After the LPL and LEC teams dominated Day 2 of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship, it was the LCK’s turn on Day 3. Three of the four South Korean representatives took to battle in New York City and all three of them found glory. North American fans, however, were left with empty hands for the third day in a row. Here is our recap for Day 3 of the Worlds 2022 Group Stage.
GAM Esports 0-1 Rogue
GAM Esports received a rough introduction to the playstyle of Rogue jungler Kim “Malrang” Geun-seong. The South Korean had locked in his trademark Jarvan IV and, in style, skipped a few camps to start ganking his laners. After just four minutes, Malrang had helped secure three kills across the map. He claimed one himself, gave one to Emil “Larssen” Larsson, and one to Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos. After just sixteen minutes, Rogue had a 4k gold lead and was in full control of the map with a scaling composition.
But GAM Esports slowed down the game well. They answered Rogue’s plays by going for towers and farming minion waves, which allowed them to reduce their gold deficit. GAM won a game of posturing in the mid lane and slew Malrang right before Rogue could obtain the Hextech Soul. Minutes later, Rogue threatened to take Baron Nashor, but Đỗ “Levi” Duy Khánh swooped in to steal the objective. GAM was now in the lead. But Rogue didn’t let them get away with it. They caught out GAM mid laner Đặng “Kati” Thanh Phê and secured the dragon soul. A second Baron attempt was successful for Rogue, giving them the strength to close the game.
100 Thieves 0-1 Gen.G
Two teams looked for their first win at Worlds 2022 in the second game of the day. 100 Thieves had been put in its place by CTBC Flying Oyster on the opening day of the tournament, and Gen.G was handed a loss by RNG on the same day. Though the game started cautiously from both teams, Gen.G’s bot lane leaped ahead of their LCS counterparts. 100 Thieves answered on the top side, where Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho managed to stay ahead with his Aatrox.
100 Thieves and Gen.G brought out bad habits in each other. Neither team found consistency in the game for a full twenty minutes. But Gen.G layered their damage more effectively. 100 Thieves often entered fights with half-full health bars, forcing them away and allowing Gen.G to take the lead. Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk melted through 100 Thieves in the late game fights. The LCK champions put their first win on the board at Worlds 2022, but it was a hard-fought battle.
EDward Gaming 1-0 Fnatic
Fnatic chased a clean 3-0 start to the Worlds 2022 Group Stage, but their game against EDward Gaming started disastrously. The LEC squad went for a late invasion of EDG’s Red Buff, but it blew up in their face. Bot laner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon scooped up two easy kills and completely turned the tides on what should have been a losing bot lane matchup for EDG. The reigning world champions continued to capitalize on the flaws Fnatic showed in their play. The only lane that went in favor of the LEC squad was the mid lane: Marek “Humanoid” Brázda put out another great performance.
Humanoid’s elite performance actually managed to drag Fnatic back in the game. At the second drake of the game, the Czech decided a team fight by the narrowest of margins through his Azir ultimate. Though EDG had allowed Fnatic to step back into the game, the gap was still way too large for Fnatic to overcome. EDG had pushed in the lanes of Fnatic, making it impossible for them to safely wander onto the Rift. With a massive gold advantage and great flanks, EDG climbed to a 2-1 score in Group A.
Cloud9 0-1 T1
The struggle of North America at Worlds 2022 got its seventh chapter. LCS champions Cloud9, 0-2 down in the tournament, stood face to face with T1, who had conceded a loss against Fnatic on Day 2. There is not much to be said about the game. T1 had Cloud9’s number from start to finish. Choi “Zeus” Woo-je and Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong were set up for success by their three teammates. Gumayusi even made two quadra kills during the game, but the pentakill stayed absent. T1 was so oppressive during the game that Cloud9 did not even manage to kill a single tower. After 25 minutes, T1 closed out the game.
Royal Never Give Up 1-0 CTBC Flying Oyster
Another one-sided game followed, albeit a far more entertaining one. RNG found an early lead when Flying Oyster overstepped the boundaries in the bot lane river, which unshackled Chen “GALA” Wei’s Aphelios quickly. Facilitated by Yan “Wei” Yangwei, RNG seized control over the map and hand-picked which objectives they wanted to secure and which players they wanted to gank. But Flying Oyster did not give in. They realized that their window to succeed was closing and, to their credit, the PCS champions kept eagerly trying to find ways back into the game. Their eagerness was ruthlessly shut down by RNG, who put on a masterclass of League of Legends to grab their second win of the Worlds 2022 Group Stage.
DRX 1-0 Top Esports
The final game of Day 3 stopped the stomp train. In the first ten minutes of DRX versus Top Esports, both teams walked a tightrope. Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu got his hands on one of his most-renowned champions, Caitlyn, but he stared into the face of Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo’s Draven. Both players pushed each other to their limits, sometimes dancing around their opponents with only a sliver of health. Top Esports then tried to force a fight underneath the bot lane tower, but DRX support Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee juggled the fight beautifully. He stalled the fight long enough for the rest of his team to collapse, flipping the fight in DRX’s favor.
This first fight going in DRX’s way had massive ripple effects throughout the rest of the game. Deft did not let his early lead go to waste and aggressively chipped away at Top Esports’ health bars. But Top Esports had their own carry doing a lot of work. Zhuo “knight” Ding positioned himself well throughout the game with his Azir, staying out of elimination range while trying to find an angle to turn fights around. Unfortunately for knight and for his squires, DRX was too coordinated and meticulously starved Top Esports of resources in the game. The LCK fourth seed brought their own score, and that of Top Esports, to 1-1 in Group C.
Standings
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| T1 (2-1) | JD Gaming (2-0) | Rogue (2-0) | RNG (2-0) |
| EDG (2-1) | G2 Esports (1-1) | DRX (1-1) | Gen.G (2-1) |
| Fnatic (2-1) | DWG KIA (1-1) | Top Esports (1-1) | Flying Oyster (2-1) |
| Cloud9 (0-3) | Evil Geniuses (0-2) | GAM Esports (0-2) | 100 Thieves (0-2) |
The first half of the Worlds 2022 Group Stage rounds up on Oct. 10, at 11 PM CEST. You can find the full schedule here. All games are streamed live on the official LoL Esports channel.
