Bilibili Gaming cause massive upsets at MSI 2023

The lower bracket semifinal of MSI 2023 offered us the opportunity to watch another great match between a top Chinese team and a top South Korean team. In the upper bracket Final, JD Gaming defeated T1. Now it was time for Bilibili to teach their LCK opponent a lesson.

In theory, Gen.G Esports should have won the match with ease. After all, South Korea is stronger than China in League of Legends and Gen.G won LCK Spring this season. At the very least, we were expecting a difficult match that ends with a score of 3-2. Instead, we watched a decisive 3-0.

Bilibili Gaming vs. Gen.G Esports: 3-0

Bilibili started this match with a quick game that lasted just 27 minutes. Their picks were a mixture of novelty and meta champions. To everyone’s surprise, they chose to play Taliyah and Zeri. The second of these champions was going to be used in the lower bracket Final as well.

Another champion picked by the Chinese team in game one was Jax and he proved to be highly effective against Gen.G’s draft.

In the next two games, Bilibili picked very similar champion compositions. Both times, they chose to go with Vi, Ahri, and Jinx. Gen.G were also confident in their drafting strategy and picked Ornn, Annie, and Aphelios both times.

The battles proved to be challenging for both sides. Game 2 lasted 41 minutes and game 3 required more than 35 minutes to finish. Each time, Gen.G had a slight advantage but ended up losing the confrontation.

This victory sent Bilibili to the lower bracket Final.

T1 vs. Bilibili Gaming: 1-3

This match proved that Bilibili are a very strong team right now and that their victory against Gen.G was not a fluke.

In all four games, the Chinese squad picked Lulu. And in three of them, they paired her with Zeri. Two of these three games were victories for them. The third victory was obtained with a very unusual combination of champions: Kindred, Sion, Sylas, Jinx, and Lulu.

T1’s only victory was obtained with Jax and Kha’Zix. In all of the games won by Bilibili, T1 either had the advantage and lost because of bad mistakes of their own, or kept the battle even for a long time and then lost everything in one massive team fight.

Bilibili will play against JD Gaming in the Grand Final. This is a rematch that everyone is eager to see.

Header: Riot Games