DetonatioN and GAM get eliminated from MSI 2023

After losing their opening matches in the play-in stage of MSI 2023, Rainbow7, GAM Esports, LOUD, and DetonatioN FocusMe dropped to the lower bracket and received one more chance to qualify for the bracket stage.

Five of the 13 participants will start in this stage and have not been required to compete in the play-ins. But the other eight need to earn their spot and there are only three spots available. Two of them have already been taken by Bilibili Gaming and G2 Esports. There’s only one left.

On the fourth day of the play-in stage of MSI 2023, Rainbow7 played against GAM Esports, while LOUD played against DetonatioN FocusMe in the first round of the lower bracket.

GAM and DetonatioN were both eliminated, largely due to the skill difference between themselves and their opponents but also because of the stubbornness with which they drafted their champions.

Rainbow7 vs. GAM Esports: 2-1

This was a match in which both teams seem to have predecided what they were going to do to maximize their chances of winning against the playstyle of their opponents. Rainbow7 picked Xayah three times, K’Sante twice, Sylas twice, Leona twice, and Viego twice.

Let’s not forget that the game has more than 160 champions that can be picked. So when a team repeats several champions in the span of just three games, that’s a clear sign that they’ve prepared something specific.

In Raibow7’s case, the strategy worked. But it worked in part because GAM did the same thing. They picked Lissandra three times, Zeri three times, Rakan twice, Jax twice, and Wukong twice. In both of their Jax games, they lost.

The battles were back and forth and their results were determined by massive team fights.

LOUD vs. DetonatioN FocusMe: 2-0

This was a very easy match for LOUD, who won game one in 24 minutes and game two in 26 minutes. The three champions they played in both games were Gnar, Maokai, and Aphelios.

Unlike the other lower bracket match, this one was heavily dominated by one of the two teams. The only back and forth battles happened in the first 10-15 minutes. In both games, the victor was decided around the 14-minute mark.

In game one, the entire LOUD roster did a fantastic job. Four players only died once and the fifth finished the game with zero deaths. In game two, LOUD’s Tresh player had one death, zero kills, and 13 assists, which is the dream for any support.

Header: Riot Games