Bilibili and Guardians remain in the upper bracket of MSI 2023 play-in stage

The first round of the upper bracket of MSI 2023 play-in is over and four teams that won are G2 Esports, PSG Talon, Bilibili Gaming, and Golden Guardians.

In each of the four upper bracket matches that were played, we can say that the favorite won. Although, to be fair, PSG Talon and DetonatioN FocusMe are very close to each other in strength, so either could have been victorious. But in the other three matches, the 2-0 result makes perfect sense.

Bilibili Gaming vs. Rainbow7

Compared to China, Latin America is nowhere near in terms of League of Legends prowess. When we combine this fact with the match format of MSI’s play-in stage, which is best-of-three, a victory for Rainbow7 against the team that finished second in LPL Spring 2023 would have been unthinkable.

Bilibili did nothing unusual in this match. In game one, they picked Lucian and Lee Sin and then won simply by making use of their superior knowledge and experience of the game. By minute 10, the gold advantage was already 2300. The ensuing battles raised it to 5000 and by minute 12, game one was practically over.

In game two, the situation was almost identical. Except this time, Bilibili picked champions like Nidalee, Jinx, and Jayce. At minute 12, their advantage had already surpassed 5000 gold, which is regarded as a nearly insurmountable lead at this stage of the game.

Golden Guardians vs. GAM Esports

For Golden Guardians, who finished second in LCS Spring 2023, the match against GAM Esports looked like a walk in the park. The only noteworthy aspect of it is that Guardians picked Viego twice and won game two with Amumu, who is not exactly a standard champion to play at this competitive level in the current meta.

In both games, the battle was decided between the 10 and 15 minute marks. In game one, the player that had the most impressive performance was Kim “Gori” Tae-woo. His map and team fight movements were smooth, allowing him to end the game with 7 kills, 11 assists, and 0 deaths.

In game two, it was Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes’ time to shine. The carry player of Guardians was given Tristana and his stats speak for themselves: 11 K – 1 D – 3 A.

In their next match, GG will face Bilibili and that will be a much harder fight to win.

Header: Riot Games