After the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Championship (Worlds) concluded, only one LPL representative remains, which is JD Gaming. Meanwhile, teams like RNG and EDG have already been eliminated and cannot participate in the semifinals.
While EDG’s defeat could be anticipated due to their significant drop in form, RNG’s failure truly caught everyone off guard. This is because RNG is the reigning MSI 2022 champion, and not many expected them to be eliminated in the quarterfinals.
According to statements from RNG players, their inability to adapt to the 2022 Worlds meta is what led to their early elimination. It seems that this year’s Worlds meta has changed too much compared to the summer tournament, making it difficult for RNG to adjust.
“Indeed, we previously defeated T1 at MSI, but the 2022 Worlds meta is completely different. We could not adapt to it, while T1 understood the meta very well. As a result, we lost to T1,” said RNG player Wei.
If you have been following RNG in the LPL, you would know that this team typically uses tank champions in the top lane. This is a classic strategy for RNG as they tend to funnel resources to their AD Carry or Mid Lane.
However, at the 2022 Worlds, the top lane meta has changed significantly with the rise of champions like Aatrox and Fiora… As a result, Breath from RNG struggled to deal with these fighters and was completely dominated by Zeus in the match against T1.
The slow adaptation to the meta is not a new issue for RNG. Even in LPL tournaments, they performed poorly in the first 2-3 weeks of competition for similar reasons. RNG may need to implement measures to address this issue if they want to compete for major titles like MSI or Worlds next season.