Final four ready to face off in MSI 2022 semifinals

May 26, 2022

by Xander Torres

South Korea’s first Mid-Season Invitational continued to deliver in the rumble stage with exciting upsets like Evil Geniuses’ victory against T1 and the continued prestige of defending Mid-Season Invitational champions, Royal Never Give Up.

Now, in the knockout stage, North America’s Evil Geniuses will match up with China’s Royal Never Give Up, while South Korea’s T1 stares down yet another series with Europe’s G2 Esports. Royal Never Give Up and T1 stand out as clear favorites, but both Evil Geniuses and G2 Esports were able to take matches off top-tier opponents in a highly competitive rumble stage. Every team is a threat at this tournament and has a strength to call their own as they get ready to push for a well-earned finals appearance.

Evil Geniuses lack discipline, but can make sparks fly

Photo credit: Riot Games

Evil Geniuses were unable to defeat Royal Never Give Up during the rumble stage but still managed to push their mechanical ability in full 5v5 teamfights. In their first match, EG were able to contest RNG in a bloody 33-kill game, but they were thoroughly outpaced on the map for most of the match. EG have the talent to go toe-to-toe with a team like Royal Never Give Up, but they often make crucial mistakes around cross-map plays and tower sieges. It’s not uncommon to see Evil Geniuses top laner Jeong “Impact” Eun-yeong get dived in the top lane, only for his team to overload resources in a direct response top side instead of gaining a small advantage elsewhere.

Evil Geniuses’ macro weakness is clear, but the team does have a knack for turning fights on their head around neutral objectives on the back of talented carries Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun and Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki. No matter the state of the game, EG are ready to pull the trigger on any fight that looks remotely favorable, giving them the edge against both slower teams and those that like to coinflip around Baron -- a big reason they were able to defeat T1 in the group stage. In a world where Evil Geniuses’ bot lane is able to nail early advantages against RNG, their gutsy “see hero, kill hero” attitude could be enough to make the series a competitive one.

Royal Never Give Up’s prestige is put to the test

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In a matchup with Evil Geniuses, RNG are overwhelming favorites. The bot lane of Chen “GALA” Wei and Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming continue to outperform their opponents while easily giving their team the option of a three-lane approach each game. It doesn’t matter what type of matchup is drafted, GALA is seemingly so far ahead of the competition that he’ll make each lane a winning one. Considering that Evil Geniuses’ bot lane of Danny and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme have been slow to get going, it’s very likely that Royal Never Give Up will be able to win three games solely based on that positional advantage.

The scary thing about RNG is that they are so much more than GALA and Ming -- that’s just where the fireworks come from. Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao continues to get the most out of his team as a master of wave management in mid lane, often opting for Twisted Fate and Galio to further exacerbate that strength with global pressure. Yan “Wei'' Yang-Wei is arguably the best jungler in the tournament and rarely ever falls behind his counterpart jungler, making perfect reads on just about any skirmish or teamfight. Royal Never Give Up have plenty of star power, but their game is all about moving as a team and melding their strengths as one.

Which G2 Esports will show up?

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Four wins and zero losses. That’s how G2 started the rumble stage before eventually finishing with a mediocre 5-5 record. When G2 Esports were on, fans and analysts were ready to coin them as the strongest team in the tournament. When they weren’t, everyone was wondering the same thing -- where the heck did the 4-0 team go? Realistically, it’s a natural consequence of G2’s teamfight-hungry playstyle. Sometimes they’ll win huge fights and take over the game, and sometimes they’ll completely fall flat on their face. It makes the team exciting -- especially when mid laner Rasmus “caPs” Winther is at the top of his game -- but it also turns their performance into a roller coaster without an emergency break.

G2 Esports’ biggest strength is without a doubt the sheer amount of talent on their roster. CaPs is the team’s primary star, but Marcin “Jankos'' Jankowski is likely the best European jungler of all-time while AD carry Victor “Flakked” Tortosa has gone blow-for-blow against Royal Never Give Up’s GALA and T1’s Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong. It’s that type of talent that allowed G2 Esports to win over 20 professional games in a row from the League of Legends European Championship playoffs through the MSI rumble stage, but it’s hard to argue against it buoying a team with some otherwise poor habits. Even so, G2 are sharp around neutral objectives, and unlike teams like Evil Geniuses, are relatively consistent about cross-map play and quickly figuring out where they’re strongest. It arguably makes them a slight favorite against South Korea’s T1 in their semifinal bout.

T1 looking to stabilize after failing to deliver on perfection

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T1 were coined by many as the best team in the world heading into South Korea’s first Mid-Season Invitational. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok & Co. just finished a perfect season in League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK) and had the advantage of playing in their home country with a crowd rooting for them. T1’s continued dominance was considered a foregone conclusion, but that narrative hasn’t played out so far. Their losses, however, have largely fallen within the parameters of their weaknesses -- subpar side lane play and risky Baron plays. T1’s fundamentals and teamfighting ability are generally strong, but these weaknesses plagued them domestically as well despite their dominance over the region.

In a matchup with G2 Esports, T1 either need to rein in their aggressive Baron calls or mount up leads so large that they won’t matter. Given the team’s prestige and individual talent, it’s not unreasonable to expect T1 to figure that out and rout G2 for an easy finals berth. Still, Gumayusi in particular has been a liability for T1 in the rumble stage, and he’ll need to be on his “A” game against Flakked if they’re going to reliably best Europe’s premier team. Look toward T1 top laner Choi “Zeus” Woo-je if the team needs bailing out. He’s been the best top laner all tournament long, and he might just have enough influence that T1’s bad habits might not matter against an opponent as turbulent as G2 Esports.

Lead photo credit: Riot Games