After a long wait, the Rumble Stage of MSI 2022 has returned with what can be considered the highlight match of the day as the “invincible” T1 faced off against “the Central Circus” G2 Esports. This matchup is also seen as a fierce rivalry, as in 2019, G2 ended the championship dreams of Faker and his team at both MSI and Worlds.
In this encounter after nearly 3 years, both G2 and T1 have undergone many changes compared to their lineups from back then. G2 no longer has Perkz or Wunder, and T1 is also missing veteran names like Teddy. Furthermore, T1 is on a “legendary undefeated” streak with 26 consecutive wins (including BO1, BO3, and BO5). Meanwhile, G2 is also on an undefeated streak, though slightly shorter than their LCK counterparts.
The early game progression of the match went as expected for most of the League of Legends community, especially T1 fans, as Faker and his teammates easily gained an advantage. G2’s late-game-focused lineup faced difficulties in the laning phase and mid-game. However, the LEC players did not allow T1 to stretch the gap. And when Broken Blade, CaPs, and Flakked got their items, T1 began to fall behind. With a strong team fight composition and plenty of crowd control, only Zeus’s Storm and Oner’s extraordinary moments were not enough. G2 regained the advantage and successfully snowballed. This victory also ended the undefeated streak that had lasted from the beginning of Spring 2022 for Faker and his teammates.
The League of Legends community is also incredibly excited about G2’s glorious victory. This can be said to be one of the surprises of MSI this year, up until this point. Notably, this victory by G2 has made MSI 2022 much more exciting.
With this victory, G2 had a very successful opening match in the MSI 2022 Rumble Stage. Although their next opponent on May 20 will be Royal Never Give Up, one can be confident that the LEC representatives are in a good psychological state to create surprises.
As for T1, they lost because they couldn’t finish the game early and the opponents didn’t make mistakes to exploit. This will be a valuable lesson for Faker and his teammates in the remaining journey at MSI this year.