Blue side, best side: Worlds 2022 Groups Day 7 recap

On a day that saw all seven games won by blue side teams, the West finally broke into Knockouts, with LEC first seed Rogue advancing from Group C alongside LCK fourth seed DRX on the third day of Week 2 of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Rogue vs. GAM Esports

In the only LEC victory of Groups Week 2, Rogue were able to beat VCS first seed GAM Esports by a 19-9 score in 30:42 to win their 10th straight game. RGE botlaner Markos "Comp" Stamkopoulos was a perfect 8/0/4 on Lucian, and Emil "Larssen" Larsson’s 6/1/7 Azir controlled the game from the mid lane.

GAM Esports vs. Top Esports

GAM Esports defied all expectations by beating LPL second seed Top Esports in a 21-17 game that lasted 41:32. GAM jungler Đỗ "Levi" Duy Khánh’s 9/5/11 Karthus pick led the game in kills and gave his team the edge in a lategame base defense that flipped the game against TES. With the loss, TES was eliminated from Worlds 2022 and Rogue locked a spot in the Knockout Stage.

DRX vs. Rogue

DRX beat Rogue 20-4 in a 30:15 game that only saw the European team take a single tower with no other objectives. Every member of DRX played well, but midlaner Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo’s 7/0/5 Akali and support Cho "BeryL" Geon-hee’s 3/0/7 Heimerdinger were the stars of the show. DRX’s victory simultaneously qualified the team for Knockouts and knocked GAM out of Worlds 2022.

DRX vs. GAM Esports

By a 19-7 score, DRX beat GAM Esports in 31:31 in the Vietnamese team’s last game of Worlds 2022. In his second straight Ashe game, legendary DRX botlaner Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu went 8/2/10 on the pick against a wacky GAM teamcomp that featured Anivia mid and Syndra support. DRX toplaner Hwang "Kingen" Seong-hoon’s 4/0/10 Aatrox performance gave GAM a final record of 1-5 and fourth place in their group.

Top Esports vs. Rogue

Elimination didn’t stop Top Esports from putting up their best performances of Worlds at the end of Day 7, as the team destroyed Rogue 19-8 in just 24:52. Supported by a surprise Blitzcrank, TES botlaner Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo notched a 9/1/1 score on Draven. The loss gave Rogue a 4-2 record in Group C.

Top Esports vs. DRX

In the last game of Top Esports’ season, the team found a 15-3 victory against DRX that lasted 34:08. JackeyLove’s Lucian proved even deadlier than his Draven, as the botlaner grabbed himself a 9/0/4 scoreline while support Ling “Mark” Xu had a 1/0/13 performance on Nami. DRX’s loss forced the 4-2 team to play a tiebreaker against Rogue for first place in the group.

DRX vs. Rogue (tiebreaker)

DRX took the top spot in Group C in just 24:47 with a 16-5 victory against Rogue. Zeka’s 9/0/3 Sylas performance gave the LEC their ninth loss of Week 2 to go along with just one victory against GAM Esports. DRX join Group A’s T1 and Group B’s JD Gaming as a first seed, while Rogue joins Group A’s EDward Gaming and Group B’s DWG KIA as second seed.

Featured image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games.