After the draw results for the group stage of the LPL Summer 2024, BLG was seen as falling into an extremely easy group. Accordingly, Knight and his team only had to face “weaker” opponents like LGD, RNG, and WE. As a result, many viewers and experts in the LPL region believed that BLG could easily finish this group stage with a perfect record.
However, this did not happen as BLG recently suffered a surprising defeat to LGD. More notably, the star player Knight, who was highly anticipated, had a performance below expectations in this match, especially in game 3. Even after the match ended, many viewers criticized Knight, claiming that this player “no longer knows how to play League of Legends” after losing to Gen.G and Chovy at MSI 2024.
Indeed, looking back at game 3 between BLG and LGD, Knight had a very unconvincing performance. He had an impressive KDA of 6/0/8 but failed to exert the necessary pressure on the opponent. This led to a significant amount of BLG’s resources not being converted into damage in fights, causing LGD to gradually regain their advantage.
Not stopping there, Knight also made a very questionable decision in the 37th minute when he solo attacked LeBlanc from LGD. As a result, with just one timely use of Zhonya’s Hourglass, Haichao from LGD completely “outplayed” Knight and took him down. Losing a significant source of damage, BLG could not withstand LGD’s Elder Dragon assault and ended up with a loss.
If we look at Chovy (another player who frequently uses Corki), viewers can clearly see the superiority of the Gen.G player in terms of gameplay influence. In his most recent match against HLE, Chovy always sought to attack the opponent with Corki rather than trying to save his own skin. It was precisely Chovy’s timely brilliance that helped Gen.G successfully “turn the tide” against HLE in game 2.
Fairly speaking, Knight’s declining form is also significantly influenced by the post-MSI 2024 meta of League of Legends. If you follow major tournaments, you can notice the dominance of marksman champions in the mid lane. Meanwhile, Knight is well-known for his mage picks, so he might still be struggling to adapt to the new meta. A typical example is that Knight has not yet used Tristana (a champion currently very strong) in LPL Summer 2024.
Of course, the recent loss to LGD did not significantly affect BLG’s ranking. This team still leads their group with a record of 5 wins – 1 loss. However, that defeat serves as a wake-up call for BLG in general and Knight in particular in the upcoming journey. If they cannot improve their form and expand their champion pool, it will be difficult to compete for major titles.