JDG defeat Golden Guardians in the playoffs of MSI 2023

The last quarterfinal of the upper bracket of Mid-Season Invitational 2023 ended with a very predictable result. The strongest team in China won without blinking an eye against the second-best team in North America. The strength difference between the two regions is well-known, so the result doesn’t surprise anyone.

However, the dominant performance of JDG should make the South Korean teams a bit scared. This was a very brutal 3-0, similar to the one that T1 administered to MAD Lions. With this result, the quarterfinals ended with four one-sided victories for the favorites.

Only G2 Esports won a game against Gen.G Esports. The other three matches ended with a score of 3-0, which is impressive but also a bit too predictable for the viewers.

JD Gaming vs. Golden Guardians: 3-0

This was the first quarterfinal of MSI 2023 in which the favorite displayed tremendous versatility. JDG did not repeat a single champion in their drafts, which forced Guardians to attempt to figure out each time what their opponents’ strategy was going to be. Needless to say, they weren’t very successful.

In game one, JDG picked champions like Jinx, Jayce, and Maokai, and dominate from the laning phase. At the 10-minute mark, their gold advantage was above 1000. At the 18-minute mark, it was above 4400. At that point, the game was practically over.

The game was a bit static and first blood was achieved only after six and a half minutes. The two teams studied each other carefully but in the end, JDG were the better side.

In game two, it looked as though Guardians would equal the score. Their draft was really strong and their cores got a very strong start. At the 8-minute mark, they were 1000 gold ahead. At the 24-minute mark, they were 4500 gold ahead. But instead of winning thanks to that advantage, they lost in the next seven minutes.

It’s quite amazing to see this over and over again but it seems that strong teams really know how to neutralize a big disadvantage and always win when they are ahead.

In game three, the two teams were almost perfectly even until the 12-minute mark. After that, a series of fights gave JDG a huge lead and the game ended 15 minutes later.

Header: Riot Games