DetonatioN FocusMe has advanced to the next round in the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Play-In Stage. The LJL champion overcame Brazil’s LOUD 3-1 in the knockout phase, eliminating the CBLoL team from Worlds 2022. DFM advances in the knockout phase bracket and will play reigning MSI champions Royal Never Give Up in another best-of-five series, the winner of which qualifies for the Worlds 2022 Group Stage.
LOUD opens in typical LOUD fashion
LOUD kicked off the first game of the series with their iconic playstyle. They wasted no time and fought DFM continuously, whether it was warranted or not. Top laner Leonardo “Robo” Souza had locked in Olaf in the draft phase and it quickly paid dividends. LOUD acquired a significant gold lead in the first ten minutes, but DFM held on strongly. When LOUD overextended, DetonatioN FocusMe tried to collapse on them, using Lee “Yaharong” Chan-ju’s Azir to tear through their enemies. The game slowly descended into back-and-forth chaos. LOUD ultimately found the advantage with relentless aggression from Robo and won the longest game at Worlds 2022 so far, clocking in at 44 minutes and 48 seconds.
Surprisingly, LOUD stepped away from their aggressive approach in the second game. This played right into the strategy DFM had set out on. They were already trying to dictate the pace of the game at the start of the series, but couldn’t slow down LOUD effectively. Now, LOUD didn’t have the tools to cause the same chaos and DFM controlled the game. Although the first twenty minutes were quiet, the LJL squad got a firm grip on the game through effective map play. At twenty minutes, DFM popped off. Bot laner Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura had been building a significant gold lead on his Tristana and blew up LOUD. LOUD tried to throw a spanner in the works with a few desperate fights, but DFM shut them down and tied the series.
DetonatioN FocusMe keeps the head cool
Third game of the series can be summarized with two words: utter mayhem. LOUD had locked in brawly champions again, opting for Jax, and Kai’Sa, while DFM went for the scaling bot lane with Sivir and Yuumi. Despite DFM having a gold lead for most of the game, LOUD found their way to an Infernal Soul relatively quickly. But LOUD struggled to convert any of their advantages into lane pressure. DetonatioN FocusMe haphazardly ran across the map to answer LOUD’s plays and though the fights weren’t pretty, DFM came out on top in most of them. Meanwhile, the Sivir/Yuumi duo started to ramp up and forced LOUD back into a corner. LOUD had no answer to the pressure DFM was exerting and conceded a second game.
It took a while, but DetonatioN FocusMe had found their flow after three games. Once again, their goal was to contain any aggression LOUD tried to hit them with. Yaharong’s Viktor stabilized the entire game for DFM and nullified their opponents. The clumsy engages of the CBLoL team were shut down with seemingly little effort. DFM ramped up quickly after fifteen minutes of play. Yaharong and Yutapon tore through LOUD’s players. With one Baron buff, DetonatioN FocusMe blew LOUD’s base open. At exactly 26 minutes, the Japanese squad closed out the series.
DetonatioN FocusMe faces RNG for a Worlds 2022 Group Stage ticket on Oct. 5 at 1 AM CEST. A few hours before that, MAD Lions plays Evil Geniuses for the other spot in the Group Stage. Both series can be watched live on the official LoL Esports site.
