Europe’s most high-stakes series yet, G2 Esports vs Bilibili Gaming puts the fate of the LEC on top of the Kings’ shoulders.
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EMEA has had a rough go at Worlds. With both second and third seed being eliminated before Quarterfinals, it’s up to Caps and his team to get his region to the top eight teams.
G2 Esports made a killing domestically with four consecutive splits, and lifted the season finals cup. A win at MSI would’ve paved their golden road, but it wasn’t in the cards. That said, the Kings of Europe came extremely close to beating T1, proving that they have it in them to rise above.
Bilibili Gaming on the other hand held their own to keep their 2-2 status so far. Will they join their LPL brothers in Knockouts? Or will G2 find a momentous upset after a decade of waiting in the wings?
Catch FlyQuest vs Team Liquid Recap in our dedicated article.
G2 Esports vs Bilibili Gaming Game 1
Bilibili Gaming had more teamfight mobility in the draft, but the Kings of Europe had a few tricks up their sleeves as well.
Immediately, G2 focused heavily on the bot lane while BrokenBlade held down the fort at top. Things didn’t look great for the EU reps however as BLG XUN and Elk took the first kills five minutes in. Hans Sama couldn’t afford to farm, and Mikyx got punished in the gank play.
From there, the German org slowed their pace to contest Void Grubs, which they could split. A 1-for-1 helped close the gap, but it was clear which team was winning the laning phase.
BLG was running circles around G2 in the early game, but all they needed was to find a fight on their terms; a fight that Mikyx’s Rell beautifully set up at bot lane to get the score to 2-4.
XUN was extremely active on the Rift as Skarner, which made him the guy to beat. That said, G2’s focus was split to get to Knight. But he was too quick, forcing G2 to spend their ults zoning the rest of BLG away from retreating members.
It could’ve been the play that turned things around, but G2’s ADC only had one item built 20 minutes in. From there, BLG’s signature teamfight tactics landed them another ace. G2 BrokenBlade secured a top turret. But the team just didn’t have the resources to find an angle.
BLG dominates game 1 from start to finish.
Quick Stats:
Teams: G2 vs BLG
First Blood: BLG
Game Time: 34:50
Gold: 58.2k – 69.5k
Kills: 7 – 21
Turrets: 3 – 8
Dragons: 2 – 3
Barons: 0 – 1
G2 Esports vs Bilibili Gaming Game 2
BLG ran with an aggressive botlane comp that gave them a lot of success in the past. Unfortunately, G2’s boys adapt quickly.
Fast shenanigans around the Rift let G2 trade a few tower plates for the first Void Grubs. Later on, Mikyx got caught in a bid for the first Mountain drake. But a fast skirmish for more Void Grubs led to 3 kills for G2 Esports — the best lead they’ve seen so far.
In response, Bilibili Gaming matched their pace and took down turret plates across the map. But at that point G2’s damage was too great, and let them secure another fight and a tier-one turret at top lane.
Things were going Europe’s way 20 minutes in with a neat 5k gold advantage, but G2 were still wary of any potential plays from BLG XUN, who had Sundered Sky on Xin Zhao. A Baron gave G2 a ton of pushing power. A flank teleport from Bin almost turned things around, but Europe’s best turned back just in time.
A creative draft paid dividends as G2 Esports took the series to game 3!
Quick Stats:
Teams: G2 vs BLG
First Blood: BLG
Game Time: 29:54
Gold: 59.7k – 48.5k
Kills: 17 – 5
Turrets: 9 – 2
Dragons: 3 – 1
Barons: 1 – 0
G2 Esports vs Bilibili Gaming Game 3
A smart Ryze pick seemed to give GT2 the upper hand in the draft, along with a Taric that’d bring a lot to the melee team fights.
Lightning-fast 1-for-1’s in mid lane put both teams dead even 4 minutes in. BLG knew they would be falling short in the late game, so they focused on G2 Caps as much as possible. The Kings found another pick, and captured the first Mountain Drake.
From there, the game stayed close until BLG used Herald to break open G2’s mid-lane. Both ADC’s were within striking distance of each other, but G2 prioritized scaling Caps up who was nearly 2 levels above everyone else.
That said, even a two-item spike couldn’t spare G2’s midlaner from XUN and Elk. But the lategame was approaching, and BLG’s draft was still severely outmatched.
G2 was able to stack kills to get a nice lead, but they squandered the advantage after forcing Baron without their Taric’s ult, allowing BLG to get their gold back.
Sadly, the LEC reps lost control of the game in the lategame. With so much pushing power, BLG slowly pried G2’s defenses open while protecting their Ezreal. 30 minutes in, Bin and co. had the better map state, and a 6k gold lead.
A long pause made the crowd wait with bated breath. But ultimately, the LPL contenders found the better angle in a botlane skirmish that paved their way to Brackets stage.
Quick Stats:
Teams: BLG vs G2
First Blood: G2
Game Time: 34:28
Gold: 71.3k – 63.3k
Kills: 22 – 19
Turrets: 8 – 3
Dragons: 3 – 2
Barons: 1 – 0
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Paul started writing game guides and match predictions for ESTNN’s editorial team in 2022. Since then, he’s covered big-ticket esports events and the latest news on tech and AI.
Source : Estnn