4: C9 vs. DFM – C9 win
C9 Sion Morgana Yone Kai’sa Nautilus
DFM Sett Rumble Zoe Tristana Alistar
Blaber caught for FB on invade, still has path adv. Perkz lanes well, TPs top to win a skirmish. C9 FD+H1. Perkz goes off in mid game. C9 play side lanes, get soul, control whole game.
Game 5: DFM vs. DK – DK win
DFM Nocturne Udyr Syndra Tristana Sett
DK Gnar Diana Yasuo Kai’sa Nautilus
Steal aggressive pathing. DFM win skirmish, FD+H1, early lead. DK conservative, play lanes, cede neutrals. They know they scale. Canyon+ShowMaker combo at Baron wins the game.
Game 6: INF vs. C9 – C9 win
INF Gangplank Morgana Syndra Kalista Nautilus
C9 Sion Rumble Lucian Varus Thresh
No tournament implications for this game. Happy little bit of limit-testing fun time. Honour Perkz for GG and Buggax for Untiltable.
Takeaways
MSI 2021, YEAR OF THE ISLAND NATIONS: DetonatioN FocusMe‘s group stage performance in Group C was arguably just as 
heroic as Oceania’s Pentanet.gg accomplishments in Group A, despite not qualifying for the next round of the tournament. The level of play they showed was much higher, for one thing, even though they couldn’t quite manage to close out their run. Much has already been said about DFM’s roster situation, with the impending “domestication” of Steal which will allow Gaeng, the intended starting Support, to rejoin the team for Summer. Assuming they qualify for Worlds 2021, I can’t wait to see what they can achieve.
WAIT, DOES NA SUCK OR NOT: Just a reminder to everyone: Cloud9 only beat DWG KIA because DWG KIA are not actually the best team in the world; they are, in fact, really bad. This inarguable tenet, combined with other “NA bad lul xD”-based reasoning, ensures your flame may continue unperturbed. Enjoy yourself freely.
Okay, I got the sarcasm out of my system.
In all seriousness, DK did play below their own level in the loss to C9, but C9 played well enough to punish that dip in performance, then convincingly handled DFM in their grudge match with a superior understanding of mid-game side wave management and neutral objective control, not to mention a great individual showing from Perkz (who hadn’t been living up to his legacy in the tournament so far).
It was completely fair to throw shade on C9 after their first round robin, but they brought it together for the final day of the group stage and showed that they deserve respect. If they can continue to play at this level, they should, at the very least, be able to put up a good fight the rest of the way.
ARE DWG STILL THE FAVOURITES? Sure, DWG KIA qualified first in their group with a 5-1 record in a group that was obviously much more challenging than Royal Never Give Up‘s Group A, and that’s pretty good, but when it comes to reassessing our expectations and predictions for the next rounds, we need to look deeper.
RNG sleepwalked through their group and never really needed to tryhard, so any little fumbles or moments of weaknesses don’t tell us much. DK, in contrast, were legitimately tested, lost to C9, and could have lost more if a few things went differently. DK defenders will point out the play style experimentation the team was bringing out, with a very uncharacteristic Jayce comp built to play through top side — which the team never really does — and a Diana/Yasuo pairing that feels more unusually than it actually is, given the power of AP jungle + AD mid combos in the current meta.
In a media scrum, Ghost said that DK didn’t underestimate their opponents, which can sometimes be a reason for a team to give up an upset. He attributed their weak moments to poor execution on their own side, and I’m inclined to agree with him.
That said, there’s plenty of room for interpretation around both RNG and DK right now, and I’m honestly not sure which team I’d say looks stronger at the moment, with all context considered. I will say, though, that the group stage shook my confidence in DK a little bit. I’m just not sure whether I’m shaken enough to move them down from the top of my list.