Welcome to Day 5 of the daily Worlds 2021 match ratings. Every day, I, your designated guinea pig and critic, will watch all of the world championship games so you don’t have to. I will be here to dish out star ratings for every game and let you know if I recommend the slew of fights that day at Worlds.
My rating scale is from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) stars. Here’s what each star rating means in layman’s terms:
* = Boring. Utterly skippable and something no one will remember by tomorrow.
** = Watchable. Possibly recommended based on your rooting interests.
*** = Good. Something I’d recommend checking out, even if you’re not a fan of either team.
**** = Must-watch. A game or series that you need to watch if you have any interest in League of Legends.
***** = An all-time classic. This perfect rating is only achievable if a game or match is at the highest level of entertainment, gameplay and will go down in the lexicon as a moment no League of Legends fan will ever forget.
It’s the final day of play-ins at the League of Legends World Championship, with Day 5 of Worlds 2021 bringing knockout matches between two heavy underdogs and a pair of major region stalwarts.
Here’s how the action looked Saturday as Beyond Gaming, sans suspended mid laner Chien “Maoan” Moa-An, took on Hanwha Life Esports. North America’s Cloud9 and Oceania hopeful PEACE face off as well.
Hanwha Life Esports vs. Beyond Gaming
Game 1: **
tomorrow
hanwha vs. beyond gaming
“BEYOND DOES NOT HAVE A MID LANER”
twitch chat: poor doggo sadge
beyond takes the stage with four
“BUT DUE TO THE RULES, A PLAYER WHO DID NOT PLAY PROFESSIONALLY IN 2021 CAN SUB IN”
smoke fills the arena
a man steps out from the shadows pic.twitter.com/7Bylqt808j
— The Esports Writer (@FionnOnFire) October 8, 2021
This did not happen, unfortunately. Beyond Gaming put up a valiant effort in the early game but this already feels as if it’s too much to ask for a team that lost their mid laner for the entirety of the event in the middle of the night.
I’m going to continue waiting to see if Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg walks through those doors.
Game 2: * 1/4
This series is depressing to watch. Like the opener, it started out somewhat optimistic, but with the disadvantage in laning, Hanwha’s victory seemed inevitable.
Beyond Gaming are trying to throw everything at HLE including the kitchen sink, but this all seems pointless in the end. When you’re facing the best laning mid in the world and literally don’t have an actual mid laner on the roster anymore, it’s not going to be pretty.
Just end this, please. And get Chiu “Doggo” Tzu-Chaun a long, nice vacation for having to put up with all this nonsense.
Game 3: *
I’m just thankful it’s over.
Overall series rating: * 1/4 stars
I can’t in good conscience recommend this series, unless you are curious about what happens when a team with no mid plays against Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon.
Beyond Gaming, on average, had produced the most entertaining games in the play-in stage, and it’s sad this is how it had to end. Salutes to Doggo, and I hope to see him on a major region starting five for the 2022 campaign.
PEACE vs. Cloud9
Game 2: ** 1/4 stars
Robert “Blaber” Huang completed Goredrinker on his signature Olaf at seven minutes and eight seconds. That’s all you really need to know about game two.
Game 3: ** 1/2 stars
A styling to end all stylings. If you like emote spams, wild skirmishes and dives on top of dives, check this one out at 2x speed.
Overall series rating: ** 1/4 stars
After looking half-awake in game one, C9 settled in for the next two games and smashed the Oceanic champions like they were intermediate bots. The final game is what will happen to C9 by the hands of FunPlus Phoenix and DWG KIA if they play like they did in game one.
But hey, they did show some massive swagger at the end.
