MSI 2022 Group Stage Day 2 Recap: T1, G2, and RNG Stand Undefeated

It was yet another exciting day of League of Legends esports at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2022. Day 2 of MSI 2022 Group Stage lived up to the hype with a few very close matches and some complete whitewashes. After what was a quick day yesterday, the matches were relatively longer on Day 2. Picks like Pyke, Wukong, and the Jhin are starting to look like staples for some of the teams here at MSI 2022.

The following were the teams that picked up wins on Day 2 of MSI 2022 Group Stage:

G2 Esports (G2) - Evil Geniuses vs G2 Esports

Evil Geniuses (EG) - ORDER vs Evil Geniuses

Saigon Buffalo (SGB) - DetonatioN FocusMe vs Saigon Buffalo

T1 - Team Aze vs T1

Istanbul Wildcats (IW) - RED Canids vs Istanbul Wildcats

Royal Never Give Up (RNG) -PSG Talon vs Royal Never Give Up

G2 Esports wins against Evil Geniuses once again

The first match of the day between G2 Esports (G2) and Evil Geniuses (EG) lived up to the hype once again. The two teams brought fans to the edge of their seats with a very back and forth match where both teams took turns to throw the game. However, G2 Esports prevailed and won the game in 38 minutes. G2 locked in Galio and Camille and also ran back the Pyke in this match, making it a very mobile team composition. G2 dominated the early game and Victor "Flakked" Lirola Tortosa also picked up multiple kills but unfortunately, a throw at the Baron pit turned the game back on its head. EG was quick to punish G2 for its mistakes but unfortunately, it could not capitalize on it completely.

Evil Geniuses picks up its first win

The second match of Day 2 of MSI 2022 Group Stage was yet another 38-minute victory where Evil Geniuses picked up its first win over ORDER from Oceania. EG had an incredible lead in the early game and picked up objectives and kills across Summoner’s Rift. Meanwhile, ORDER tried stacking up dragons but was still behind in terms of gold. Ian "Corporal" Pearse on the Nautilus ended up dying multiple times and Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme proved that he was the better roaming support in the matchup. After Leona was launched into the air for a brief moment, the match was paused and League of Legends officials debated the possibility of a chronobreak. However, EG decided to play through the bug and ended up winning the match, after securing Baron Nashor.

Saigon Buffalo upsets Japan’s DetonatioN FocusMe

Going into the matchup, the veterans of DetonatioN FocusMe (DFM) were the clear favorites against Saigon Buffalo (SGB), but the Vietnamese squad showed up big time and proved everyone wrong. Saigon Buffalo, after a pretty convincing victory, is looking forward to making it out of Group A alongside T1.

DFM made the draft phase spicy with Shunsuke "Evi" Murase locking in his specialty pick Urgot. With Samira and Renata picked up for DFM’s Yuta "Yutapon" Sugiura and Lee "Harp" Ji-yoong, and Lucian and Nami for Saigon Buffalo’s Nguyễn "Shogun" Văn Huy and Đinh "Taki" Anh Tài, it became evident that the bottom lanes would be trading heavy blows in the laning phase. At 20 minutes, both teams were equal in terms of gold but DFM had six kills in its pocket, with three on the Urgot.

SGB turned to Baron Nashor after taking down Yutapon and eventually secured it at 21 minutes. However, DFM picked up crucial kills after bloody back-to-back fights between 25-27 minutes in-game. SGB picked up the second Baron buff and also the Cloud soul during the course of the game. Bùi "Froggy" Văn Minh Hải and Lâm "Hasmed" Huỳnh Gia Huy were crucial for the Vietnamese squad during team fights and helped take down Mun "Steal" Geon-yeong on Viego and Lee "Yaharong" Chan-ju on Twisted Fate.

SGB’s jungler Trần "Bean J" Văn Chính ignored the Elder Dragon and walked into DFM’s base with Baron buff and took down the nexus at 35 minutes.

T1 speedruns Team Aze in Match 4

It was a whitewash of a match with T1 defeating Team Aze in just over 20 minutes, making it the shortest match of MSI 2022 thus far. T1 was obviously the stronger team going into the matchup.

In the draft phase, T1 surprise picked Wukong support for Ryu "Keria" Min-seok, meaning that Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong would be on the fasting Senna. At around 6.30 minutes, Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok on Ahri roamed to the top lane, saved Choi "Zeus" Woo-je, and picked up a double kill for himself. At 9 minutes, T1 was killing Team Aze’s members left and right and dominated the Summoner’s Rift in its entirety. At 15 minutes, Aze was behind by 10K gold with the only two kills on their side on Han "Lonely" Gyu-joon and Roberto "Straight" Guallichico. Shortly after this, T1 broke open Aze’s base at 18 minutes and ended the game in 20 minutes. Team Aze did not make any crucial mistakes against the Korean juggernauts but it got outclassed by T1 all over the map.

Istanbul Wildcats pick up its first win

Both Istanbul Wildcats (IW) and RED Canids (RED) are fighting to make it out of Group B since RNG is favored to get the first spot in the group. After a very back and forth match, IW picked up its first game and equaled RED in the group.

In the early game, IW was clearly in the lead and was dictating the moves of the match. Alexandre "TitaN" Lima dos Santo on Jhin still found good value on the map as he picked up two kills at 15 minutes. However, after a well-executed team fight courtesy of Daniel "Grevthar" Xavier and Guilherme "Guigo" Ruiz, RED turned around the game at 18 minutes. RED broke open the base of IW at 20 minutes and pressed on its advantages. As the game progressed, Soner "StarScreen" Kaya on Mordekaiser scaled into a scary monster on the rift. Following this, IW aced RED and marched into the base, and finished the game in just over 28 minutes.

RNG wins against PSG Talon

In what was the featured matchup of the day, RNG showed up big time and took down PSG Talon in 28 minutes. It was a quick stomp by RNG but PSG did have some highlight moments throughout the match. PSG Talon used its comp to its advantage to ace RNG at 21-minutes but RNG’s gold lead was too much for PSG to offset with just one team fight victory. RNG’s Hextech Dragon soul came in clutch, as it pressed its advantage to take down Baron Nashor. A methodical RNG, tore down PSG’s base one inhibitor at a time and used the baron buff to group down the bottom lane and fight the opponents in sync. PSG tried to engage RNG in a fight but it was in vain as the Chinese powerhouse was too strong with its item lead and the dragon soul.

On Day 2 of MSI 2022 Group Stage, the matches were a mix of long and short ones. However, it became evident that T1, G2, and RNG would be the teams to look out for in the tournament. With these teams standing tall in their respective groups, the rest of the pack needs to fight amongst themselves to escape their groups as the second seed.

Fans can watch Day 3 of MSI 2022 Group Stage live on LoLEsports and on the Twitch and Youtube channels of Riot Games.