MSI 2022 Day 4 Recap: Déjà Vu Run For RNG, Istanbul Wildcats Out Of Contention
Cover-Credits:
League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2022 resumed on Day 4 with a dedicated round-robin matchup of the Group B teams - Royal Never Give Up (RNG), Istanbul Wildcats (IW), RED Canids, and PSG Talon. However, before the day’s matches commenced, Riot Games announced that it discovered a ping discrepancy at the LAN in Busan, Korea, and hence had to reconfigure the latency to bring it down to the intended level. Since the teams playing from Korea were at a disadvantage, all three games of RNG were declared null and void and they would be replayed on 14th May.
After today’s Group B rumble, Istanbul Wildcats has been knocked out of the Rumble Stage contention and RED Canids (RED) and PSG Talon will fight another day to make it out of the group.
The following teams picked up a win today:
PSG Talon - RED Canids vs PSG Talon
PSG Talon - Istanbul Wildcats vs PSG Talon
RNG - RED Canids vs RNG
RED Canids - RED Canids vs Istanbul Wildcats
RNG - PSG Talon vs RNG
PSG Talon asserts dominance over RED Canids
RED Canids had a really strong start to the first game of the day after picking up two dragons, the first Rift Herald, and also the first tower. However, PSG Talon stayed equal in gold and matched RED Canids by picking up the third dragon by trading the second Herald across the map. A well-orchestrated team fight that stemmed from a perfect combination of Wukong and Ornn ultimates by Lee "Juhan" Ju-han and Su "Hanabi" Chia-Hsiang propelled PSG Talon to pick up a lead. After Park "Bay" Jun-byeong picked up a triple kill and cleaned house, PSG turned to Baron Nashor and secured it. At 26 minutes, RED’s base was cracked open and PSG ended the game in just over 27 minutes, after acing its opponents.
RNG’s first official win of MSI 2022
Technically, the second match of Day 2 was RNG’s fourth game. However, after its score was wiped clean to uphold the competitive integrity of MSI 2022, RNG was looking eager to pick up its “first win” of the tournament. However, it was a very similar match to the first round-robin game between RNG and IW - a complete stomp fest. Even the counter-pick Vladimir for Soner "StarScreen" Kaya did not stand a chance against the RNG lineup. Even though IW went toe-to-toe against the LPL representatives, it stood no real chance because of the inflated gold lead that RNG has raked up. The Chinese squad took down the nexus of IW at 23.16 minutes in the game.
PSG Talon wins against Istanbul Wildcats
The biggest takeaway from this match was that Ling "Kaiwing" Kai Wing’s Leona is a team fight enabler and cannot be discounted at any cost. The Leona pick found PSG Talon kills time and again in the match and helped pick up a significant lead over IW. It looked hopeful for the Turkish Championship League (TCL) representative when the team secured quick, flashy kills on PSG after engages initiated by Berk "Farfetch" Badur’s Nautilus and picked up a 2K lead. The match was very back and forth but PSG secured the Baron Nashor buff, won isolated team fights, and closed out the match in 33 minutes.
RNG picks up a comfortable win again
It was a classic LPL destruction that played out in the match between RNG and RED Canids. Soon after the match started, champions started getting killed and objectives were being taken by RNG. At 15 minutes, the Chinese squad was up by 5K gold, and following this, fans witnessed another Chen "GALA" Wei pentakill.
This game also featured a dancing Rift Herald aka Shelly as RNG summoned her to take down the base of RED Canids in 20.31 minutes.
RED Canids styles on Istanbul Wildcats
Gabriel Vinicius "Aegis" Saes de Lemos on the Lee Sin and Daniel "Grevthar" Xavier on Zoe popped off in this match against Istanbul Wildcats as the duo secured the team kills all over the map. Until 18 minutes in the game, Istanbul Wildcats did not even secure one kill on the board, while on the other hand, RED had secured 15 kills. After picking up a few sporadic kills on the map, IW got some breathing room and held onto its base, which was in shambles with just an open nexus waiting to be destroyed. RED Canids’ members were evidently toying around and having fun on the Rift and ended the game in just under 30 minutes.
RNG goes 3-0 on Day 4
PSG Talon came into this matchup with all guns blazing and put RNG in its place multiple times during the course of the match. But unfortunately, the team was unable to translate it into a major gold lead and take down the defending MSI champions. RNG came back into the game after Yan "Wei" Yang-Wei stole Baron Nashor from PSG Talon. Soon after, it secured the dragon soul, dismantled PSG’s base, and killed Baron for the second time. At 33 minutes, RNG marched back into the base and took down PSG to close out Day 4 of MSI 2022.
With Day 4 of MSI 2022 concluded and just three more games to be replayed in Group B, RNG once again tops the standings and Istanbul Wildcats can no longer make it to the Rumble Stage of the tournament.
Fans can watch the Group C games on Day 5 of MSI 2022 tomorrow on 13th May, followed by the three matches from Group B, on LoLEsports, and on the Twitch and Youtube channels of Riot Games.
