League of Legends Worlds 2020 Play-ins Day 1 ends with PSG.Talon’s dominant wins, INTZ’s struggle, Tactical’s excellent Twitch plays, and more.
League of Legends Worlds 2020 has finally kicked off in Shanghai, China. Day 1 had 5 matches which were the tone setters of what is to be expected from Play-ins. Additionally, the first day also tells us a lot about the meta going into Worlds.
Day 1 Meta overview
There were several champions that were picked and banned today. The most eye-catching one was the priority on Lilia. She was banned in four out of the five games and was picked in the game where she was not been banned in. Thus, the priority on Lilia might remain the same where she will be either picked or banned in every game.
Other notable picks and bans were Lucian, Tristana, Ashe, and Sett where Ashe was picked in every match. Lucian went through in 2 out of the 5 games and in the rest of the 3 games, he was banned. Tristana was not banned but was picked twice. Sett was picked twice in the mid lane and banned a few times in the second ban phase. Moreover, Shen also got a few bans coming his way.
Something else to look into as more games are played is how much of a priority Twitch gets since he was banned in the second phase of bans and it seems like Twitch is something that could be a pick that sneaks into the meta as a priority pick. Overall, the champion picks have been versatile with many different champions being played today.
Game 1: Mad Lions vs INTZ (Mad Lions Wins)
The first game was between the 4th seed of the LEC Mad Lions versus INTZ who are the winners of CBLOL. The game was a testament to how the Play-ins should look like with a lot of back and forth skirmishes and team fights.
The game started with Mad Lions getting advantages in lanes using their team composition. One key mistake INTZ made in the top lane was the misclick teleport which denied them early first blood. Overall, the game had a lot of skirmishes and team fights which went both ways.
Furthermore, Mad Lions showed their prowess from the mid-game to late-game strong. Humanoid, in particular, was a standout performer in the first game. Tay from INTZ also played really well.
Game 2: PSG.Talon vs Rainbow7 (PSG.Talon Wins)
The second game was between the second seed of the PCS PSG.Talon versus Rainbow7 who are the champion of the LLA. Moreover, PSG.Talon have 3 substitutes due to quarantine and visa issues granted by Riot due to unfortunate circumstances.
The game was a one-sided affair where PSG.Talon thoroughly dominated Rainbow7. Hongyue on Ekko put up a dominant performance along with the rest of the PSG.Talon team. Furthermore, PSG.Talon as a team showed how good their teamwork really is.
Despite the rough performance for Rainbow7, there were good signs shown by them. Rainbow7 had lane advantages early game and they were moving around the map well. Even so, PSG.Talon’s team fighting and roaming were hard to handle for Rainbow7.
Game 3: Legacy Esports vs INTZ (Legacy Esports Wins)
The third game of the day was between OPL’s champion Legacy Esports vs INTZ. INTZ had a loss already in the day against the MAD Lion and looked to bounce back while Legacy Esports was having their first game.
The game overall was a very close game with a lot of back of forth team fights. Legacy Esports were using their roaming and top lane advantage to play more into the split pushing game while INTZ leaned more towards skirmishing. Legacy Esports made huge plays in the game especially the 2 v 3 fight which gave them the lead they needed to close the game out
INTZ had a rough day for the first day of play-ins going 0-2 so they have to come out strong for their remaining two games to have a chance at playing in the qualifying playoffs.
Game 4: LGD vs PSG.Talon (PSG.Talon Wins)
The fourth game of the day was between LPL’s fourth seed LGD vs PSG.Talon. Coming into the play-ins, LGD are one of the favorites to make it to group stages of worlds. On the other hand, PSG.Talon was aiming to keep the momentum from their dominant win against Rainbow7.
This was quite an upset as PSG.Talon snatched the win against LGD. This was also the first game in Play-ins today that had Lilia picked. Additionally, it was also the slowest game of the day with not much action coming before the mid-game. LGD was building up their advantages slowly and steadily while PSG.Talon was biding their time to scale up.
PSG.Talon started contesting the objectives in the mid-game and while picking up great fights for themselves which netted them the win. Despite the makeshift roster PSG.Talon are working with, they put up quite the performance on the first day of play-ins.
Game 5: Team Liquid vs MAD Lions (Team Liquid Wins)
The fifth was between LCS’s third seed in Team Liquid vs MAD Lions. MAD Lions got a win earlier on and they were looking to go 2-0 on the first day. Team Liquid had not played a game today and were looking to start off strong. Both the teams are the favorites to get out of Group A in play-ins to make it to the group stages.
Team Liquid got a convincing win against MAD Lions in this game. Tactical on the Twitch played really well with his team backing up him. In addition to that, MAD Lions were overstepping and overplaying their fights and seemed to get caught off guard by the team play coming from Team Liquid.
All in all, a very good performance for Team Liquid which will give them momentum going into tomorrow. Whereas, Mad Lions need to go back to the drawing board and come back with a fresher mind to win their remaining games in the play-ins stages.
Conclusion
In summary, the first day went really well. There were some very competitive games and some surprise performances coming from PSG.Talon. Overall, the quality of the games was very good and not much can be said about the teams in the current best of 1 set until we see more of their games.
