League of Legends Worlds 2023 started off with a bang with their play-in’s which bumped the tournament into their swiss stage. Some exhilarating gameplay was seen by the teams playing at Worlds 2023. Of course many of the Eastern teams such as LCK and LPL have been doing fantastically securing the top four spots in the knockout stages. Currently it was a battle to secure the last four spots for the knockouts.
G2 and NRG Worlds 2023
The biggest upset of worlds 2023 happened on 10/28/2023 with G2 a European team losing to NRG a North American team. It’s not a secret that North America has suffered losses after losses with only Cloud 9 going to knockout stages due to a tiebreaker. In the past 5 years they weren’t even able to really scratch the surface of Worlds tournaments. However, NRG seems to be a little different in this year’s showcase. NRG has shown to the world that North America can and will be able to contend against some of the greatest League of Legends teams in history.
The reason this was a big upset is that G2 has a magnificent following in the League community. Year after year they have developed, implemented, and put into action some of their greatest strategies. They were considered a major competitor in the Worlds scene prior to their recent matchup with NRG. NRG doesn’t have the same following yet, but after Worlds 2023 they are going to be hailed as a hero for North America. This was NRG’s first appearance at Worlds and the team is fairly new from basically rejects from other teams.
Rejected no longer, NRG was able to show their superiority in the matchup against G2. Defeating G2 miserably in a 2-0 streak giving NRG their spot in the knockout stages. The same could not be said about Cloud 9 or Team Liquid. Those two failed completely getting to the knockout stage with Team Liquid losing 0-3 and Cloud 9 losing 1-3. It’s almost a joke in the League of Legends community that North American teams cannot be on the same level as Korea and China. However, this Worlds 2023 might be different with NRG leading the charge as they did in LCS.
NRG Victory
You may be asking yourselves how exactly did NRG secure their victories against the famous G2 team in Worlds 2023. Watching the games, it became apparent that NRG does a methodical approach to plying on the Summoners Rift. In this matchup they were able to secure most of the objectives while ensuring each lane was pushed up causing additional pressure on G2. Moreover, NRG in the laning phase was able to win in early trades on all sides of the map. Palafox, Dhokla, Contractz, Ignar, and FBI won at every stage of the laning phase.
Contractz was NRG’s main jungle in Worlds 2023. His jungle phase was even thwarted by Yike in game number one with many of his camps being decimated at the beginning of the game. Losing out on all his jungle resources should have caused strain in the jungling phase, but for some reason Contractz was able to maintain his composure and destroyed throughout the game. His ganks were impeccable and Palafox’ Neeko ultimate’s decimated G2’s entire composition. During this whole process of G2 losing mid/jungle, top/bottom were winning in their laning phases.
In game number two Senna was banned so FBI wouldn’t be able to play it as he did skillfully in game number one. The issue with the second game was that G2 picked too many tank champions which weren’t able to dish out enough damage throughout the game. Contractz was also jungling as Jarvin which made it so much worse for G2. Dhokla’s rumble ultimate did too much damage for G2 to be able to come back from it and Ignar was always able to leave the battlefield with a scratch of health. As the two games continued, you saw desperation in G2’s plays causing them to continue spiraling downward.
Can NRG Win Worlds 2023
Currently from seeing their gameplay against G2 it seems they have their system down perfectly. FBI and Ignar work perfectly together to battle against their opponents in bot lane. Dhokla does a great job in winning his top lane and providing additional support for the rest of his team in mid to late game. Contractz is doing a exceptional job in jungle and syncing well with their mid lane. Lastly, Palafox has been able to show his skill as a mid lane against countless opponents.
Now it’s time for the “but” section of this article. The other two wins NRG had was against Team Liquid and MAD which aren’t considered top tier teams. Team Liquid as we said earlier went 0-3 winning none of their games in Worlds 2023. MAD lions has also been underperforming in Worlds 2023 going 1-3 and being knocked out of the Swiss Stage. Looking at these other teams it seems that G2 was the only main contender that they faced off against which was somewhat good.
Let’s add that all of the teams at Worlds 2023 are good teams and let’s not take away from their professional ability to play League of Legends. They are all good at the game, but what would happen if NRG faced off against an LPL or LCK team? Well we saw them go against WeiboGaming which is the only team they lost against. It makes it more confusing that G2 won against WeiboGaming, so where exactly will NRG stand when they face off against the Knockout Stage teams? We can all hope for the best and as much as it was difficult watching G2 lose in Worlds 2023, it’s good that a North American team finally went to the Knockout Stage.
Summary
Worlds 2023 has been a rollercoaster event with the play in teams, the play in knockouts, the Swiss Stage, and finally the Knockout Stage. We have much left to see in the Swiss Stage as the teams who went 2-2 have the CHANCE to get to knockout stages. G2 might make a return, but they need to battle out Bilibili Gaming. We’ll also see who makes it to the Knockout Stage from Kt Rolster, Dplus KIA, Fnatic, and WeiboGaming. This phenomenon of Esports has not only been exciting, but a massive addition to the gaming space in general.
Hopefully as the day progresses we will see the final teams to battle it out in the Knockout Stages. If you voted for G2 as one of the teams that moves forward in Pick’Em then you better hope they do well against Bilibili Gaming. It will all be wrapped up in the final day of the Swiss Stage in Worlds 2023. One thing is for sure, that we’ll all be watching the potential for NRG to go against some of the best teams of the world and to secure North America as a main player in the Worlds stage. We’ll all be watching on LoLEsports.com and make sure you’re logged in to secure the free rewards for watching the games. If they finally start giving more of them out of course.