Rainbow7 versus LGD in the first playoff series of the play-ins in Worlds 2020 ends in a win for LGD in 3-0 fashion. On the other game, Mad Lions versus Papara SuperMassive goes the distance and SuperMassive wins the series 3-2.
Rainbow7 vs LGD Gaming was the first playoff series to be played today in Worlds 2020. LGD Gaming came into the game trying to prove that they are a better team than how they played during the play-ins group stage. Rainbow7 want to build up from their last day of the play-ins group stage to win the series to get one step closer to Group stages.
Mad Lions has had a bad play-ins so far before the series and they looked into bouncing back the swing of things. On the other hand, Papara SuperMassive was focusing more on improving their performance in the play-ins where they have looked inconsistent.
Series 1: Rainbow7 vs LGD Gaming
Going into the series, it was critical for LGD to come out strong in the first match. In Game 1, LGD grabbed the first blood fairly quickly and started translating that into objectives. They got the first herald and the first drake which gave them a slight lead in the early game. The game started tilting in LGD’s favour around the 15 minute mark and they never let Rainbow7 get back into the game. LGD Mark on his Rakan was phenomenal in this game.
Game 1 was a momentum setter for LGD and they took that momentum into Game 2. It was a similar story to Game 1 where LGD again got the first blood and first dragon. However, this time around, Rainbow7 contested the objectives and grabbed the first herald and first dragon. LGD still kept their control over the dragons and played around it.
The game was very even until they kept getting picks on Rainbow7 and that increased the lead to which LGD closed out the game. LGD Peanut on his 2nd Kindred game of the series was the standout performer in this game.
Game 3 was the do or die game for Rainbow7. This time around Rainbow7 went for a more unconventional composition to win this game. Yet again, LGD grabbed first blood and first herald but this time Rainbow7 was contesting the dragons. However, between 10 to 20 minutes, the trend was broken where Rainbow7 with phenomenal play for R7 Josdeodo on Lee Sin was pulling out successful skirmishes and gained a gold lead.
However, at the 20th minute mark, LGD won that all important team fight that broke the game open for them. After that, R7 had no way of coming back and LGD closed out the game.
Series 2:
This series went the distance and it was apparent how close the teams were in terms of skill level. Both teams had their advantages and disadvantages of their individual playstyles.
Game 1 kicked off with SuperMassive picking up first blood at the 5-minute mark and got a massive lead following the next 13 minutes. Mad Lions looked dead in the water at that point until they decided to do a high-risk high reward play with a Mordekaiser teleport behind the opponent team to force a fight. That fight ended with a triple kill for Mordekaiser and now there was a huge lead for the Mad Lions.
However, they kept that lead for a short amount of time with the gold difference being almost even around the 30th-minute mark. At this point, Mad Lions had 3 dragons whereas SuperMassive had 2 dragons. The next dragon fight was going to be crucial and it turned out to be the case where SuperMassive wins that fight, grabs the dragon, and finishes the game up. SUP Zeitnot on the Ezreal dished out massive damage which was key to them winning the game.
Game 2 was a completely different story. From the get-go, MAD Humanoid on Lucian was dominating the mid lane and taking his advantage to help our his jungler to get pressure. Except for 2 dragons given up by Mad Lions before 15 minutes, after that Mad Lions kept control of the game and won the game convincingly. MAD Humanoid was extraordinary in this game.
Game 3 started off great for Mad Lions with them grabbing the first blood and rift herald. Also, for the first 10 minutes, Mad Lions kept a consistent lead although slight. However, at around the 10 minutes mark, SuperMassive picked up their pace and they steamrolled Mad Lions from that point forward. SUP KaKao on Lilia was the pivotal performance to get a huge snowball to finish off the game.
Game 4 was the slowest game in the series with almost no gold lead to separate the teams. For the first 15 minutes, Mad Lions and SuperMassive were trading blows and trying to get advantages with objectives and fights. However, a fight in the river turned the game in SuperMassive’s favor and they started building up a lead by taking more objectives. They kept that lead for about 10 minutes after which Mad Lions forced a fight around the dragon, won the decisive fight, took the dragon and baron nashor, and won the game. Humanoid and Carzzy carried the Mad Lions to victory.
Game 5 turned out to follow the same trend that has been going on the rest of the games, blue side winning the game. SuperMassive started off great and never let go of that lead. Any answer Mad Lions came up with were punished by SuperMassive which furthered their lead. SuperMassive grabbed almost every objective in the game and won in a dominant fashion. KaKao again pulled off a clinical performance on the Lilia to win the game.
Final Remarks:
LGD look to be back in form and ready to face Legacy Esports tomorrow to make their way into group stages. Mad Lions vs Papara SuperMassive was neck and neck and all blue sides teams won. One key thing to note, Mad Lions are a rookie team with only Humanoid being their most experienced player. Also, Mad Lions did not play many stage games due to the pandemic so it was a valiant effort from them to try to stay at World 2020. Worlds 2020 continues tomorrow with Play-ins wrapping up tomorrow with the last two best of five series.
