Three days have passed since the group stage, and KT ended the first round of the group stage with a record of 3-0.
The other two seed teams, LEC champion MAD and LPL champion RNG, also lived up to expectations and ended the first round with complete victories.
Since there are only three teams in Group A, RNG needs to play four BO1s with two opponents each, and their record is 4-0.
The next three days were the qualifying battles. In the first Group A competition on May 9, RNG once again easily swept two opponents in a row and advanced to the competition stage with an 8-0 record in the group stage.
In fact, in Group A, everyone initially thought that UOL could cause some trouble for RNG. In last year's playoffs, UOL and Lao Gan Daddy had a back-and-forth battle, so they should still have their strength.
The UOL players also expressed their ambition to compete with RNG in the interview. After the Vietnam Division withdrew, they already regarded the promotion quota as their own, and even wanted to compete with RNG.
After all, PGG, the other team in the same group, is clearly a loser. Even before MSI starts, the outside world has already regarded them as the weakest among the 11 teams in Iceland.
The Oceania team has always been notoriously weak. At the end of last year, Riot Games announced that it would disband the OPL division, but would retain a one-year quota for the Oceania team to participate in the World Championship.
PGG also became the last team representing Oceania to participate in MSI.
After next year, even if there are professional LOL teams in Oceania, they can only participate in leagues in other regions, just like today's Taiwanese teams can only participate in the Southeast Asian League.
No matter how you think about it, such a team should not have an impact on UOL. After all, Unicorn is recognized as one of the strongest wild card teams.
But no one expected that the CIS leader who came to Iceland this year would be vulnerable to RNG. They even lost to PGG in the playoffs.
PGG successfully grabbed the second promotion spot in Group A.
Audiences in Oceania were very excited, while audiences in Europe were sad.
UOL's popularity in Europe is actually very high, and even the new LEC champion MAD received less support at European forums.
The unique style and family-run operation of this team can be said to have fans everywhere before the European Union has even begun.
Before 2018, UOL was the most popular team in Europe besides FNC, even though they had no results.
Perhaps in the eyes of many European viewers, this is a purer team than the former ROX, although the strength of the two is very different.
The founding of UOL originated from the desire of several young people to play games together. Now they have made a name for themselves in the LEC, such as Hilisang and Vicciachi, who are both the founders of this team.
Hilisang's game style of coming up with ideas was developed during his time at UOL.
In order to save money, all the team's logistics are handled by the coach's family, and even the coach's girlfriend has become the team's substitute, so that there is no need to spend extra salary to find an extra substitute.
At that time, the league stipulated that each team must have two substitutes. The other substitute for UOL was Helisang's twin brother, also to save money.
In 2017, they competed with G2 for the LCS EU championship. The final scene was completely occupied by pink, and the whole audience cheered for the unicorn. G2, who had already made a name for themselves, was embarrassed that they did not gain support in Europe.
Although this team with a unique style was excluded from the LEC when the alliance started due to their refusal to join the external capital, they still have many fans in Europe, even though they are in the CIS region.
Unlike the domestic secondary leagues, which are almost unattended and have become a holy land for fake matches, in Europe, due to its strong club culture, the atmosphere of some regional leagues and secondary leagues is actually very popular, and many teams have more sponsors than LEC teams.
The just-concluded European Masters final even set a number of ratings records. French President Macron even sent congratulations to the KC team for winning the championship.
So it is understandable that UOL is still so popular in Europe. Except for Spanish audiences, many European audiences even think that UOL is more like their home team than MAD.
Of course, this is also the cruelty of e-sports.
Being eliminated is being eliminated.
Trophies are not awarded to anyone who has more fans.
In the Group B qualifying match on May 10, although MAD suffered an upset loss to the Turkish team IW, the European upstarts still stabilized their position, and finally emerged as the group leader with a record of 5-1.
The other promotion spot in Group B was won by PSG. The Hong Kong provincial team did not miss a beat except being double-killed by MAD, and entered the competition stage 4-2.
In fact, PSG's level is the strength that the top five league teams should have had.
Although they can't beat the LCK and LPL, the LMS teams used to have an overwhelming advantage when facing the wild card divisions, unlike North American teams who always like to create show effects.
On May 11, KT was still strong in the Group C qualifying match on the third day, winning three more games and entering the next stage with a record of 6-0.
The other spot in Group C was finally won by C9.
North America was in trouble in the first round. If INF hadn't had problems in the mid-term, C9 would have almost lost three games in a row. But entering the second round, the North American team had something to say.
In addition to being beaten by KT, C9 finally showed the strength that it deserves in the four major leagues. Ah P, who has opened up the two channels of Ren and Du, finally rose to prominence and led the team to consecutive victories over INF and DFM, with a thrilling record of 3-3.
Outline.
At this point, the quotas for the six teams in the competition stage have been determined.
RNG,PGG,MAD,PSG,KT,C9.
Just looking at the list, the audience may not think there are many surprises. Except for PGG, the rest are the five teams with the strongest paper strength.
Only those who have watched the game will know how thrilling it is for some teams to advance.
It’s you! C9.
The data of each team after the group stage also attracted attention.
The data of KT and RNG can be said to stand out. At the team level, they are clearly ahead of the other four teams. MAD's data dropped a lot due to losing a game.
Among them, KT's overall KDA is higher, and its average resource control rate per game is also better.
The average game time of RNG is shorter, and the average blood level per game is higher.
Even though the opponents were different, the fans still started to compare the voids very enthusiastically, insisting on deciding who was the best.
In terms of personal data, Lin Cheng's KDA of over 40 made everyone call it outrageous.
Lin Cheng died twice in six games, and his kills and assists combined exceeded 80, which is why he had such a terrifying KDA data.
GALA, ranked second, has a KDA of only 12.1.
Moreover, Lin Cheng is a top laner and almost always charges forward every time he fights. Logically speaking, such outrageous KDA data should not appear on a top laner.
Some people even went to the live broadcast room to ask the factory director if Lin Cheng’s KDA skills were taught by him.
The factory director was furious on the spot.
"Block those who use Clear Run!"
"How many years has it been?"
"How many people have come to attack me every year?"
“It’s better to change the soup than the medicine.”
