The first day of the play-in group stage of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship is complete and it was Splyce who came out as the only undefeated team after the six games played in Berlin.
Splyce managed wins over Isurus Gaming and DetonatioN FocusMe to end day one 2-0 at the top of Group B. DFM took Nocturne to mid-lane and Ekko to the jungle, but weren’t able to capitalize with these champions early in the game.
Disciplined teamplay from Splyce helped them to an early advantage, but they nearly let their hard work go to waste when they were almost wiped by Shunsuke “Evi” Murase’s Gnar at 19:36. Solid Kennen play from Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss kept them in the team fight long enough to retreat with two live bodies and recover for another late-game push.
.@ebihuryahurya finds a huge GNAR! but @Vizicsacsi turns it around! #Worlds2019 pic.twitter.com/lbhY09sKrr
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 2, 2019
In the other Group B game played on opening day, Isurus Gaming defeated DetonatioN, leaving DetonatioN winless after two games.
That game featured one of the best individual pieces of play from day one as Kyohei “Ceros” Yoshida’s Karma came out unscathed from a 1 vs. 4 situation under the bottom turret while also taking out the enemy Leona and Ryze.
HAPPY FEET! 👞 @trollceros #Worlds2019
➡ https://t.co/HCFva789i3 pic.twitter.com/Sh912IbgyH
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 2, 2019
Group A was a bucket of surprises with Clutch Gaming dropping the first game of the group stage to Unicorns of Love in what was arguably the greatest upset of the day.
Lev “Nomanz” Yakshin’s Tristana and Nihat “Innaxe” Aliev’s Heimerdinger capitalized on greedy plays from Clutch in the early moments. One of those encounters was a baffling chase from Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon’s Akali that ultimately allowed UoL to gain enough momentum to secure drake and baron control before closing out the game in 38:04.
Clutch got things going in their second game against Mammoth by giving up some of the overly aggressive gameplay that we saw in their opening game. Excellent map control allowed them to easily pick off two Mammoth players at their blue buff; the successful teamplay enabled them to secure the first baron and secure a 9k gold lead by the 30-minute mark.
But it wasn’t smooth sailing from that point forward. At 32 minutes, Clutch retreated from a low-health baron and allowed Mammoth to stroll through the river and steal baron with just 1 hp remaining. Despite snatching baron, Clutch weren’t able to move forward
W-W-WHAT?! #Worlds2019 pic.twitter.com/sX3jnZ3fvz
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 2, 2019
The League of Legends World Championship continues through to November 10.
