Upset for EU: Day 6 sees EG claim their first win in Group Stage against G2.

Day 6 of Worlds proved to contain some upsets. Evil Geniuses (EG), the North American third seed, had a scheduled rematch against the former kings of EU, G2 Esports. The European side had just a week ago, demolished EG 19 kills to 2, having ended the game with an over 10K gold lead.

Led by star players Rasmus “caPs” Borregaard Winther and Sergen “BrokenBlade” Celik on the scoreboard, the European side would emerge victorious in a clean performance reminiscent of their Spring Split form earlier this year. Yesterday’s match was looking to be a repeat performance for G2, assuring them a chance of contending for qualification out of Groups.

Sitting at a score line of 1-2 games at this point, this was G2’s best chance of the night to close the gap against group leader JDG at 3-0 and DWG just ahead of them at 2-1.

You Don’t Beat EG 8 times in a Row

This time, however, would be different. Previously, EG had been beaten with barely a whimper. G2 was now 7-0 in matchups against EG and there were high spirits on the European side.

In spite of all that, the EG roster now found themselves backed against the wall at 0-3 in the group stage. Losing any more would almost assuredly send them home, and so, they came out swinging.

G2’s previous team comp had revolved around later game scaling, with the Aphelios and Sylas needing time to get online. G2 ‘jungler’ Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski had been placed on the tanky Sejuani to buffer the line in the meantime. However, looking to make a statement yesterday, G2 pulled out the Lee Sin on “Jankos” alongside an aggressive early game comp of Draven and Thresh in the botlane. G2 was looking for early blood.

Looking ‘Inspired’

Alas, that was not to be, with EG jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma piloting his infamous Hecarim to make early plays in the botlane. EG would score first blood against G2’s bot laner, Victor “Flakked” Lirola Tortosa before cleaning up on Raphaël "Targamas" Crabbé as well.

From there, the tempo of the game was clearly in EG’s favour, with fight after fight won through “Inspired’s” brilliant plays and the teams newfound cohesion. Muhammed Hasan "Kaori" Şentürk shared in the glory as well with his Lucian outperforming “Flakked’s” Draven hard.

EG would go on to win the game with a crushing score line of 1-15, only giving up a single dragon and ending the game with a near 16k gold lead. Throughout the game, G2 attempted many times, especially “caPs” on the Azir, to turn the game, but it just was not their night. Every play went the favour of EG and “Inspired”, with G2 left sitting on their hands as they waited for it all to end.

Mediocre performance

Coming into Worlds, G2 was looking weaker than usual. Compared to their Spring Split performance, Summer had seen them buckle more frequently to domestic competition in the LEC. Part of the reason could be attributed to other teams becoming better, however, the team’s cohesion has seen some weakness, especially in the botlane, where at times “Flakked” has looked shaky.

Now with their exit from Worlds, G2 could potentially be eyeing roster changes in anticipation for 2023. Only time will tell.

Image credit: Colin Young-Wolff via Riot games