DWG KIA and Royal Never Give Up entered the final match of MSI 2021 with a burning desire for victory, both teams had countless reasons to fight “to the death” for this title. For RNG, this was an opportunity to claim an international trophy after three long years, while for DWG KIA, they were just missing the MSI title from their collection.
However, the peak performance was something that RNG managed better than DK. The LPL representatives effectively countered the early gank play of the Korean League of Legends champions, thanks to Wei’s flexibility in movement and jungle control. Meanwhile, DK unexpectedly “fell apart” as their bot lane duo displayed poor performance for most of the match.
DK had to rely on the brilliance of ShowMaker and Khan with unusual picks like Xerath, Renekton mid and Lee Sin top. However, this only helped the world champions drag the match to game 5.
When there were no more unusual strategies to deploy, DK was easily obliterated by RNG in a game where ShowMaker was completely locked down. Throughout the 5 games, DK could clearly only resist when their mid laner gained an advantage. This was in stark contrast to the performance of RNG players. Although ADC GALA was the brightest star, in other positions, RNG also showed an impressive performance.
Xiaohu was still very cunning in facing Khan, Cryin fulfilled his duty by not allowing ShowMaker to dominate in the laning phase, while Wei and Ming both shone with quality movements, ganks, and initiations.
The final moments of MSI 2021 in Iceland witnessed the sweet celebration of RNG. They secured their second international title in the team’s history, three years after their MSI 2018 championship. Meanwhile, DWG KIA had to bid farewell to their Grand Slam dream (winning all tournaments in a year). With this result, the balance of power in the League of Legends world once again tilts towards LPL, at least until the end of the 2021 World Championship.
