Gen.G Esports knocked off Royal Never Give Up in a tiebreaker match to claim first place in Group D at the League of Legends World Championships’ group stage on Sunday in New York.
Gen.G Esports entered Sunday at 2-1, trailing unbeaten Royal Never Give Up, which was 3-0. But Gen.G won all three of its matches, including defeating RNGU head-to-head in the regularly-scheduled final match to leave both teams at 5-1.
Gen.G then won the tiebreaker in 24 minutes while playing on blue. Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon of the all-South Korean lineup led the win with a kills-deaths-assists ratio of 7/0/7.
Gen.G’s first win of the day came against CTBC Flying Oyster (1-5) in 26 minutes on red. Han “Peanut” Wang-ho led the way in that win with a KDA of 6/0/8.
Gen.G was back on blue in their next match, defeating 100 Thieves (1-5) in 25 minutes. Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk carried the victory at 7/1/3.
To forge the tie in the standings, Gen.G, this time playing on red, knocked off RNGU in 27 minutes, led by Chovy’s 6/0/1.
RNGU won its first match of the day, defeating 100 Thieves in 39 minutes while playing on blue. Li “xiaohu” Yuanhao of the all-Chinese lineup carried the win with a KDA of 8/0/2.
RNGU then took out CTBC Flying Oyster in 32 minutes on red. Chen “GALA” Wei led the way with a 12/1/8.
In the day’s other match, the Thieves also needed 32 minutes to defeat CTBC. Victor “FBI” Huang of Australia led the win at 5/0/8, and Kim “ssumday” Chan-ho of South Korea was at 5/1/8 for the Thieves, who were playing on blue.
Sixteen teams were divided into four groups for the double-round-robin group stage, which ended Sunday. All matches consisted of a single map. The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage, with the third- and fourth-place sides in each group heading home.
The knockout stage is scheduled for Oct. 20-Nov. 5, with all matches best-of-five. The entire group stage and the quarterfinals are being held at New York’s Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden. The semifinals are set for State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and the grand final will be contested at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
League of Legends World Championship group-stage standings:
Group A
1. T1, 5-1
2. EDward Gaming, 4-2
3. Fnatic, 2-4
4. Cloud9, 1-5
Group B
1. JD Gaming, 5-1 (won tiebreaker)
2. DAMWON Gaming, 5-1
T3. Evil Geniuses, 1-5
T3. G2 Esports, 1-5
Group C
1. DRX, 4-2 (won tiebreaker)
2. Rogue, 4-2
3. Top Esports, 3-3
4. GAM Esports, 1-5
Group D
1. Gen.G Esports, 5-1 (won tiebreaker)
2. Royal Never Give Up, 5-1
T3. 100 Thieves, 1-5
T3. CTBC Flying Oyster 1-5