Worlds 2022: Rogue top their group while the LCS is still winless

Halfway through the group stage and Rogue look like the best Western team, silencing critics and proving doubters wrong along the way.

Group A is going to be a photo finish race while Top Esports continue to look shaky at World Championships. As North America continues to search for answers, Fnatic and G2 came so close to realizing a dream.

Nice try for Europe

After losing their opening day game against T1, reigning World Champions EDG have won two straight to claim the top spot in the group. But apart from them whipping the floor with Cloud9, they have looked very beatable. Fnatic was on a tear gearing up to face the LPL third seed but the game was doomed after a catastrophic early game. Fnatic’s Kalista pick, invade attempt and level three gank were countered by EDG, giving Park “Viper” Do-hyeon a 4-0 lead on his Sivir.

The Kalista losing early game against a 4-0 Sivir/ Yuumi spelled doom for their chances, but Fnatic managed to draw it out to 37 minutes. The following day, G2 also received the Sivir/ Yuumi treatment from another Chinese team. This time around it was JDG coming out on top, but not after sweating for it in a 35-minute match. G2’s Darius pick and top side dominated the game until the Chinese bot lane scaled out of the roof. With a little more luck, we could have seen Fnatic on top of Group A and G2 tied for first in Group B.

Rogue keeps rising, and TES keeps falling

The redemption arc for Rogue keeps on giving and there isn’t a better time for them to hit their stride. Maybe it’s the KOI deal, or maybe it was the bus ride to Malmo for the LEC Finals weekend. Whatever it is, it made Rogue look like the best European team in the last two months. Spearheaded by the best bot lane in Europe, with Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos and Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus making a mockery of the LPL runner-ups TES. Beating World Champion Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo is one thing, but doing it on mechanically demanding champions like Kalista and Rakan, is a display of ELITE play.

On the other hand, TES look broken. Every year we see one of the Chinese teams fail miserably at Worlds and after last year’s debacle for FPX and DoinB, TES are claiming that spot. Mid-laner Zhuo “knight” Ding looks like the only one trying to win the game while his side lanes continue to chain-feed the opposing team until the game is over. There’s still hope for them to recover and claim the second seed, but they can’t lose a single game next weekend.

The LCS is still winless 

There is an 0-3 team in every group at Worlds, and three of the four teams at the bottom of the groups are from North America. With just three teams participating in the event, it’s as bad as it could be for the LCS. An 0-9 record in the Group stage has sparked the same discussions that read their ugly head every year around this time. While many analysts hope for a 0-18 record so the league hits rock bottom before starting to combat the issues, fans are hopeful for at least one win.

The main issue isn’t the record, but the attitude and visuals of the performance. LCS teams are getting blown out and dismantled while looking hopeless and not even trying to win. If Evil Geniuses, the third seed with a substitute that had to play eight games in a week at the Play-In stage, is offering the most resistance, there definitely is a culture problem.

Header: Riot Games