The first semifinal series of the 2022 League of Legends Mid Season Invitational has officially come to an end. The match between Evil Geniuses and RNG ended as expected, where the latter came out victorious to secure a spot in the grand finals of Riot Games’ tournament.
It was a quick and clean 3 to 0 victory for RNG, even though Evil Geniuses did make the second and third games look closer than expected. Nevertheless, it was Xiaohu who made sure that RNG had no issues finishing the games, as his veteran plays made life difficult for the North American representative.
RNG will now lay in wait for its opponent as it could be either T1 or G2 Esports. Even though T1 and G2 Esports are strong contenders, considering the performance that RNG has showcased, it looks like Xiaohu and company are more than ready to defend the MSI title yet again. As confidence and experience is the perfect mesh shown by the chinese juggernaut.
If you go off by the overall scoreline the first semifinal series at the 2022 Mid Season Invitational between RNG and Evil Geniuses might look like a one sided affair. Most people would say it was a straight out stomp against the LCS Champion. However, outside of the first game, there were instances where Evil Geniuses looked ready enough to pick at least one game from RNG. The first game was simply a slaughter fest, as both teams went in guns blazing but mechanically RNG definitely came on top.
The second game is where things are shocked and the possible upset might occur. Even after Royal Never Give Up had a convincing start, Inspired, Jojopyun and Danny made some insane miracle plays which gave Evil Geniuses a lead towards the mid game. The main problem was that Danny had a static champion in Jinx, which unfortunately was constantly caught as he had no means of escape. Even though Vulcan was maneuvering Tahm Kench to support that lack of mobility, most of the time he was either rapidly killed or not able to get in range to save Danny. As RNG drafted primarily to dive the backline, Xiaohu made sure that Danny never got a chance to throw free auto attacks. As a result, despite gaining some advantages in the mid game, the Chinese champions were able to secure the win.
Lastly, in the third game, RNG again started quite aggressive and were able to gather a significant gold lead very early on. Evil Geniuses did not give up as Inspired and Jojopyun made two awesome clutch plays within the Baron pit and in the Elder Dragon area, to delay the match further. Unfortunately, despite gaining the Elder buff, Evil Geniuses did not look confident enough and eventually ended up losing the game. Thus, North America is out of the competition.
Most analysts agree that one of the main problems was Evil Geniuses overthinking plays or scenarios, at the end creating doubt before committing towards necessary pushes. Hopefully we will see the team recover after this to be stronger and push towards a Worlds appearance.
