TSM Svenskeren Worlds
Photo via flickr.com/lolesports

Getting Back on Track: Worlds 2016 Day 2 Recap

Oct 1, 2016
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Photo via flickr.com/lolesports

Worlds Day 2 Recap

After one of the craziest opening days in League of Legends World Championship history, Day 2 carried much calmer notes. There was no Brazilian victory, and the other wildcard team didn’t even have a chance to upset. Pretty much all of the outcomes were expected, but each of them carries a different meaning for the victor.

Top seeds recover

Team SoloMid and Edward Gaming managed to capture their first wins of the tournament, after both dropping matches yesterday. Though perhaps TSM’s loss against Royal Never Give Up was trivial, no one expected EDG to be losing to INTZ from the Wildcard teams. Day 2 gave both of these teams a chance to reclaim much needed traction and possibly creating internal stability before heading further into the group stage.

TSM’s match was truly a display of dominance, especially from Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, whose Syndra really controlled the tempo of the match from start to finish. Though all of his teammates put up fairly strong scores, it was his constant pressure that enabled the rest of TSM to carefully close out a game that they could have completely stomped at any moment. Their calculated approach, while praised by some, may also be a marker of danger. With the highly volatile RNG in their group, indecision will sometimes be the worst decision of all.

Former finalists looking strong

From the looks of it, SK Telecom T1 and Royal Never Give Up could be on a crash course for a second finals match-up. Both of these teams looked absolutely unstoppable in their matches today, albeit facing the respective 3rd seeds from North America and Europe. Superstars over-performing at Worlds continues to be a trend this year; Faker is inspiring fear in every other midlaner, while Uzi likely has every single player on all teams trembling in their boots. His relentless aggression, combined with mechanics that have reflected no rust whatsoever predicts another 2nd place finish for Royal once again.

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Jungroan Lin
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Jungroan "Jezie" Lin is a Challenger League of Legends player, former top lane player for Complexity Gaming, and former jungler for Team Green Forest. He spent 6 months of his life playing only Renekton, Shyvana, and Dr. Mundo while failing to qualify for the LCS. Jungroan is currently pursuing his M.A. in Political Science at UBC.
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react-2

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react-3

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