League of Legends Worlds 2023: JDG, Gen.G first two teams to qualify for Quarterfinals

The League of Legends (LoL) World Championship 2023 Swiss Stage is really turning into a nail-biter, with four teams giving it their all to secure the top two spots in the Playoffs.

In the end, it was the LoL Pro League (LPL) Summer champions JD Gaming and the LoL Championship Korea (LCK) Summer champions Gen.G who emerged triumphant, defeating LNG Esports 2-1 and G2 Esports 2-0 respectively, in intense best-of-three matches.

JD Gaming came into Worlds to attempt the golden road after having a stellar 2023 season, having won both LPL regional championships and the Mid-Season Invitational title.

Meanwhile, Gen.G came into Worlds seeking their first international championship after almost a decade of attempting to translate their domestic success into an international win.

At Worlds, both the LPL Champions and LCK Champions breezed through round 1 and round 2 of the Swiss Stage, with JD Gaming defeating BDS and Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in the first and second round, and Gen.G defeating GAM Esports and T1.

This allowed them to move forward to the Round 3 Playoffs qualifiers where JD Gaming faced LNG Esports, and Gen.G faced G2 Esports.

JDG win against LNG 2-1

Although JDG qualified for the finals, LNG consistently challenged and pushed them throughout the series, taking one game against this year’s LPL gods. Here’s how the matches went:

In the first game, JDG found an early game lead after a team fight for the Rift Herald that ended with JDG taking the upper hand with a 5-3 kill lead.

However, LNG continued to fight back, trying to find picks while laning, keeping JDG’s lead at a minimum, earning the second rift herald for themselves, and stealing the third Dragon from JDG.

However, in a fight for the Baron, JDG widened their gap against LNG, with Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk popping off with Zeri’s Shockwave getting a double kill and helping his team to kill two more members of the enemy team.

After a swift 27-minute encounter with a 15-7 kill lead, JDG crushed LNG’s base to win the first game.

In the second game, LNG prioritised the Xayah and Rakan bot lane duo, while JDG drafted Kai’sa and Rell to counter LNG's Xayah and Rakan pick.

LNG started off strong in the early game, picking off JDG’s members in team fights and skirmishes, with Lee "Scout" Ye-chan's Sylas being quite the menace in the mid lane.

The match was relatively peaceful through the mid-game, with only 7 kills from both teams. However, as JDG attempted to stop the Chemtech Soul from their opponents, LNG swept the members of the JDG with a clean ace, giving them the opportunity to make a beeline for the Baron pit.

After a 28-minute dominant encounter, LNG destroyed JDG’s Nexus to win the second game with a 14-2 kill lead.

In the third game, JD Gaming denied LNG the Vastayan Lovers bot lane combo, taking Rakan as support for themselves and combining him with Kai’sa in the bot lane and Neeko in the mid lane. Meanwhile, LNG prioritised Ahri in the mid lane and Tristana and Nautilus in the bot lane.

The early game went in favour of LNG after 2 kills against JDG’s bot lane and 2 more kills in a team fight afterwards.

However, JDG managed to keep the gold and exp gap close after getting back at LNG with two kills in skirmishes within the jungle and 2 more kills in the river. JDG consistently found picks as they continued to destroy LNG’s turrets.

And after a 26-minute encounter, JDG destroyed LNG’s Nexus to win the third game and the series to secure the first spot in the Playoffs.

In the post-match interview, Ruler mentioned that they were able to turn things around in the third game because they knew that their team composition was solid, despite losing out in the early stages of the game.

So they focused on winning team fights because “as long as we win one team fight, the game will still be playable.”

This focus allowed them to take back the upper hand from LNG and win the last game and the series.

Many analysts and fans also believed that JDG were the tournament favourites and would most likely make it to the finals. When asked which team they’d like to face in the finals, Ruler said that he believes JDG would face T1 or Gen.G, given how strong both of these teams are.

He also gave his thoughts on experiencing the Swiss Stage for the first time at Worlds, saying that it’s a bit more difficult.

“You’re definitely placed in a bad spot once you lose one game, so every game is just that more important,” he said.

Gen.G remain undefeated after 2-0 sweep against G2 Esports

Gen.G, on the other hand, remain undefeated after sweeping G2 2-0. Here’s how the matches went:

In the first game, G2 gave away the much-contested Xayah-Rakan combination to Gen.G and decided to prioritise Maokai in the Jungle and counter the Vastayan lovers with Ezreal and Lissandra in the bot lane.

G2 kept a small lead against Gen.G in the first game, with Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther taking first blood against Chovy in the mid lane.

Gen.G, however, kept the gap to a minimum and won against G2 in a team fight that erupted in the top lane.

The South Korean powerhouse continued to overpower G2 in team fights and skirmishes, with Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon's Sylas and Choi "Doran" Hyeon-joon's Jax being a problem for the European summer kings.

In a fight at the river, Gen.G found a massive lead after cleaning G2 off with an ace, then taking two more kills in a fight for the Baron right after.

After a 31-minute encounter and despite G2’s best efforts to keep up, Gen.G destroyed G2’s base to win the first game.

In the second game, G2 banned Chovy’s Sylas but continued to prioritise Maokai in the jungle over Xayah-Rakan in the bot lane and then took Taliyah in the mid lane.

However, Chovy took Akali for the mid lane to go against G2’s Taliyah.

G2 found it difficult throughout the game to keep up with Gen.G, with Chovy’s Akali being a problem for the European team and Han "Peanut" Wang-ho's Rell going hard on crowd control against G2.

The South Korean juggernauts continued to steamroll their opponents throughout the match, securing a sizable gold lead, with Doran’s Aatrox out for blood.

And after a merciless 31-minute encounter, Gen.G destroyed G2’s base with a 22-6 kill lead and a massive 14,000 gold lead to win the series and qualify for the Playoffs.

In the post-match interview, Peanut was asked about his thoughts on Gen.G pioneer and former teammate Ruler, who previously said that he wanted to meet Gen.G or T1 in the finals.

“It would feel amazing to meet my former teammate at the finals,” Peanut replied with a smile.

He said that after watching JDG’s game today, he found that the team had a good understanding of the meta and were able to utilise this with their diverse champion pool, which is something they “would need to be aware and prepared for.”

“However, aside from that, there are a lot of good teams that I think might make it, like Gen.G, T1, LNG, and even G2, aside from JD Gaming,” he added.

While JDG and Gen.G have qualified for the Playoffs, LNG and G2 will continue their run in the Swiss Stage on Thursday (26 October), where they will face the winners of the Round 2 middle bracket (1-1 standing) matches which will take place this Sunday (22 October).

Here’s the match schedule for Round 2, middle bracket (22 October):

Also, here’s the match schedule for Round 2, elimination match (23 October):

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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