Day 2 of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage continued Day 1’s trend of many one-sided games. European fans and Chinese fans could not have wished for better results, as their regions’ representatives waltzed towards many victories. Here is our recap of Worlds 2022, Group Stage Day 2.
Rogue 1-0 DRX
The first game of Group C at Worlds 2022 had LEC champion Rogue take on DRX, who had qualified for the Group Stage through a dominant run in the Play-In Stage. The teams went toe-to-toe in the early game, each trying to make plays on opposite sides of the map. Rogue’s Lucian/Nami bot lane wanted to get early but was kept in check well by DRX. Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu was targeted by DRX, but countered a gank expertly.
Rogue took full control of the mid game. Mid laner Emil “Larssen” Larsson zoned DRX away with his signature champion Azir and, together with his teammates, secured objective after objective. Bot laner Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos did get too greedy in the mid lane, which gave DRX the opportunity to start Baron. However, with an unkillable Maokai, Odoamne stopped that attempt and Rogue found their comfort spot again. Rogue understood that they didn’t have to be the aggressor; the Europeans could just let DRX walk into them and tear through DRX’s health bars while they did so. Rogue kept its composure and calmly closed out the game.
Evil Geniuses 0-1 G2 Esports
A one-sided grudge match followed. Evil Geniuses and G2 Esports had met each other six times at MSI 2022, but all six games had gone in G2’s favor. Evil Geniuses went an adventurous route with their draft to try and break that streak. With a Nidalee/Sett duo in the jungle and mid lane, they aimed to catch G2 off guard. But things quickly went awry for the North American representatives. EG failed to find an advantage in the mid and top lane through excellent shadow play from G2 jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski.
G2 kept Evil Geniuses in check and ballooned their lead at twenty minutes. Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik, Rasmus “caPs” Winther, and Victor “Flakked” Lirola formed a three-point offense, aided by consistent set-ups from their jungler and support. Even when Evil Geniuses would land a kill, G2 would trade at least one back. G2 ran all across the map as a unit to deny EG any opportunity to come back in the game, while simultaneously stacking objectives themselves. G2 bounced back from a harsh loss on Day 1 and put their first win on the board.
Fnatic 1-0 T1
Fnatic and T1 fought to become the first 2-0 team in the Worlds 2022 Group Stage. Both had come off convincing victories on Day 1 and entered the stage hoping to continue that trend. Fnatic’s bot lane duo, playing Lucian/Nami, needed to get ahead early for the composition to find a lead. They were struggling after a few waves but were saved by T1. Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun invaded Fnatic’s bot side jungle and stole the Red Buff from under the nose of Iván “Razork” Martín’s Poppy. The two junglers continued pathing towards the bot lane together. Then, with a brilliant Flash, Razork pinned Oner against a wall and collected First Blood with the help of his bot lane.
This single play defined how the rest of the game played out. Fnatic’s bot lane was now winning their lane, which the team exploited relentlessly. They found kills on Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong time and time again. Fnatic tightened its grip in the game rapidly. Mid laner Marek “Humanoid” Brázda and bot laner Elias “Upset” Lipp blew up T1’s players before they could make any play. But the standout player on Fnatic’s side was Razork, who kept his team ahead through fantastic engages and ultimates.
EDward Gaming 1-0 Cloud9
EDG and Cloud9 were on the receiving ends of Fnatic’s and T1’s successes on Day 1, and hoped to wash their loss away. Of course, only one of the two could do so. It quickly became clear that it would be EDG. The LPL team made it their mission to make the life of mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen as miserable as possible. Lee “Scout” Ye-chan had free reign on Azir and shut Cloud9 down at every opportunity. In the top lane, Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami struggled again on Fiora, this time not managing to find a lead despite counter-picking it into Li “Flandre” Xuanjun’s Aatrox.
EDG never lost their advantage in the game. Support Tian “Meiko” Ye landed hook after hook with his Thresh, dragging in kill after kill for his teammates. The reigning world champions conceded only one drake, one tower, and four deaths across the 28-minute-long game. EDG claimed their first victory at Worlds 2022 and pushed Cloud9 down to an 0-2 score in Group A.
Top Esports 1-0 GAM Esports
Speaking of stomps, the second Group C game of Day 2 provided another one. Top Esports, the runner-up in the LPL Summer Split, had the honor of being the first team to play against GAM Esports. GAM had been absent from the Worlds stage since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Vietnam’s strict policies surrounding it. Though GAM went for an uncharacteristically normal draft by VCS standards, their play was still in line with expectations. They aggressively forced engages in the bot lane and jungle, hoping to disrupt Top Esports.
But GAM’s eagerness to fight came back to bite them quickly. They thought they could ambush Top Esports at the Raptor camp, but bit off more than they could chew. Gao “Tian” Tianliang locked GAM in place with his Poppy and let his teammates freely farm four enemies before the clock had even reached ten minutes. At just over fifteen minutes, Top Esports bot laner Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo already sat at five kills and five assists. To GAM Esports’ credit, they didn’t just roll over. The VCS champions tried to find a few kills, but Top Esports was too slippery and dominantly won their first game at Worlds.
DWG KIA 0-1 JD Gaming
Day 2 ended with a heated clash between Group B’s two undefeated teams, DWG KIA and JD Gaming. DWG KIA found an early lead in the game, but JDG did not let it go unanswered. Mid laner Zeng “Yagao” Qi roamed to the bot lane and, with a fantastic Azir ult, helped to get his team two kills to stabilize the game. The two teams kept each other in check all the way through the first 25 minutes. DWG KIA stayed in the game by finding targeted kills and stacking drakes—aided by a bold steal from Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu—while JD Gaming found more kills and towers across the map.
Whenever DWG KIA and JDG ran into each other on Summoner’s Rift, the tension rose quickly and the field became a stage for bot chaos and fantastic skill. Ultimately, the game was decided at the dragon pit. DWG KIA wanted to secure the Hextech Soul, but JD Gaming had set up cleverly around the pit to deny their opponents the buff. When DWG KIA pushed forward, JDG jungler Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok emerged from a nearby bush and tore his opponents to pieces. JD Gaming won the fight, ran to the bot lane, and secured a hard-fought victory.
Standings
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| Fnatic (2-0) | JD Gaming (2-0) | Rogue (1-0) | RNG (1-0) |
| T1 (1-1) | DWG KIA (1-1) | Top Esports (1-0) | Flying Oyster (1-0) |
| EDG (1-1) | G2 Esports (1-1) | GAM Esports (0-1) | Gen.G (0-1) |
| Cloud9 (0-2) | Evil Geniuses (0-2) | DRX (0-1) | 100 Thieves (0-1) |
Teams of Group D take to the stage again on Day 3. You can find the full schedule here. All games can be watched live on the official LoL Esports channel.
