DWG KIA Canyon says small mistakes cost team Worlds Group B first seed

October 19, 2022

by Sage Datuin

NEW YORK -- Both China’s JD Gaming and Korea’s DWG KIA walked onto the stage at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden to a roar of international fans screaming in support of both teams as neon signs decorated the vibrant New York City crowd.

Throughout the two-week League of Legends World Championship group stage, all eyes were on the tight battle between League of Legends Pro League (LPL) first seed JD Gaming and Worlds 2020 champions DWG KIA in Group B. The two teams faced each other three times, where each game was an intense bout to grab the first seed out of the group. In the end, it was JD Gaming who were victorious and rewarded with the first seed as DWG KIA now enter the Worlds 2022 quarterfinals as a second seed.

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For DWG KIA jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu, their losses came down to a mixture of small decisions that JD Gaming were able to capitalize on. A perfectionist by nature, he ran through the scenarios of their losses and where the games took a major turn.

“JD Gaming is a very strong team, so we really could not make any mistakes against them, but we made a very huge mistake in the bottom when we traded three players for one,” Canyon said when talking about their first game against JD Gaming. “I think that’s when the game really shifted for us.”

Throughout their three games against JD Gaming -- two scheduled games and a tiebreaker -- DWG KIA were narrowly edged out of grabbing the first seed out of Group B. However, throughout the final game, there were moments where it appeared that DWG KIA would take the No. 1 spot from JD Gaming.

In their final match, there was a point where DWG KIA held a 5K gold lead over the LPL first seed. Unfortunately, a teamfight around the dragon pit in favor of JD Gaming was all it took for their opponents to make a miraculous comeback victory. He credited JD Gaming’s teamwork and overall strength as a team, but he believed his own “greed” got to him in key moments.

“I feel like we were in very advantageous positions, but we were getting greedy,” Canyon said about their matches against JD Gaming. “While I don’t think just JD Gaming would be able to capitalize on what we did, we definitely cannot be making mistakes against them.”

Changes for the back-to-back Worlds finalists

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

This year has been quite an adjustment for Canyon in his fourth year with DWG KIA. Ahead of the 2022 season, longtime DWG KIA captain Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee had left the team and joined DRX, which left DWG KIA in need of developing a new identity. As a result, DWG KIA were unable to continue their streak of League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK) titles and finished out 2022 as the LCK’s third-best team going into Worlds 2022.

Still, even after a year of missing out on hoisting the LCK trophy, being in front of a crowd at the Hulu Theater in New York City has been something that has made every game at Worlds 2022 an exciting one.

“It’s been a while since I last played on stage with an audience as big as this one,” Canyon said. “It definitely is more vibrant when there are fans in the stadium and it feels like I am actually playing an important game. It is a very fun factor of playing this game professionally.”

Canyon had one simple statement for the fans as the team moves forward into the bracket portion of Worlds 2022.

“I will do my best,” Canyon confidently stated.

The Worlds 2022 quarterfinals will begin Thursday and continue through Sunday. DWG KIA has qualified for the Worlds 2022 quarterfinals as Group B’s second seed, and they will face LCK 2022 summer split champions Gen.G on Saturday, starting at 5 p.m. ET.

Lead photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games