For fans of League of Legends, the Mid-Season Invitational or MSI started on May 10th. You can check out our article about the event here if you are interested. Following our Day 2 recap of the Rumble Stage, Day 2 has started, let's do a recap of the second day of the Rumble Stage’s games.
The first game of Rumble Stage day three was Evil Geniuses (EG) hoping to get a win against the former world champs SK Telecom T1 (T1). EG would have to keep hoping to pull it off later down the line as they were unsuccessful in that endeavor for this match. EG stayed in a competitive position even if a bit behind in gold and objectives until 22 minutes. Then, after a lost team fight for EG, T1 took Baron and with it complete control over the game! T1 would then win the game at 25 minutes with 12 kills to EG’s 4 and a 10k gold lead. T1 showed in this game both their ability to out draft EG as well as their ability to outplay EG across the map. EG fans can only hope for a better showing next time EG faces off against T1.
In game two we had G2 E-Sports (G2) facing PSG Talon (PSG), and PSG showed they are the dark horse to look out for! In short, the wicked witch is dead! PSG put an end to G2’s perfect record at MSI and dethroned the undefeated kings. At 23 minutes in the game, PSG was actually losing by 3k gold despite being even in kills at 3 each, but then in a huge team fight at dragon PSG got 4 of G2’s members for none of theirs! PSG then proceeded to get Baron, from there, they quickly pushed their advantage rushing into G2’s base with Baron Buff to win the game at 27 minutes with only 12 kills to G2’s 4, and up only 5k gold! The game ended all of a sudden after G2 lost one careless team fight, and showed us that even kings can get overthrown by the lowliest peasants.
For game number three we had Royal Never Give Up (RNG) getting ready to smash the Saigon Buffalos (SGB), and smash they did. SGB amazingly actually held up to RNG’s pressure for 35 minutes with neither side getting many kills! Despite the lack of scraps of action of any kind, RNG consistently held control of the game in terms of gold and map control. The game was actually rather uneventful and slow ending with RNG’s 12 kills to SGB’s 7, and the last 5 of those 12 kills happening in the last 20 seconds of the game in the team fight that won the match. Not the most interesting game to watch, but it does seem that SGB is getting better despite their regular losses.
The fourth game of day three involved SK Telecom T1 and PSG Talon. PSG was actually able to keep the game close in terms of kills and neutral objectives, if not gold and towers. T1 quickly pulled ahead in gold by making use of Twisted Fate and Gangplank to farm extra gold with their passives in addition to getting multiple towers down early! However, whenever T1 tried to team fight PSG was able to turn it around on them to some degree at least tying the fights if not winning them. PSG winning fights is what let them stay in the game so long, keeping the game going till 34 minutes when T1 finally won with 14 kills to PSG’s 12, and only a 10k gold lead! PSG put up a great fight against T1 and showed they have what it takes to go up against the big boys and possibly beat them as they did to G2 earlier.
For the penultimate game of the night, we had Royal Never Give Up staring down G2, much more confident now that G2 had their unbeaten record smashed by the dark horse of PSG Talon earlier in the day. Today was not G2’s day as their record would continue to spiral, losing this match to RNG as well! The game would stay almost completely even with G2 and RNG trading kills back and forth, until 15 minutes when RNG would begin to pull ahead slowly by taking down G2’s towers due to their better macro. From there RNG would win a Baron fight at 24 minutes and use Baron Buff to push into G2’s base and win at 26 minutes. The final kill score was 15 for RNG to G2’s 6. Will this be the continuation of G2’s fall from grace or will they be able to start winning their games again tomorrow?
The final match of day three of Rumble Stage was Evil Geniuses facing up against the Saigon Buffaloes. EG would be hoping to keep their 4th place spot and SGB was dreaming of starting a miracle climb to steal it. SGB would not succeed, falling to EG’s dive comp by 32 minutes into the game. EG made a few mistakes in the game giving up one or two team fights but not in a way that endangered their lead. By the end of the game, EG had 28 kills to 11, mountain soul, and a 10k gold lead over SGB! Hopefully, we get to see SGB win some games before Rumble is over and hopefully some redemption for their bad Veigar play, as I’d hate to see the champ get a bad reputation in pro play, he is my favorite after all.
