Welcome to 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 then series once we hit the best-of-five matches) 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.
Without further ado, here are my match ratings for Worlds 2021 Day 3.
LNG Esports vs. Infinity
* star
I woke up for this? For this? This wasn’t a game — it was a systematic dissecting of a far stronger stronger team doing whatever they wanted to with zero resistance.
LNG could have picked Teemo and the result wouldn’t have changed. Unless Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong forcibly had his keyboard and mouse disconnected from his computer, we weren’t going to get a competitive game. Honestly, Tarzan could have played this on a laptop trackpad piloting jungle Xerath and the Chinese representative still probably wins.
Unless you watched this live or enjoy seeing bullying in the form of League of Legends, you can skip this with no regrets.
PEACE vs. RED Canids
** 1/2 stars
OCE will not be silenced.
These two teams were already confirmed to play against each other in a best-of-five tomorrow, before this game started, but they were at least playing for the higher seed (and draft priority) in that fated duel.
If you’re into that ole’ junk food League of Legends that can often happen in the play-ins, then this will be entertaining to you. It will be interesting to see how these two teams match up in a full series when everything is on the line.
Oh, and did I not mention OCE will not be silenced?
Detonation FocusMe vs. Beyond Gaming
* 1/2 stars
Leona good. Support Amumu bad. Japanese League of Legends strong. This took longer to write than the amount of time this game was competitive.
Wow, today’s games have been terrible.
Unicorns of Love vs. Cloud9
*** 1/2 stars
North America is no longer undefeated at Worlds 2021.
Unicorns of Love embodied the play that saw them advance to the group stages last year, with an oddball bottom lane supporting their powerful solo laners.
Cloud9 made a bunch of mistakes that have already plagued them in the play-ins so far, but this time they lacked the lead they’d built in those previous games. While they might have found a way back in if the game stalled, the Unicorns do what they do best when they’re winning, keeping the immense pressure up until they overran C9 for a win that saved their tournament.
Tiebreaker: Beyond Gaming vs. Unicorns of Love
*** 3/4 stars
Now that’s a game I can recommend! High stakes with the losers tournament being over, and both teams left it all out there on Summoner’s Rift.
While BYG’s terrifying combo of Draven and an unbenched Tahm Kench got them a mountain-sized lead in the early game, the Unicorns scrapped their way back into the map to make it an exciting race to the finish.
The day started out with some trash games but this more than makes up for the frigid beginning.
Tiebreaker: Detonation FocusMe vs. Cloud9
**** 1/4 stars
After almost a decade of being a doormat in international League of Legends, Japan has made history by sending their first time ever to the group stage at Worlds. And what a way to do it in, in a match with the team Japan has the most familiarity with on the international stage, North America’s Cloud9.
DFM needed help from Unicorns of Love to get a tiebreaker, and once they got their second chance to directly advance from the group, the Japanese champions didn’t let their opportunity slip away. In a back and forth match where both teams felt like they had substantial leads at certain points, DFM’s composition and superior team chemistry outscaled the North American team to book their ticket to the main event.
What a game, what a story, and what a beautiful display of League of Legends from DFM.
Closing recap:
# of * matches: 6
# of ** matches: 10
# of *** matches: 5
# of **** matches: 1
# of ***** matches: 0
Match of the day: C9 vs. DFM (**** 1/4)
