G2 Esports have disturbed the waters of the 2024 League of Legends MSI with one of the most impressive performances in the lower bracket stage after they smashed Top Esports 3-0.
The result was beyond expectations after the LEC team, who was the first seed, pushed out the LPL team, thus pushing the excitement of EMEA fans for the tournament.
This is because G2 is the last EMEA team in the tournament, and they kept hopes of the region alive with a clean 3-0 score. Top Esports were the all-out favorites ahead of the elimination match, and expectedly, as they are a talented Worlds-winning players roster.
However, G2 once again proved to be the surprise package, stunning not only the audience with their performance but also their opponents with their unconventional draft picks.
G2 straight away went for TES’s bot lane duo in the first games of the series where Steven “Hans Sama” Liv and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle dominated Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo and Tian “Meiko” Ye from the outset in the first two games of the series.
That helped them establish a significant gold lead, and they utilized it until TES’ nexus collapsed. This was also helped by the fact that G2 chose a multi-AD-carry approach to their drafts.
They forced TES to allocate bans until the five bans were not enough for the team, as they missed out on banning Draven against Hans Sama. G2’s draft and gameplay, which leveraged their strength in team fights helped them to the 3-0 win.
The performance was so good that TES’s top laner Bai “369” Jia-Hao tipped the EMEA first seed to become MSI champions if they continue on the same form.
G2 Esports’ next opponents in the lower bracket will be between their current Worlds champions, T1, or Team Liquid. This victory also marks a significant milestone for the EMEA region. G2’s win is the first time since 2018 that they have managed a win against an LPL team in a best-of-five.
