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League of Legends

Worlds 2020 Day One: Europe surges while NA looks shaky

The main event of Worlds 2020 has just started, and after day one there’s already some shake ups and upsets. However the biggest upset of all was the seeming one-sidedness of the majority of day one’s games. Apart from the two closing matchups, Worlds 2020 opened up with four decisive stomps, leaving a quartet of teams desperate for international redemption.

Four Stomps to Start Worlds 2020

The start of the stomps saw FlyQuest fall to the LPL’s Topsports. Fly were definitely not the favorite headed into the matchup, but many expected them to at least put on a serviceable performance. Instead, the team were utterly smashed by their Chinese opponents, setting the scene for the rest of the day. 

DRX of the LCK were up next, taking on the upstart Unicorns of Love from CIS. The CIS team had earned a lot of fans after their fantastic play-in performance, but fan-favourite status wasn’t enough to take home a win. They lost out to the Korean top seed in dramatic fashion. 

Europe’s Rogue were next up to the block in what was expected to be a competitive game against PSG Talon. However, a Malphite pick in the top lane for Finn “Finn” Wiestål proved to be too much for Talon. The rock golem smashed their opponent’s to pieces, facilitating numerous team fights, and wrapping up the game.

Damwon Gaming took on JDG in a matchup that pitted the two best teams in their group against each other. Yet despite JGD being able to match DWG with early aggression, the long range poke from the Nidalee jungle

Competitive Finish to Day One

Finally after four stomps in a row, it was time for some competitive action. The contest between between LGD and Gen.G immediately became the best match of the day, with LGD’s Ling “Mark” Xu carrying with his hyper aggressive play-style.

But after two incredibly dragon fights, it was Gen.G who came out on top. The Korean second seed showed how dangerous they were when allowed to rotate the way they want to. Their macro game is some of the best in the tournament.

The late game of Day One pitted the rival western regions of NA and EU against each other as Fnatic and Team SoloMid clashed. With Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek on Evelynn, it was a battle of the comfort picks. After Fnatic grabbed an early lead, TSM’s map plays, led by jungler Mingyi “Spica” Lu kept the NA hopefuls in the game. But a disastrous series of plays by TSM allowed Fnatic to take the lead, and after momentarily promising an upset, the NA squad became the final losing team of the day. 

Worlds 2020 Day One Results:

FlyQuest 0 – 1 Topsports

Unicorns of Love 0 – 1 DRX

Rogue 1 – 0 PSG Talon

Damwon Gaming 1 – 0 JD Gaming

Gen.G 1 – 0 LGD Gaming

TSM 0 – 1 Fnatic

Worlds 2020 continues tomorrow. For all the latest Worlds 2020 news and analysis.check out Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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League of Legends

Worlds 2020 Groups: What are the Groups after the Draw?

Worlds 2020 is just around the corner, and as of September 15 we now know the groups. In a draw broadcast which aired live on Twitch and YouTube, groups were revealed for both the play-in stage and main event.

As a result, we have some hype competitions on the way, in both the play-in stage and main stage. Rivalries between EU and NA are sparking right from the start of the tournament, while the latent LCK/LPL rivalry will be a focus in the main event.

The groups are as follows:

Worlds 2020 Play-In Groups

Group A

  • Team Liquid (NA)
  • MAD Lions (EU)
  • Legacy Esports (OCE)
  • SuperMassive (Turkey)
  • INTZ e-Sports (Brazil)

Group B

  • LGD Gaming (China)
  • PSG Talon (Hong Kong)
  • V3 Esports (Japan)
  • Unicorns of Love (CIS)
  • Rainbow7 (Latin America)

Worlds 2020 Main Event Groups

Group A

  • G2 Esports (EU)
  • Suning Gaming (China)
  • Machi Esports (Hong Kong)
  • Play-In Winner

Group B

  • Damwon Gaming (Korea)
  • JD Gaming (China)
  • Rogue (EU)
  • Play-In Winner

Group C

  • Team SoloMid (NA)
  • Fnatic (Europe)
  • Gen.G (Korea)
  • Play-In Winner

Group D

  • Top Esports (China)
  • DRX (Korea)
  • FlyQuest (NA)
  • Play-In Winner

Initial analysis projects some great games, and some unfortunate starts for many popular teams. The LEC’s Rogue has pulled the group of death in Group B, while G2 seemingly has a free escape from Group A. FlyQuest are in a similar situation in Group D, while TSM will have to battle past Fnatic for a chance.  Overall, there definitely seem to be some big winners and losers before the event has started.

Regardless of the groups though, anything can happen when the matches kick off. And keep your eyes peeled on Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for all the latest League of Legends news and analysis.