The second day of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship started off with a classic, as China’s Edward Gaming faced off against Korea’s T1. This rivalry dates back to the first ever Mid-Season Invitational tournament, where the favored T1 (then called SKT T1) was toppled in the finals by EDG. Six years later, the only two players remaining from that match are T1 Midlaner Faker and EDG Support Meiko, but the history still stands. On Tuesday, EDG won the next chapter of the rivalry, remaining undefeated in the tournament at 2-0.
Next up was Korea’s Damwon Kia vs. Europe’s Rouge, where Damwon also maintained their undefeated record.
Hanwha Life Esports from Korea took a 6-game win streak into their match against PSG Talon from the PCS, but PSG got the better of them.
In another storied matchup, Europe’s Fnatic took on China’s Royal Never Give Up in the fourth game of the day. After some trash talk from Fnatic’s new Toplaner Adam to RNG’s Xiaohu, the Mid-turned-Toplaner and his team beat Adam and his signature Olaf to grab the win.
North America’s Cloud9 matched up against China’s FunPlus Phoenix, and put up a very close fight against the former World Champions, but was defeated to put their record at 0-2 on the week.
North America bounced back in the next match, with 100 Thieves defeating Japan’s DetonatioN FocusMe to gain their first win.
Right after North America got their first win of the day, MAD Lions did the same for Europe, taking down Korea’s Gen.G, with both teams ending the day at 1-1.
The day was rounded out with a matchup between China’s LNG Esports and North America’s Team Liquid, where LNG held TL to one kill the entire match en route to a perfect day for the four Chinese teams.
At the end of the second day, Group D is the only group left in a tie, with all four teams at 1-1. Unbeaten teams currently sit atop the other three groups, with DWG KIA for Group A, EDG for Group B and RNG for Group C. It’s still early, only a third of the way through the group stage, and even the 0-2 teams are still very much in the hunt for the quarterfinals.
Wednesday’s eight games will round out the first round robin of groups, then there will be a break on Thursday, and then the next three days will conclude which eight teams will advance.
