The first half of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship Group Stage rounded up on Day 4. Group B, Group C, and Group D played their remaining matches. It was once again a great day to be an LCK fan: the region booked another 3-0 in combined results. Here is our recap of Day 4 of the Worlds 2022 Group Stage.
JD Gaming 1-0 G2 Esports
The day kicked off with one of two clashes between the LPL and the LEC. JD Gaming searched for a clean 3-0 end to the first half of the Round Robin, while G2 Esports needed a win to bounce back from the beating DWG KIA gave them. G2 spiced up the draft phase by locking in Darius for Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik. They managed to obtain First Blood with it, but a good roam from JDG and overconfidence from G2 resulted in a kill traded back. G2 managed to get ahead on the top side of the map, but JDG styled on the bot side. Wang “Hope” Jie farmed two kills on an overeager G2 bot lane and balanced out the map.
But G2 kept making tiny mistakes and JDG punished those mistakes relentlessly.JDG used their momentum to dominate the map. They took down five towers of G2 and were ramping up to a commanding lead. Then G2 struck back. A four-man Seraphine ultimate from Victor “Flakked” Lirola lined JDG up for annihilation and G2 took the chance. The LEC squad actually managed to acquire a gold advantage over JDG. However, G2’s play was still too scrappy and uncoordinated. At Baron, they tried to bait a Teleport use from JDG, which they got, but then they stuck around way too long and got chunked out. In a subsequent mid lane fight, Hope destroyed G2 with perfect positioning and JDG secured the victory.
Rogue 1-0 Top Esports
Clash two between the LPL and LEC followed immediately, as the undefeated Rogue took on Top Esports. The two teams tangoed evenly with each other from the very first minute, trading blow for blow. Rogue overchased Gao “Tian” Tianliang in the bot river, resulting in the death of Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulus. But Top Esports gave kills back in return in the bot lane and in the top lane, allowing Rogue to stay even until sixteen minutes in the game.
Top Esports pulled ahead by exemplary displays of their skill. Rogue tried to ambush Zhuo “knight” Ding with three ultimates, but the LPL mid laner got away. Moments later, Top Esports outplayed Rogue at the second drake of the game and seemed to barrel towards a win. Their opponents thought differently, though. Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus seemed to be caught out of position in a top lane bush, but Rogue brilliantly turned the fight around and seized control of the game. Rogue was everywhere on the map to keep Top Esports in check. The LPL second seed claimed an inhibitor while Rogue slew Baron, but the Europeans were in full control. With excellent engages from Trymbi and Kim “Malrang” Geun-seong, Rogue suffocated Top Esports and went 3-0 in Group C.
DWG KIA 1-0 Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses fought to keep fate in their own hands against DWG KIA. After a successful Play-Ins run, the LCS squad struggled in the Worlds Group Stage and had lost both their games so far. DWG KIA sought to clutch out a second win, having dropped to JD Gaming before. The two teams traded evenly in the first few minutes of the game. DWG KIA managed to punish bot laner Hasan “Kaori” Şentürk a few times, but Evil Geniuses answered with aggressive roams and got ahead on Hecarim. For the first ten minutes, Evil Geniuses kept its foot in the door.
DWG KIA started applying more and more pressure on that door, though. Top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon was a man on a mission playing Jayce, slamming Evil Geniuses’ players into their graves. Evil Geniuses became increasingly desperate with their plays. Hoping to find a kill, they tried to collapse on any player who was even remotely overextended. But the North American squad did no damage compared to their South Korean opponents. Nuguri and bot laner Seo “deokdam” Dae-gil blew up Evil Geniuses and lifted DWG KIA to a 2-1 score in Group B.
100 Thieves 0-1 Royal Never Give Up
The North American pain train had one last stop in the first half of Worlds’ Group Stage. 100 Thieves was the last hope for the LCS to not start the Group Stage with a collective 0-9 record, but they made the game harder than necessary from the start. Top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho disrespected RNG’s level 1 engage options and was caught out in a bush and conceded an early death. Despite the slip-up, though, 100 Thieves somewhat stabilized the game. Jungler Can “Closer” Çelik found kills in return and helped his team to actually reach a 2.3k gold lead by twelve minutes.
RNG, in the meantime, stacked the first two drakes and prepared themselves for their champions’ power spikes later in the game. Top laner Chen “Breathe” Chen once again felt unkillable on the Jax, but it was Chen “GALA” Wei who dazzled 100 Thieves. RNG’s bot laner piloted his signature champion Kai’Sa precisely around his opponents. 100 Thieves seemed completely lost on the map. When RNG set up for yet another drake, 100 Thieves postured endlessly and only chose to engage when RNG had already secured the buff. RNG cleaned them out and ended the first half of the Worlds 2022 Group Stage with another victory.
Gen.G 1-0 CTBC Flying Oyster
After beating 100 Thieves on Day 1 of the Group Stage and losing to RNG later on, Flying Oyster had everything to play for against Gen.G. If the PCS champions clutched out a victory, they would rise to a 2-1 score and be in a good position to make it to the Knockout Stage. The only problem: Gen.G was in the exact same spot, and they were not so easily swayed from giving their chances away. Flying Oyster brought a heavily early-game-focused composition into the game. With Renekton/Lee Sin on the top side, and Kalista/Pyke on the bot side, they had to get ahead in the early game in order to stand a chance.
It went relatively well for Flying Oyster for about eleven minutes, but then Gen.G put their foot down. A scrappy fight bot ended in a two-for-one trade in Gen.G’s favor, with mid laner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon already picking up his third kill of the game. Gen.G stayed ahead in the whole game, but Flying Oyster never let them get away too far. They kept throwing themselves at Gen.G with varying degrees of success. Flying Oyster even managed to pick up a Baron, but it didn’t affect the outcome of the game. Their composition had run out of steam and Gen.G won the bloody but entertaining fight.
GAM Esports 0-1 DRX
The final game of the Worlds 2022 Group Stage’s first half was an anticlimactic clash between VCS first seed GAM Esports, who sat at an 0-2 score, and LCK fourth seed DRX, who were at an even 1-1. The game went south for GAM instantly. They tried to steal away the Red Buff on DRX’s side with a late invasion, but the South Koreans had read them like a book. DRX raked in three kills for free, starting the laning phase with a massive advantage.
Although the game was not incredibly explosive overall, DRX kept beating GAM Esports to the punch. They never let go of their early advantage and managed to balloon their lead well by securing drake after drake and tower after tower. GAM had no say whatsoever. Even in a 5v3 scenario, DRX mid laner Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo was strong enough to tear GAM apart. DRX won convincingly and put themselves in second place of Group C.
Standings
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| T1 (2-1) | JDG (3-0) | Rogue (3-0) | RNG (3-0) |
| EDG (2-1) | DWG KIA (2-1) | DRX (2-1) | Gen.G (2-1) |
| Fnatic (2-1) | G2 Esports (1-2) | Top Esports (1-2) | Flying Oyster (1-2) |
| Cloud9 (0-3) | Evil Geniuses (0-3) | GAM Esports (0-3) | 100 Thieves (0-3) |
The Worlds 2022 Group Stage continues on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 9 PM CEST. The full schedule can be found here. All games are streamed on the official LoL Esports site.
