As of now in MSI 2022, there haven’t been too many surprises after the first two days of competition. Teams like T1 and G2 Esports continue to demonstrate absolute dominance in their groups with consecutive victories. Meanwhile, VCS representative SGB managed to secure their first points after an emotional win against DFM.
The only surprise seems to come from Group B of the MSI 2022 Play-In stage when PSG Talon was defeated by CBLOL representative RED on the first day of competition. On the second day, RED lost to the TCL team IW, while PSG Talon unexpectedly staged a strong comeback and nearly took down RNG. In fact, at the 21st minute, PSG Talon managed to wipe RNG, and many thought that the LPL representative was on the verge of a bitter defeat.
Clearly, with such an unconvincing win, RNG faced considerable criticism, especially regarding ADC Gala’s performance. The reasoning is quite understandable if you watched the match; Gala frequently made extremely unsafe Teleport plays that led to him being caught and taken down immediately. The situation where RNG was wiped at the 21st minute stemmed from one such mistake by Gala.
It’s unclear whether LPL AD carries have a curse with the champion Ezreal, but they frequently make Teleport plays that seem like they are ‘going to the ground’. JackeyLove is perhaps the epitome of this, as Chinese players have even created memes about his terrible Ezreal E plays. Just yesterday, Gala joined the club of “using Ezreal’s E” like JackeyLove, leaving LPL fans feeling disheartened.
Facing an opponent considered weaker like PSG Talon, the consequences weren’t too severe; at least RNG still won. However, this team needs to adjust their playstyle immediately to prepare for bigger matches in the future. Remember that if RNG wants to retain their MSI championship this year, they need to overcome T1 and G2 Esports, teams that excel at punishing opponents’ mistakes.
