Day three of the League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) was full of "almosts." There was almost one of the biggest upsets in the tournament in the match between G2 Esports and ROX Tigers, almost the longest game in Worlds' history and almost a comeback from obscurity from Splyce that all made for plenty of edge-of-your seat action.
In one close call that exemplified the tone of the night, Cloud 9 (C9) and Flash Wolves faced off to play arguably one of the tensest games in Worlds', and competitive League of Legends', history. It was a 70 minute back-and-forth affair that fell in C9's favor after a huge miscommunication in initiation from the Flash Wolves. What could be a backbreaking defeat for the Flash Wolves may just be the start for a C9 run through the pools.
Winners of the day: Albus NoX Luna and Samsung Galaxy
Albus NoX Luna just made Group A very interesting. The Russian squad rebounded after a devastating defeat against a very cocky ROX Tigers on the first day with a victory over Counter Logic Gaming. This was a team that took advantage of the handouts from South Korea's ROX Tigers and executed a complicated poke composition to kite the entire Counter Logic Gaming team. The wildcard upstarts exited day three as arguably the favorite to survive the group stage.
In Group D, South Korea's Samsung Galaxy flashed the brilliance that led to its admittance to Worlds. The team's finest victory over favorite Royal Never Give Up was a clinic in professional League of Legends. Samsung Galaxy prioritized early objectives, took advantageous fights, made crisp decisions in the midgame and warded out the map to control both the dragon pit and the Baron. The only issue with this victory is whether or not this Samsung Galaxy sticks around or was just having a good night.
Losers of the day: Counter Logic Gaming, G2 Esports and Splyce
North America's Counter Logic Gaming stumbled when it needed to stabilize and establish itself as a legitimate threat as a world-class team. With the loss against Albus NoX Luna, it's any team's opportunity to get out of the group alongside the leading ROX Tigers. Once again, Counter Logic Gaming relied too heavily on Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes to carry the team and close the deficit when the group-up strategy failed, which proved too large a burden. This is a team that needs strategic depth or it will be a quick exit and a curtain call from Worlds.
Europe's G2 Esports put out the team's best shot and effort and still managed to throw a great situation where they had a gold lead on the ROX Tigers. On paper, the match was predicted to be an avalanche in favor of the South Korean lineup, but it certainly did not play as the script intended. However, although there were many positives in the game for G2, the end result was still a loss. The European team simply could not close out the game and allowed the ROX Tigers to force favorable fights and scale into the late game. What could have been the second best story in Worlds so far (behind the INTZ e-Sports upset victory over EDward Gaming) became simply more disappointment for Europe.
How did Europe's Splyce find a way to drop a match that was in its favor after a strong early game? Team SoloMid crowd controlled side lanes, dominated the map vision, and pressured whenever it needed to, but still found itself behind against the young European team until the North Americans caught up in the late game. It was all there for Splyce, but this loss is another disappointment to the team's start at Worlds.
Needs improvement: ROX Tigers
The title of tournament favorite may be waning for the ROX Tigers just based off the first two games. Their game versus Albus NoX Luna was a clown fiesta to start the group stage, and then the win over G2 Esports resulted more from the opponent's mistakes than the team's ability to climb back from a deficit. ROX Tigers need to start establishing some dominance in its victories or it may not be a "favorite" for much longer.