Hanwha Life Esports and Cloud9 swept Beyond Gaming and Peace to secure the last two spots in the Worlds Main Event. While the Friday series went all the way to game 5, the major region representatives had no problem fending off the competition.
After three days of non-stop battles elected the first two play-in teams to join the Worlds Main Event, six play-in teams entered the elimination round to duke it out for the remaining two spots. The third and fourths seeds in both groups would take on each other, before the winners take on the second seeds of the other group. Galatasaray Esports and Beyond Gaming would open the day on Friday, followed by PEACE and RED Canids. As second seeds, Cloud9 and Hanwha Life Esports would take on the winners of the previous two bouts on Saturday, with the victors of these two matches advancing to the Main Event groups.
Galatasaray Esports 2-3 Beyond Gaming
Beyond Gaming was in control for much of the early game, with aggressive play from Chiu "Doggo" Tzu-Chuan and Huang "HuSha" Zi-Wei giving their team the lead. However, the TCL team was able to punish Beyond’s aggression. A great elder dragon steal by Onur Can "Bolulu" Demirol equalized the game and from then the TCL team was stronger in the late teamfights.. Game two also saw Beyond get the early lead, only to again fumble at the mid-game objectives and teamfights. Despite their gold lead getting to 10K at one point and with an ocean soul, an overreach cost them four deaths and the game.
Now with Galatasaray on match point, Beyond could make no more such mistakes - and to their credit, they didn’t. They turned the series around with a much cleaner game three where they got two early kills and took over the game. An early inhibitor take cemented their lead, before the clutch fight near the infernal soul decided the game. What followed was a very bloody game four where the two teams traded blows, though once again the PCS team looked stronger. Galatasaray once more had to watch their Nexus fall.
In the decisive game 5, Beyond’s bot lane was off to a good start. The TCL team found some kills and took the three early dragons, however, and eventually equalized the gold. The game was neck and neck until HuSha stole a Baron and Beyond followed it up by winning a big fight for the ocean drake to complete the reverse sweep.
REVERSE SWEEP pic.twitter.com/Zj1gNSoAWF
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 8, 2021
PEACE 3-2 RED Canids
In the other fight on the day, the LCO Champions PEACE had a difficult start against their group rivals RED Canids. The Brazilian squad won the first game handily with a great showing by AD Carry Alexandre "TitaN" Lima dos Santos, who was unstoppable as the game went on. In game two, however, PEACE got early kills on their carries and with very active map movement after the 15-minute mark took over the map, then ended the game after an ace 27 minutes in.
The good showing for the Australian team continued in game three, where after a first blood in the bot lane they were soon ahead in all lanes. Despite Red Canids occasionally punishing overextensions, PEACE were too far ahead - and what started as a pick 23 minutes in ended in an ace for the LCO team, who ended the game soon afterwards.
The Brazilian team replied with heavy pressure top, leading to an all court press in game four. Their early advantage set all their carries for success, leading to another quick game - this time in their favor. Game five, however, would be completely one-sided as PEACE got a series of early kills in different lanes and were 2.5K gold ahead just five minutes in. Twelve minutes later they were in the enemy base and they needed just a few more to take the game and earn their spot against Cloud9.
Hanwha Life Esports 3-0 Beyond Gaming
After losing their mid laner, Beyond came out with top laner Wu "Liang" Liang-Te covering the middle lane. In the first game, the PCS team was more competitive, losing out in gold but staying even in kills with a scaling composition. Doggo was on the cusp of becoming a teamfight terror, but 22 minutes in, Hanwhat killed the Beyond bot lane and started baron, leaving it only to get several more kills. Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu’s Miss Fortune was a powerhouse as well, however, and a clutch Bullet time shredded Beyond 28 minutes in to set up HLE for the win.
Hanwha looked stronger in game two, taking over the early game with kills in the side lanes. HuSha’s Viego had a good start as wellpromise, but an attempted tower dive 12 minutes in ended in Beyond getting aced and set the game firmly in HLE’s favor. After that, the LCK team was too far ahead and ended the game shortly after securing the first Baron.
Despite some close calls in the opening minutes of game 3, Hanwha was soon fully in control again. Beyond were visibly desperate, dedicating multiple people to get a single kill and leaving the map open. Hanwha easily secured the Baron and with it, a 4v5 push took two inhibitors before Beyond’s failed flank cost them the game.
Cloud9 3-0 PEACE
In the second series of the day, PEACE had a good start to game 1, taking several early kills, but the LCS team’s better macro prevented the game from going firmly in the LCO team’s favor. A single big mistake 24 minutes in undid PEACE’s efforts as they got aced. Cloud9 were more comfortable on the map and found their next big fight 9 minutes later and with four kills, they pushed to win the game.
Despite taking the first blood in game two, the Australian team soon found itself pushed back as C9 took several early skirmishes to get a 3.5K lead just 10 minutes in. Robert "Blaber" Huang put on a clinic on Olaf as he took over the game and soon, Cloud9 were fully in control, taking the Baron shortly after it spawned and ending the game minutes afterward.
PEACE was visibly struggling and in game 3, it all fell apart from the start. Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen’s Lucian took first blood three minutes in and had two more kills shortly afterwards. It took the LCS team just 16 minutes to amass a 10K gold lead. Shortly afterwards, they smashed in the PEACE base, took two inhibitors and routed the defenders, sealing the deal with a 19-minute victory.
The #Worlds2021 Groups! pic.twitter.com/9Q1gMf9JB9
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 9, 2021
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With this, the Play-in stage is done. The Main Event groups begin on Monday, with the opening game being the Group A clash between FPX and DWG KIA. For more news and analysis, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!