Group B rounded up very well with PSG.Talon getting first place in Tiebreakers and LGD squeaked through to the Playoffs. More on Worlds 2020 Play-ins Day 3 following this.
Day 3 of League of Legends Worlds 2020 Play-ins was the final day for Group B where PSG.Talon ended up finishing at the top of the groups. Furthermore, Unicorns of Love ended up in 2nd place, Rainbow7 landed in 3rd place and LGD finished as the 4th place.
The Meta as of Day 3:
Not much has changed from the meta apart from the usual picks and bans. A few games had Lucian go through, while Ashe and Renekton kept a healthy presence in picks and bans. There were the distinct picks from Unicorns of Love but other than that, it went pretty standard and was in line with the picks and bans of the last two days.
Statistics from gol.gg tell us more about pick and ban rate and also keeps track of how many unique champions were played in the play-ins so far. There have been a total of 62 different champions played in 3 days. The statistics show that Lilia was banned 14 times following Nidalee with 10, Graves with 9 and etc.
Furthermore, Camille, Nidalee, Orianna, Ashe, and Rakan have been picked the most in their respective lanes. However, the win rate of Ashe is only at 25% whereas Orianna has a 100% win rate. Thus, we are seeing more of Senna and Twitch in recent games. There are plenty more champions with good win rates with high presence (picks and bans) in the games that have happened and this should develop more as we proceed to Group Stages.
Match 1: V3 Esports vs LGD (LGD Won)
This was by far the best game LGD has played. LGD completely dominated V3 Esports, Xiye in particular played really well on Syndra. Furthermore, LGD looked way better than the last two days and were looking to turn the corner to cement a playoff spot.
V3 looked shaky in the game apart from Archer who played pretty well. This was the third game for both teams and they both needed to win their last game to force a tiebreaker and get a spot in the playoffs.
Match 2: Rainbow7 vs Unicorns of Love (Rainbow7 Won)
Rainbow7 have played 3 out of their four games needed to win this game to get a playoffs spot barring tiebreakers. They came out really strong and beat a solid Unicorns of Love team. Furthermore, that pushes their record to 2-2 which qualified them for playoffs after the matches were done.
On the other hand, Unicorns of Love did not look as dominant as they did yesterday. The Skarner pick was surprising but Ahahacik could not utilize it the best way possible. A lot of misplays by them which they looked to rectify for their last games vs LGD.
Match 3: PSG.Talon vs V3 Esports (PSG.Talon won)
V3 Esports needed to win this game to force a tiebreaker with Rainbow7. However, they faltered with the Sylas jungle and Galio mid picks not working out. Mid game was even until they got exploited badly by PSG.Talon and could not figure out how to fight back. Thus, V3 Esports’ future in Worlds depended on the result of the next match.
PSG.Talon continued to impress in each game they played in. In addition, their teamwork was very impressive even with substitutes playing in their team. Despite the one loss against Unicorns of Love, they finish strong with a 3-1 record. Depending on the result of the next match, they would possibly need to play a tiebreaker.
Match 4: Unicorns of Love vs LGD (Unicorns of Love won)
Unicorns of Love snatch that win on the back of that spectacular performance from Gadget on Twitch. It was a very competitive game in terms of team fights however Unicorns of Love was remarkable with their objective control. Using that, they snatch the dragon soul. Moreover, at a pivotal time in the game, Ahahacik on Nidalee makes two sensational plays to kill two of LGD’s players to buy time for Camille to push the base. This puts them at a 3-1 record and forces a tiebreaker vs PSG.Talon for the first spot in Group B.
LGD tried their best and went toe to toe with Unicorns of Love until the mid-game. By then, the dragon soul advantage and gold advantage proved too tall to climb over to beat their opponents. There were many positives to take away from the game as LGD looked better today than the previous days. Furthermore, they are to face V3 Esports for a tiebreaker to determine their fate in Worlds.
Tiebreakers
As the scheduled games were completed, PSG.Talon and Unicorns of Love ended with the same record which forces a tiebreak between them for the first place. Additionally, LGD and V3 Esports were to face a tiebreaker for the fourth spot in the group.
Tiebreaker 1: PSG.Talon vs Unicorns of Love (PSG.Talon won)
PSG.Talon, against all odds, wins the match and attains the first place in Group B. They were behind by a lot until 26 minutes into the game when they win a decisive fight which nets them the Baron buff. Following that, they slowly kept taking more advantageous fights and closing the lead. Thus, they ended up closing out the game and secured their most significant win in play-ins.
Unicorns of Love started off really strong in the game and build up a substantial lead, taking 10 turret plates before they expired. However, that followed with some poor decision-making which allowed PSG.Talon to come back in the game. The error made in those plays cost them the match. Nevertheless, that still got them the second spot in the playoffs and they await to see who their potential opponents would be in the playoffs.
Tiebreaker 2: LGD vs V3 Esports (LGD Won)
In their most important game of Play-ins, LGD come out with their most decisive win to get fourth place in the playoffs. Their earlier struggles hampered their placement but with great execution and mental strength, they dominate V3 esports in the tiebreaker match. This sets up LGD vs Rainbow7 with a best of 5 series that will determine the fate of the respective team’s hopes in Worlds 2020.
V3 Esports did not live up to the expectations they had on them and failed to perform in the tiebreaker. They made a lot of mistakes that LGD took advantage of to seal the game in LGD’s favor. With that, that was an exit for V3 Esports in the playoffs and sadly they could not leave a mark in Worlds 2020.
Conclusion
LGD manage to squeak by to make it into fourth place and PSG.Talon finishing strong in day 3 to achieve first place. Also, Unicorns of Love and Rainbow7 obtain 2nd and 3rd place respectively to round out Group B. It was certainly a surprise for LGD to end up that low in the standings and Rainbow7 vs LGD on Tuesdays looks to be a very good best of five series. Play-ins continues tomorrow with Group A rounding up their last matches to decide the remainder of the playoff’s fixtures.
