The Worlds 2017 Play-in Recap
Banner © Riot Games
The Play-in stage of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship has finally concluded with the top four teams claiming their slots for the main event of the tournament. It has been a grueling six days of League of Legends action, culminating in the intense knockout round that brought out the best in all of the remaining competitors.
Worlds Fiesta
Cloud9 were up first on the list of qualifier matches as they took on Lyon Gaming in the best-of-five series for a main event ticket. C9 started out with their Worlds 2017 trademark sub-30 minute game to open up the series. The NA squad ran into trouble in the second game of their series with the surging Lyon almost taking a win over the boys in blue. Cloud9 managed to pull off a long game comeback, closing out the series to a 2-0 lead after an exhausting 61-minute game. The first qualifier series didn’t last long after that with C9 locked in kill-mode as they won the third game in under 30 minutes once more. North America’s Cloud9 qualifies for the main event with a 3-0 record.
Fixing an Attitude Problem
The series between Fnatic and Hong Kong Attitude featured the only matchup between two teams from the major regions. The match guaranteed that either EU or LMS would be losing their 3rd seeded team for the main event. FNC was out for blood, heading into this series after their crushing defeat at the hands of Vietnam’s Young Generation in the group stage. Europe’s Fnatic join their LCS counterpart C9 as they successfully qualify for the main event in a 3-0 sweep.
GOAL!
1907 Fenerbahce Espor has been the breakout team in group D during the group stage, managing to wrest the top spot away from the major region’s Hong Kong Attitude. All eyes were on FB’s AD Carry Padden who provided fans with amazing AD carry games, securing the tournament’s second pentakill. They faced off against the rocky Team oNe Esports in the qualifier match, on their road to the main event. The representatives from Turkey quickly secured a game 1 victory against Brazil’s oNe to kick off the first qualifier of day 2 of the knockout stage. Team oNe bounced back in a big way to defeat Fenerbahce in game 2 of the series. A lengthy third game saw oNe momentarily hold control of the game before succumbing to the pressures of FB. 1907 Fenerbahce Espor close out the series in a 3-1 win to qualify for the Worlds 2017 main event.
Homecourt Advantage
China’s very own Team WE headed into the knockout round eager to gain redemption from their unconvincing performance during the group stage. They faced off the sole SEA representatives in the Play-in, Young Generation. WE won out in the first game of the series in dominant fashion. Young Generation almost took the 2nd game after starting out strong with amazing map plays from their midlaner Naul. Several slip-ups from the Vietnam squad alowed WE to bounce back and seize control of the second game in the series. Team WE would go on to sweep YG 3-0 for the fourth and final slot of the Worlds 2017 Main Event.
Cloud9, Fnatic, 1907 Fenerbahce Espor, and Team WE have risen from the rest of the competition in the Play-in stage. They join the waiting 12 teams in the main event when Worlds 2017 resumes on October 5, 2017.
