Wrapping up the Group Stage competition for Group B.
The 2021 LoL World Championship Group Stage is nearly over. Yesterday, DAMWON KIA finished their undefeated Group Stage run, while Cloud9 made a miracle run to claim the other spot in the Knockout Stage. Now it’s Group B’s turn. Like yesterday, this group is expected to be pretty much decided already. Edward Gaming and T1 are heavy favorites to make it to the next stage. However, 100 Thieves and DetonatioN FocusMe will want to make the upset and continue on in Worlds 2021. But could either of them do it? As we saw yesterday, anything is possible at the World Championship and it’s not over until the Nexus falls!
Faced with the monumental task of facing EDG in their first game of the day, along with being winless in Groups so far, DFM had a tough mountain to climb. But from the start of this game, it looked all EDG all the time. Their individual prowess shone through with simple things like laning in the early game, getting a lead without kills. The first blood was shed at six minutes, where a 2v2 between the mid-jungle duos resulted in a one-for-one kill trade. Though EDG was a bit ahead with the extra First Blood gold.
After this, it was a while until DFM found anything else. EDG took full control of the map, taking Rift Herald and picking off Gaeng for a second kill at nine minutes. Soon after, EDG used Herald mid for plate gold and slew their first dragon of the game too. Not slowing down at all, they also secured the First Tower bonus in the top lane, won a two-for-zero team fight, grabbed a second Herald and destroyed the mid lane tower all by 15 minutes.
At 18 minutes, DFM was desperate and had to try something. Engaging a team fight in the mid lane, they were effectively routed by EDG and lost three members. Because of this, they lost their second mid lane tower too. A few minutes passed, where Gaeng and Aria were both caught out and killed, before the final fight. Here, EDG prompted it by rushing Baron and forced DFM to contest. Having no choice, they did, but EDG simply turned and cut them all down. After an Ace, EDG ran right into the DFM base and ended the game clean as can be.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: DFM-EDG
- Time: 25:48
- Kills: 2-15
- Turrets: 0-9
- Gold: 37.1k-52.6k
- Dragons: 0-3
- Barons: 0-0
T1 vs 100 Thieves
With both of these teams wanting to claim second place in the group, a win was necessary here. Feeling the pressure, Closer tried to gank top at three minutes, but when he went in, Faker and Oner almost instantly collapsed on the play. To his surprise, it was Closer who was then caught and killed for First Blood. But that didn’t deter 100T. A couple of minutes later, they sent four to the bottom side to dive the tower. It ended up turning into a 4v4 team fight, where 100T narrowly came out ahead with a three-for-two kill trade.
However, after this, T1 turned it up a notch. They started choking 100T out of almost every play, and made a good amount of headway when they won a 3v3 in the top side one-for-zero and used the Herald to take the First Tower bonus. While the game slowed down on kills for the time being, T1 didn’t slow down on taking objective after objective. Another Herald, multiple towers and a couple of dragons all fell in T1’s favor by 22 minutes.
At this point, both teams poked and proded at each other, but no one made any big moves. That was until 28 minutes, where 100T pushed T1 away from dragon and secured it, but lost track of Baron. Rushing it down, T1 claimed the Baron buff for free. For the 100T composition that relied on 5v5 team fights, this was bad news, as T1 started pressuring their Inhibitor Towers. As they did, 100T tried to pull off their engage wombo-combo, but it failed horribly. The engage whiffed and T1 turned the fight around, killing four 100T champions before swiftly pushing in and taking the Nexus.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: T1-100T
- Time: 31:40
- Kills: 8-3
- Turrets: 8-2
- Gold: 56.6k-48.2k
- Dragons: 2-2
- Barons: 1-0
Edward Gaming vs T1
With T1 just one game behind EDG, this was their chance to knock EDG down a peg and contest them for first place in the group. The early game was fairly slow from these two teams, as the first real action to happen was when T1 swapped their bot duo to the top lane to take Herald, then used that to secure the First Tower bonus top. Three minutes later, T1 claimed an Infernal Dragon too, before Faker teleported to the top lane to dive Flandre with Canna and kill him for the late First Blood.
In the driver’s seat, T1 kept up the pressure. Though EDG traded back sometimes, T1 knocked towers down and set up for a second Rift Herald. After they took it, a great engage from Oner and Canna got T1 three quick kills. As a result, T1 were able to use the Herald to take two mid lane towers too. The tower trade continued but T1 was always coming out ahead due to dragon takes. At 18 minutes, EDG managed to pick off Keria, but it was too little too late for EDG as T1 put on a clinic against them.
When Baron spawned on the map, T1 clearly had their eyes on it. When EDG attempted to get vision on it, T1 laid in wait and pounced on Jiejie to kill him instantly. Without their jungler, EDG desperately tried to fight T1 at the Baron, but that only served to give them two more kills before they secured the buff anyway. T1 was efficient with the Baron, moving in, pressuring the base and breaking two Inhibitor Towers open. One final fight erupted in the EDG base where T1 once again found kills while losing no members, so with the man advantage, T1 easily pushed the Nexus and closed the game. Depending on the results of the following matches, this set up for a potential tiebreaker for first place at the end of the day.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: EDG-T1
- Time: 25:44
- Kills: 1-13
- Turrets: 2-10
- Gold: 40.2k-50.3k
- Dragons: 0-3
- Barons: 0-1
100 Thieves vs DetonatioN FocusMe
Despite not being a high-stakes match, this was a wild game. It started off with Ssumday and Closer diving Evi top, but Evi outplaying them to get First Blood, though he did die right after to make it a one-for-one. A skirmish bot lane, with members Teleporting in from both sides, resulted in a two-for-one in favor of 100T. However, Aria on his Twisted Fate absolutely took over the early game. He was all over the map, roaming everywhere to grab quite a few kills for himself. DFM was constantly finding picks and taking objectives afterward, with 100T struggling to keep up with the pressure.
In the mid game, DFM kept it up, finding isolated members and locking them down with so much CC to kill them. Eventually, at 29 minutes, DFM forced a team fight in the 100T jungle, where they went up two kills without losing anyone. So they went to Baron but fumbled the play there, losing out on a couple of kills and not securing the buff either. The next Baron attempt was more fruitful though, and they claimed it at 33 minutes. Right after this, DFM looked on the cusp of victory when they won a team fight four-for-two, got Soul point and exposed an Inhibitor.
Backdoors and broken hearts
Desperate, 100T tried to rush Baron, but couldn’t do it quick enough and had to leave, meaning DFM got their second buff. When 100T went to claim Ocean Soul, DFM tried to rush the base but 100T backed in time and mounted a defense. They crucially killed four members and stalled the game more. At 48 minutes, the third Baron spawned and DFM baited 100T in. When 100T showed up though, DFM’s Aria and Evi Teleported towards the 100T base and tried to backdoor the Nexus. The Nexus HP dropped, but not to zero, as 100T sprinted back in time to save it. DFM had their moment to shine but it disappeared in an instant, as 100T Ace’d them, and with such long death timers, they could only watch as 100T ran straight down mid and ended the game.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: 100T-DFM
- Time: 49:15
- Kills: 20-22
- Turrets: 7-9
- Gold: 85.6k-87.5k
- Dragons: 4-3
- Barons: 0-2
DetonatioN FocusMe vs T1
Hoping to not leave Worlds 2021 winless, DFM decided to bring out the Shaco pick for Steal against T1. Unfortunately, it didn’t find that much impact in this game. However, Aria on Zoe certainly did, as he solo killed Faker for First Blood in the mid lane. When Steal went for a gank in the bottom lane at seven minutes though, Gumayusi and Keria turned around the 2v3 to actually get a kill. A minute later, a skirmish in the top lane broke out, but the teams only traded one-for-one in kills.
Trying to find an in, Steal once again tried to gank the T1 duo lane but was killed for it like before. With no plays working out for DFM, T1 had free reign. They rotated around the map taking the Rift Herald, which was used to cash in the First Tower bonus, then brought down more towers and a dragon. While DFM was able to dive and kill Canna with four of their players, it truly didn’t matter. T1 was miles ahead of them and had a definitively better team composition.
As a result, all T1 had to do was take their time and pick DFM apart. Although they couldn’t get it on their first attempt, T1 secured the Baron on their second attempt. After the take, T1 ran down and killed three DFM champions, knocking down two Inhibitors afterward too. On the next siege, Faker caught out and solo killed Yutapon, and in the 4v5 DFM had no chance to defend their base. T1 swooped in, killing champions left and right up to the Nexus destruction. With this win, T1 guaranteed at least a tiebreaker with EDG if EDG won their match versus 100T.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: DFM-T1
- Time: 26:55
- Kills: 4-10
- Turrets: 2-11
- Gold: 39.0k-51.9k
- Dragons: 1-1
- Barons: 0-1
100 Thieves vs Edward Gaming
The two previous games for 100T were rough today but they came out swinging in the final game of their tournament run. Closer started it off by ganking bottom, where 100T picked up two kills right off the bat, including the First Blood. Two minutes later, at six minutes, 100T sent four players to the bot lane this time to kill both Viper and Scout again. While a 2v2 around the mid lane went in favor of EDG, Closer helped Abbedagge snag a kill on Scout. Shortly after that, 100T punished Jiejie by killing him after he took Rift Herald too.
It was the early game 100T needed. With this lead, they looked great heading into the mid game and continued to apply pressure across the map. The first real team fight broke out in the mid lane at 19 minutes. Here, 100T cut down three from EDG while only giving over one kill. This was huge, as it showed 100T could beat EDG at their own game, team fighting. Post-20 minutes, the game slowed down a bit while the teams farmed and postured around Baron.
However, it was the bottom river that saw the next team fight. Posturing around the dragon, EDG looked to put an end to the 100T dragon stacking. They almost caught out FBI but he snuck away as Ssumday and Closer dove into their team and eviscerated the LPL champions. With four from EDG dead, 100T took their third dragon, a tower and, most importantly, Baron Nashor. 100T couldn’t do lethal damage with the Baron, so the teams next met at the Mountain Soul dragon for 100T. Once again, Ssumday’s Kennen found a massive Kennen engage and 100T destroyed EDG. After claiming the dragon, 100T ran down mid, killed the last two standing EDG members and ended the game.
Losing this game, EDG lost their hold on first place in the group and lost the tiebreaker opportunity against T1.
Quick Stats:
- Teams: 100T-EDG
- Time: 35:26
- Kills: 21-4
- Turrets: 9-3
- Gold: 68.2k-56.2k
- Dragons: 4-1
- Barons: 1-0
