GG and Talon advance to the lower bracket Final of MSI 2023

The play-in stage of MSI 2023 is about to end. There’s only one last match to be played to determine the third team that will participate in the bracket stage. The first two were Bilibili Gaming and G2 Esports. The battle for the remaining spot will take place between Golden Guardians and PSG Talon.

In theory, Golden Guardians should have a significant advantage over Talon. And not just because they’re an LCS team and LCS is stronger than PCS. It also has to do with the results of these two teams at this event and prior to it.

Talon won PCS Spring but struggled against several teams that are much weaker than Golden Guardians. Meanwhile, GG finished second in a stronger league, LCS, and defeated opponents like FlyQuest along the way. These results clearly indicate that they are not the underdog.

Another reason why GG are likely to win this lower bracket Final is that their roster includes three experienced South Koreans, who are used to a competitive level that is considerably higher than that of Asia-Pacific.

Golden Guardians’ run

GG started the play-in stage of MSI 2023 with an easy victory against GAM Esports (2-0), followed by a defeat against Bilibili Gaming (2-1).

In the lower bracket, GG made quick work of Rainbow7, who practically lost both games in the first 15 minutes. This result should give GG a confidence boost for the lower bracket Final.

PSG Talon’s run

Talon defeated DetonatioN FocusMe in the upper bracket (2-0) but then got crushed by G2 (0-2). In the lower bracket, they played two interesting games against the Brazilians from LOUD, who tried their best to match their opponents’ level but were obviously deficient in some areas, including map movement.

In game two, even without a major kills advantage, Talon accumulated a 3000 gold lead in the first 12 minutes simply because their opponents made poor rotations and lost a lot of farming opportunities.

Lower bracket Final considerations

The lower bracket Final of the play-in stage will be a best-of-five match. This is quite unusual in esports, but the decision was probably made for one reason. There’s nothing else happening all day. Only this one match will be played, and a best-of-three would have offered too little action to enjoy.

Even so, Golden Guardians might win without losing more than a game, which means that the whole thing won’t last for more than several hours.

Header: Riot Games