Day 4 marked the final day of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Play-In Stage’s group phase. Each team only played one game on the regular schedule. However, due to how the previous games had gone and due to how Day 4 played out, tiebreaker games were added to the schedule. Here is our recap of Worlds 2022 Day 4.
Beyond Gaming 0-1 Fnatic
A lot of weight rested on the shoulders of Beyond Gaming and Fnatic. If Beyond Gaming won the game, it would push Group A closer to a five-way tie. A Fnatic win would eliminate a scenario and would guarantee a top-two finish in Group A for the Europeans. The early game between the two teams was scrappy. Fnatic found big advantages in their lanes but repeatedly got overeager and was punished for their aggression by Beyond Gaming. But Fnatic’s individual skill dwarfed that of Beyond Gaming. Mid laner Marek “Humanoid” Brázda went berserk on his Akali. Even a stolen Baron could not salvage the disadvantaged situation Beyond Gaming found themselves in, and Fnatic secured the victory.
LOUD 1-0 Chiefs Esports Club
LOUD fought their tournament lives against Chiefs Esports Club. For better and for worse, LOUD played the entire game with their trademark aggressive playstyle. Top laner Leonardo “Robo” Souza had a fantastic start on Aatrox and at sixteen minutes, LOUD had accumulated an 8000 gold lead. But LOUD had no stop button. They kept running forward even when they shouldn’t. It allowed Chiefs Esports Club to find its footing again. The game was a bloodbath. 26 minutes into the game, 42 kills had been made across the two teams. The Chiefs couldn’t keep up with LOUD’s pace for long. The Brazilians wouldn’t stop pushing forward and earned their third win of the Worlds 2022 Play-In Stage.
DetonatioN FocusMe 1-0 Evil Geniuses
The third game of Play-In Stage Day 4 had two diametrically opposed stakes to it. DFM fought to stay alive in Worlds. Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, had to win in order to catch up with Fnatic and force a tiebreaker game to determine which Group A team would go straight to the Group Stage. DFM and EG went back and forth in the game. First Evil Geniuses looked strong and in control, but come mid game they started to fumble. DFM top laner Shunsuke “Evi” Murase haunted the LCS squad with his Gnar, fearlessly contesting every objective. The composition of DFM scaled well. Especially the Sivir/Yuumi combination cut deep wounds in EG’s squad come late game. DFM kept their head cool and closed out the game, thereby granting Fnatic a ticket to the Group Stage and eliminating Beyond Gaming from the tournament.
İstanbul Wildcats 0-1 Isurus
There was nothing on the line for İstanbul Wildcats and Isurus besides honor. Both teams had lost all hopes of qualifying to the Worlds 2022 Group Stage on Day 3 of the Play-In Stage. Still, both teams tried their best to return home with a win under their belt. İstanbul Wildcats kept the game even for a long time, although Isurus kept pushing them further and further into a corner. After twenty minutes, Kang “ADD” Geon-mo started slamming the Wildcats’ hope into the ground with his Aatrox. Isurus accelerated quickly and sealed the game shut, rounding out the Worlds 2022 Play-In Stage with a win.
DRX 1-0 MAD Lions
DRX had complete control over their own fate heading into the game. A win would guarantee the LCK squad a direct spot in the Worlds 2022 Group Stage. A loss would put them in a tiebreaker scenario. MAD Lions threw curveball picks at DRX with a Mordekaiser top and Bel’Veth jungle. It worked. DRX could not get a grip on their European opponents, who took a commanding lead in the game. It wasn’t until Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo popped off with Sylas that the foundations of MAD Lions started to shake. It still took a long time for DRX to put a dent in MAD’s game. The Lions had acquired an Ocean Soul and played their fights cleaner than in the previous days. DRX struck out of nowhere when MAD Lions started their second Baron. While DRX conceded the objective, they aced their opponents in the subsequent fight and ended the game in one push. DRX had qualified for the Group Stage.
RNG 1-0 Saigon Buffalo
Similar to DRX, RNG walked a tightrope. The LPL team had already suffered a loss—on Day 1 against DRX—and although they had won their games since, another loss would put them in a tiebreaker bracket for second place. A win would directly get them that second place. Saigon Buffalo was locked into fourth place unless they won, forcing the same tiebreaker bracket. RNG played a measured game to answer the aggression from their Vietnamese opponents. Although SGB’s designated hard-carry Nguyễn “Shogun” Văn Huy once again got rolling, the collective of RNG was able to overcome the threat. Using a Fiora to split push, they dragged Saigon Buffalo around the map until they could run no more, and RNG closed out the game.
Group A tiebreaker games
The results put Group A in a three-way tie. Evil Geniuses, DetonatioN FocusMe, and LOUD all finished the regular Round Robin with a 3-2 score. To determine which team would finish the Play-In Stage’s group phase in second place and with that get one extra step closer to the Worlds 2022 Group Stage, the three teams were ranked by their total game time. Importantly, only the games that they won counted.
LOUD had won their games the fastest, so they were the first seed. Evil Geniuses and DetonatioN FocusMe first played each other, with the loser of that game placing fourth in Group A. The winner advanced to play LOUD, determining who would be Group A’s second-placed team and who would end the group phase in third place.
These tiebreaker games did not eliminate either team from the tournament. It only determined the Play-In Knockout Stage bracket.
Tiebreaker 1: Evil Geniuses vs DetonatioN FocusMe
Evil Geniuses came back with a vengeance from their defeat just hours earlier. In the rematch, the whole team came out guns blazing. Mid laner Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun got his hands on his comfort champion Akali and ruled his lane early on. Jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma and support Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme roamed across the map to shut down DFM in all lanes, granting EG an early advantage with resources evenly distributed. As dull as it may be for a rematch of a game that was so tense, this game was a stomp. Evil Geniuses dominated DFM and advanced to the next best-of-one, against LOUD.
Tiebreaker 2: LOUD vs Evil Geniuses
The barrage of Evil Geniuses continued in their game against LOUD. This time top laner Jeong “Impact” Eon-yeong took the team on his back. LOUD tried to gank him early on but, wielding the Mordekaiser expertly, Impact turned the fight around to claim a double kill. This one fight sent the EG snowball rolling. LOUD had no way of getting their foot in the door and playing the aggressive playstyle that had brought them their success so far. Evil Geniuses barreled towards a victory and claimed second place in Group A.
Standings
| Group A | Group B |
| Fnatic (4-1) | DRX (5-0) |
| Evil Geniuses (5-2)* | RNG (4-1) |
| LOUD (3-3)* | MAD Lions (3-2) |
| DetonatioN FocusMe (3-3)* | Saigon Buffalo (3-2) |
| Beyond Gaming (2-3) | Isurus (1-4) |
| Chiefs Esports Club (0-5) | İstanbul Wildcats (0-5) |
*After tiebreaker games
Missed Worlds 2022 Day 3? Read our recap. The Play-In Stage continues on Oct. 3 at 8 PM CEST. For the full schedule of the Worlds 2022 Play-In Stage, click here. You can watch the games live on the official LoL Esports site.
