JDG vs. Rogue Quarterfinal recap: Worlds 2022 Knockouts Day 1

LPL first seed JD Gaming advance to face the winner of tomorrow's series between T1 and Royal Never Give Up after they beat LEC first seed Rogue 3-0 in the first Quarterfinal series of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship on Oct. 20 at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Game 1: JDG win

JD Gaming beat Rogue in Game 1 by a 13-6 score in 29:19. JDG jungler Seo "Kanavi" Jin-hyeok's 4/1/5 Graves terrorized RGE from the opening minutes of the game, as his jungle invade and subsequent kill on RGE toplaner Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu snowballed into an untouchable topside advantage. Both teams drafted front-to-back compositions, and RGE drafted picks they were comfortable on, but JDG toplaner Bai "369" Jia-Hao's 5/1/4 Graves ensured the JDG victory. RGE botlaner Markos "Comp" Stamkopoulos didn't die on Lucian in the match, going 2/0/1.

Game 2: JDG win

In another sub-30-minute game, JD Gaming beat Rogue 10-6 in 29:39 to go up match point. RGE Comp and support Adrian "Trymbi" Trybus played Lucian and Nami again but fell behind early to JDG botlaner Wang "Hope" Jie, who went 4/0/3 on Aphelios. JDG secured a 5k gold lead before 17 minutes, which they transitioned into a 22 minute Baron. RGE defended well and found a 2-for-0 fight, but JDG turned their next Baron into a 3-for-0 teamfight and a Game 2 victory. This time, it was RGE midlaner Emil "Larssen" Larsson's turn to lose without a death, as he went 1/0/2 on tournament staple Azir.

Game 3: JDG win

JD Gaming completed the sweep of Rogue in the closest game of the series, a 14-10 victory in Game 3 that lasted 33:06. RGE picked a composition with a heavy emphasis on early game, and with strong positioning -- and some luck -- RGE Comp netted a double kill in an early 2v2. Comp was shut down after another kill when JDG's 369 and midlaner Zeng "Yagao" Qi came botlane, but RGE's composition allowed them to take a 2-0 dragon lead in 15 minutes. JDG and RGE traded successful midgame teamfights, but Comp's frequent early defensive usage of Kalista's ultimate put the team on the back foot in combination with RGE jungler Kim "Malrang" Geun-seong's repeated whiffs of Lee Sin's abilities. At 31 minutes, only 2k gold separated the two teams, but an unsuspecting 3-for-0 teamfight in mid lane two minutes later led to JDG breaking open RGE's base and taking the game.

Featured image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games.