It’s official: the West sucks at League of Legends. North America and Europe, two regions that usually share a heated rivalry and love slinging social media burns at each other in the debate over who is better, had to reluctantly shake hands today as all six representatives from NA and EU lost every single one of their matches. That’s right. Western teams went a combined 0-6 on Day 3 of groups at Worlds 2021.
EU puts Western teams in a hole to start Day 3 of groups at Worlds 2021
The day started off hopefully with the League of Legends European Championship first seed MAD Lions taking on LNG Esports, the fourth seed of the League of Legends Pro League from China. But the Lions crumbled after the 20-minute mark and the West began the day 0-1.
Next up were the LEC third seed in Rogue facing off against LPL juggernauts FunPlux Phoenix. Despite FPX not looking that good in their previous two games, they still handily put Rogue in their place. 0-2.
Looking better by the day, @FPX_Esports take RGE down and secure their second group stage win! #Worlds2021 #FPXWIN pic.twitter.com/Sv5rXsRQTs
— LPL (@lplenglish) October 13, 2021
The third LEC squad followed suit as Fnatic squared up against PSG Talon, winners of the Pacific Championship Series. Fnatic actually made this match close with stand-in academy bot laner Louis “Bean” Schmitz playing incredibly well in place of Upset, who had to leave the team to address a family emergency. Alas, Bean’s efforts were not enough to carry the squad forward as PSG battled back and ended the LEC’s day at 0-3.
So Europe put the West in a hole 0-3. How would NA fare?
NA’s LCS teams follow suit with EU’s LEC squads
Seasoned LoL fans are well aware by now that you should always be extra cautious in backing NA when the chips are down.
The first team sent by North America to try and get a one-up over Europe’s winless day was the League of Legends Championship Series second seed, Team Liquid. But the storied LCS franchise flailed about helplessly for the first 20 minutes or so against South Korea’s second seed in Gen.G.
Despite some big hopium-inducing mid-game plays that brought NA fans to the edges of their seats, TL were unable to turn the tables. Gen.G cleaned up and put Western teams down 0-4.
Up next were Cloud9, who drew arguably the shortest straw and had the titanic task of taking down the defending world champions in DWG KIA. With C9’s jungler Blaber quickly running it down for first blood, any suspense for the match was quickly quashed. DK made the most of that free advantage with a monster early game to put the LCS third seed away. 0-5.
Capping a long Day 3 for Western teams, the fans’ final hope rested on North American summer split champions, 100 Thieves. They were taking on the legendary Faker and his South Korean squad T1 in the final match of the day. With jungler Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon’s going off-board with a somewhat unusual Poppy pick, could 100 Thieves capitalize and salvage a bit of pride for Western LoL?
The answer was no. 0-6.
Looking towards the second half of groups
It was a bleak day for the West as a whole and the gap is looking bigger than ever. But there is always tomorrow (or the day after, at least). Worlds 2021 will resume on Friday, Oct. 15 after a one-day break. The next stage of the round-robin groups stage will feature one group finished out their matches each day.
Group A will be up first to determine which two teams will move on to the knockouts stage. The first rematch of the day will be a clash of titans: FPX vs DWG KIA.
The #Worlds2021 Group Stage standings after Day 3! pic.twitter.com/v17rBlfYPp
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 13, 2021
Will EU’s Rogue or NA’s Cloud9 pull off an unthinkable upset by taking down one of the two Group A behemoths? We will have to wait till Friday to find out.
