With day three of Worlds in the books, China is sitting comfortably at the top of the competition. Meanwhile, the rest of the pack battles furiously for position for playoffs. Can North America’s Cloud9, 100 Thieves and Team Liquid find success after two disappointing days? Can Korea’s KT Rolster and Gen.G use this day to bounce back from Korea’s horrible start to Worlds? Let’s jump into day three with MAD versus KT Rolster.
The #Worlds2018 Group Stage standings after today's games! pic.twitter.com/iOyelSGRMm
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 12, 2018
KT Rolster doesn’t break a sweat against MAD
#KTWIN:@KTRolster_tw pick up a dominating win against MAD Team and go 2-0! #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/b2OroHM4sH
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 12, 2018
The first game of Worlds day three would bring us Korea’s KT Rolster versus Taiwan’s MAD Team. As expected, KT would absolutely run over MAD in 26 minutes. Son “Ucal” Woo-hyeon and Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong would play great on Swain and Leona respectively. In fact, KT’s midlaner has not died in the last two games, going 13/0/10. It was a slaughter for the Korean side, who did not meet much resistance with a 14-2 scoreline. They will have a big challenge tomorrow though when they face off against China’s Edward Gaming. We will see if Korea’s top-seeded team can break EDG’s perfect record in day four.
Team Liquid’s woes continue as they fall to Edward Gaming
Meanwhile, the number one North American seed would struggle again on day three of Worlds. Edward Gaming would take them down with ease, taking only 26 minutes. EDG’s Lee “Scout” Ye-chan would put on a masterful performance on Azir, with perfect ultimates and positioning. Many people blame the overaggressive nature of Team Liquid, especially around objectives like Rift Herald. It seems like they were not prepared for the higher level of play that the NA LCS did not bring. They cannot play as cocky as they did in North America, because here at Worlds, teams will punish every mistake you make.
SHURIMA #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/JEILhukPwn
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 12, 2018
Again, Edward Gaming looks poised to top their group, while Team Liquid continues to trudge through the mud. Team Liquid has a brief respite by facing off against MAD Team tomorrow, but with the way they are playing, I would not be surprised if they were upset too.
Invictus Gaming solidifies China’s throne with a stomp on Fnatic
Day three of Worlds was no stranger to quick games, as Invictus Gaming would make short work of Europe’s Fnatic. The Chinese third seed would take the victory in only 27 minutes. Their 17-year-old ADC phenom, Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo, would take over the game early. He would lead his team with eleven kills and push them to an insurmountable lead. Meanwhile, Fnatic would continuously take bad fights and get singled out, digging themselves into a deeper hole every time.
.@invgaming get EVERYTHING as they steal the Baron and ACE @FNATIC! #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/NauB3wwTJE
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 12, 2018
The one standout performance on Fnatic would be toplaner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer, who was actually playing great on Sion. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stop the Chinese freight train. Fortunately, Fnatic will be able to regroup and face a stumbling G-Rex. A win there should help them regain some momentum, especially with the team bringing in Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau to replace soaZ.
100 Thieves bounces back with win over G-Rex
After their lackluster first game at Worlds, 100 Thieves would manage to find victory against G-Rex today. Day three would finally give North America some success, as the Thieves would take the match in 37 minutes. A big standout performance would be from 100 Thieves’ superstar top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho, who would play great on Urgot. His perfect positioning and great flash-ultimates would help seal the deal for his team. Their ADC, Richard “Rikara” Samuel Oh, would also lead the team with nine kills to his name.
#100WIN:@100Thieves pick up their first Group Stage victory after defeating G-Rex (@EESstars)! #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/GDpWy0BpiP
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 12, 2018
The North American second seed now has a huge challenge ahead of them in Invictus Gaming tomorrow. IG just took down Europe’s top team in Fnatic, so they will need Ssumday to play incredible to have any chance. China is surging towards a perfect record. Can the Thieves steal a win from underneath their noses?
Royal Never Give Up takes down Team Vitality
The second last match of day three of Worlds would pit China’s first seed, RNG, versus Europe’s Team Vitality. Again, RNG would demonstrate why they were probably the best team in the tournament. Although they would make tiny mistakes, they would still dominate the map with some great team fighting and macro. Team Vitality wasn’t actually playing that bad, but every little mistake they made would be capitalized on by the Chinese powerhouse. The game would end in under 30 minutes, with a pretty lopsided 17-7 scoreline.
Letme with the insane outplay in the 1v2! 😲 #Worlds2018 pic.twitter.com/AXAhqWnBbX
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 12, 2018
Both RNG and Team Vitality have a break day tomorrow, where they will be able to gather their thoughts and plan for the next day’s events. These two teams are still in contention for the playoffs, for now. They will face off again on day five of Worlds, where maybe Team Vitality can correct their mistakes and plan for a victory this time around.
Gen.G stomps Cloud9 in 25 minutes
Cloud9 would find themselves in the loss column again, after a 25-minute beatdown at the hands of Gen.G. Cloud9 would put their rookie jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang in, which would prove to be a grave mistake. Again, the rookies of Cloud9 would play quite horribly, but overall the team was making way too many mistakes. They weren’t able to commit and execute with the dive composition they had with Jarvan, Alistar, and Galio. Meanwhile, Gen.G would play their style perfectly with calm, calculated decisions and fights.
Reigning Champions @GenGLoL pick up their first win at #Worlds2018 as they take down @Cloud9! pic.twitter.com/2EYkWcfDn7
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 12, 2018
Cloud9 is looking way too starstruck right now, and they desperately need to regroup. Even their veteran players are looking out of sorts. I believe that keeping experienced jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen in should be beneficial for the team moving forward. They have a break day coming up, so if they are to accomplish anything at Worlds, they have to buckle down and plan for everything.
What are your thoughts day three of Worlds 2018? Can North America bounce back from this huge deficit? Or will every NA team come home after group stage? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you want more Worlds coverage, check us out here!