Group C has elected its first representative for the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Knockout Stage. Rogue, the first seed of the LEC, continued their win streak on Day 7 of the Group Stage and locked their spot in the top eight.
Rogue had a comfortable position heading into their final games of the Group Stage. The LEC champion had defeated all their opponents in the first Round Robin and sat at a comfortable 3-0 score. Their objective was simple: win against DRX or Top Esports and Rogue would directly make it through. A victory against GAM Esports would not directly lock Rogue into the Knockout Stage yet, but would mean they make it on 31 of 32 possible scenarios, or they would play a tiebreaker.
GAM Esports did not plan on letting Rogue pass through Worlds 2022 easy, though. The VCS champion picked an incredibly aggressive composition into Rogue, who had all their players on comfort champions. GAM pressed their advantages after Rogue got overaggressive in a fight for the Rift Herald. Though jungler Đỗ “Levi” Duy Khánh made Rogue sweat, GAM could not keep their momentum. Mid laner Emil “Larssen” Larsson had been farming up and scooped up his Vietnamese opponents with his ultimate, pulling Rogue back in the game. The European squad continued to trade evenly through messy fights. Their composition scaled better into the late game, though, and by the end GAM could simply not keep up.
GAM Esports does Rogue a favor
Rogue had their first win under their belt, but wasn’t safe just yet. Their salvation came one game later. GAM Esports took on LPL second seed Top Esports and repeated the strategy they had against Rogue: play around Levi. This time, though, they did so with a Karthus in the jungle. Top Esports countered GAM’s strategy well early on, taking away as many resources from Levi as possible. The Chinese squad actually acquired a gold lead—one they would not give up in the entire game—but GAM Esports focused on the objectives. GAM secured the Mountain Soul and Levi shred through Top’s players.
The game came to an explosive conclusion. Top Esports bot laner Wenbo “JackeyLove” Yu stole the Elder Dragon, and his team marched through the mid lane. GAM top laner Trần “Kiaya” Duy Sang heroically sacrificed his life to barely keep his team’s Nexus standing. His teammates swiped Top Esports from the map, rushed to the other side of the map, and won the game. With GAM’s victory, Rogue became certain of a quarterfinal spot. They are the only LEC team to escape the Group Stage.
As of publishing the article, all other Group C teams are still in the running for the second Knockout Stage ticket. The other teams who already secured their top eight spots are T1, EDward Gaming, JD Gaming, and DWG KIA. Group D plays its last games on Oct. 16.
