Gaming
esports
G2 Esports face their biggest challenge yet at the Worlds 2020 semi-final
G2 Esports will face their toughest challenge yet against DAMWON Gaming in the Worlds semi-finals, but they have the tools to win.
From looking good on the opening day, to feeling a bit shaky in the middle of the group stage, to dominating their quarter-final opponents, G2 Esports have had a roller coaster of a Worlds so far. As they head into the semi-final this weekend, they’ll be hoping things are only going up from here. But on Saturday they’ll face their toughest opponents yet in DAMWON Gaming.
DWG breezed through the League Champions Korea (LCK) in summer, only losing two matches on their way to a 3-0 sweep in the play-off finals. They’ve been riding that momentum through into the World Championship as well, losing just a single game so far. Of the four teams left in the tournament, they have the highest win rate, and are considered one of the two favourites alongside China’s number one seed Top Esports. But, they haven’t faced a team like G2 yet.
G2 spent 2019 defying the meta, so much so that other teams were trying, and failing, to copy their play style. It carried them to the Mid-Season Invitational trophy, and all the way to the Worlds 2019 final. They haven’t looked quite as dominant in 2020, but they’ve still won everything they’ve participated in so far, and as the year has gone on, they’ve been getting better and better.
Right now we’re in the jungle/support meta, where carry junglers are playing through bot lane in an attempt to gain Dragon control and get their team ahead. It’s a style that doesn’t look to have suited G2, who often rely on mid laner Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther to roam around the map and get kills. Failing that, the team usually goes for individual outplays or excellent teamfighting to come out ahead. G2 have tried to fit into the meta a few times so far, without much success, so in the quarterfinal against Gen.G it looked like they went back to basics.
Particularly in Game 2, when Caps went an unkillable 11/0/11 on Sylas, G2 proved that they still don’t need to adapt to the meta. Other teams need to adapt to G2. It’ll be very interesting to see whether DWG, who have mastered the current meta, will be able to keep up with the aggression of G2 as a result. The Korean team are often measured, picking fights around objectives when they need to and executing very well. Will they be ready for three members of G2 unexpectedly coming out of the jungle, just hunting for kills?
Caps showed in the quarterfinals why he’s still among the best in the world
© Riot Games / Flickr
G2’s individual play will have to be on point against DWG, as Caps and Martin ‘Wunder’ Nordahl Hansen will be coming up against two of the best solo laners on the planet in Jang ‘Nuguri’ Ha-gwon and Heo ‘ShowMaker’ Su.
So far, ShowMaker has played classic midlane champions to good effect, carrying with the likes of Syndra and Twisted Fate. His one loss at Worlds has been on Galio, so expect to see him back on one of the more traditional mages going forward. If he does pick the Twisted Fate, Caps has shown his Sylas is more than up to the task, stealing and countering his opponent’s ultimates when they think they’re about to get a numbers advantage in a side lane. Both Caps and ShowMaker are considered two of the best midlaners in the world, so it will be a truly enticing matchup.
As for Nuguri, he’s been swapping between Ornn and Kennen all tournament. Two very contrasting champions, but he’s been putting both of them to excellent use. Meanwhile, Wunder has been prioritising champions such as Renekton and Shen. All of these are great teamfighting champions, so expect to see a slow early game followed by an explosion of action once everyone reaches level six.
In the jungle, we’ll be seeing a very close matchup. Both Marcin ‘Jankos’ Jankowski and Kim ‘Canyon’ Geon-bu have been playing a lot of Graves so far at Worlds, with Canyon even getting Graves seven games in a row. They’ll both be looking to prioritise the champion in the semi-final, but only one can get it, so the draft is set to be a tense affair, with a number of high priority picks on the table.
Finally, down in the bot lane, Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic and Mihael ‘Mikyx’ Mehle will have to be on top form against what has turned out to be a very deadly duo of Jang ‘Ghost’ Yong-jun and Cho ‘BeryL’ Geon-hee. Canyon and Ghost have the top two kill-to-death ratios out of everyone in the entire tournament, which shows how much DWG have been throwing jungle pressure towards the bottom half of the map. Perkz has the highest K/D ratio on his team too though, and the ever-confident botlaner will be fancying his chances after improving his play over the past couple of months.
If they can get past DAMWON, G2 will have made it to back-to-back World Championship finals, which hasn’t been done since the glory days of SK Telecom T1 and Samsung Galaxy. They’ll be up against either the tournament favourites Top Esports, or will face yet another rematch against Suning. G2 and Suning played three times in the group stage, ending with a 1-2 record, so will certainly be looking for revenge in a best-of-five with the biggest prize of them all on the line.
A European team hasn’t won Worlds since the very first tournament back in 2011. Now here we are at the 10th installment, with G2 the last remaining hope. They came so close last year, so will be looking to go one better in 2020 and bring home the trophy.
