Bilibili and G2 qualify for the group stage of MSI 2023

The third day of the MSI 2023 play-ins finished with two well-deserved victories. One for Bilibili Gaming and one for G2 Esports.

Both teams advanced to the group stage but had to fight hard to defeat their opponents, who played well and caused them significant problems.

Bilibili Gaming vs. Golden Guardians: 2-1

Bilibili started this match against the LCS Spring 2023 runner-ups having a very clear idea of what they wanted to do. This is easy to figure out because the team used three champions from game one in game two, and only changed its strategy after losing the second game to a Yasuo.

In game one, the draft of the Chinese team included champions like Gnar, Vi, and Ahri. For the carry role, they picked Aphelios. Bilibili did not hesitate in taking risks and drew first blood less than four minutes into the game. After that, their advantage gradually grew until it reached the 2000 gold mark at minute 7.

Golden Guardians fought well and even managed to reduce the 4400 gold deficit at minute 14, but it wasn’t enough. Their opponents’ champions had grown too much and the entire Chinese team was playing the draft almost perfectly. Game one ended in just 28 minutes.

Game two was much harder for the Chinese side. Despite the excellent start, a couple of mid-game fights resulted in a major networth swing. From 3000 in favor of Bilibili to almost 8000 in favor of GG. The game ended with Guardians’ victory but only after nearly 40 minutes of intense fighting.

In game three, Bilibili completely changed their strategy but kept Vi for the jungle. The new strat allowed them to kill the enemy carry no less than eight times. We usually see supports dying so many times, no carry champions.

 

G2 Esports vs. PSG Talon: 2-0

G2 struggled to win game one against Talon. Game two was relatively easy and lasted just 27 minutes. But in game one, their draft fell off a cliff around the mid portion of the game despite the massive 8500 gold advantage. Talon nearly brought the situation back to even and G2 needed more than 10 minutes to figure out a way to win.

In the end, thanks to their massive Gragas, G2 were able to get favorable exchanges in team fights and emerged victorious despite the shaky performance of the other cores.

Header: Riot Games