Movistar R7 and DetonatioN FocusMe are knocked out despite their best efforts at the 2023 World Championship.
The first part of this year’s League of Legends World Championship is nearing its end! The Play-In’s conclude this Sunday, and we said goodbye to the first two teams on Friday: Movistar R7 and DetonatioN FocusMe. The LLA and LJL representatives are the first to fall in the biggest LoL event of the year, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of fans and players alike.
Movistar R7 and DetonatioN FocusMe Are Knocked Out
Movistar R7 Was the First to Fall
The best them in the LLA had their first international success this year, when they beat GAM Esports in the Mid-Season Invitational. While they didn’t make it much further in the tournament, they proved that they have a place in the highest levels of League of Legends. They managed to win the LLA Closing Playoffs as well, beating Estral Esports 3-0 in the Finals.
They made it to Worlds Play-Ins, where they had to play against PSG Talon first. This was an incredibly difficult task even before the first draft, as PSG Talon is one of the strongest non-major region team of the Worlds circuit historically.
In the first match, both teams had reserved drafts, except for Azhi’s Kennen, which was picked against Movistar’s toplaner Bong. The LLA champion’s Renekton was no match to the Eye of the Storm, who managed to get a huge lead early, which PSG could snowball into the mid and lategame. After Wako managed to scale with his Xayah, it was over for Movistar R7, whose defenses crumbled after the first Baron Nashor of the game.
The second match lasted longer but felt a lot more one-sided than the first match. This time, Maple shined on the side of PSG Talon, going 6/0/5 on his Jayce. Azhi picked another AP champion in Rumble, which also gave some troubles to Bong, but Mireu and Ceo were also a bit lackluster. PSG Talon beat Movistar R7 2-0, knocking them down to the Loser’s Bracket.
After a day off, Movistar R7 faced the team which they knocked out of this year’s Mid-Season Invitational: GAM Esports. The Vietnamese champions lost to LOUD 0-2, so they also had to prove themselves in order to keep fighting in the World Championship.
Sadly for Movistar R7, GAM Esports left them no breathing room. In the first match the VCS winners put Bong out of the equasion after repeated ganks, and they also kept Mireu in check. The only one with a positive KDA on the team was Ceo, but he played Stormrazor Kai’Sa, and couldn’t scale fast enough to stop the onslaught of Slayder and Levi.
After the 26-minute stomp, Movistar R7 tried to change things up by putting Bong on K’Sante and Oddie on Lee Sin. While they didn’t let GAM Esports get ahead that much in the early game, after the 10-minute mark, Levi and his team managed to secure every single objective, including a Baron Nashor and the Infernal Soul. It took GAM 18 minutes to destroy the first Turret, but afterwards, they took complete control of the match, ending it just after 31 minutes – and along with the Nexus, the dreams of Movistar R7 were also shattered.
DetonatioN FocusMe Had Everything Set Out Against Them
DetonatioN FocusMe had a huge controversy in the LJL Summer Split: their toplaner, Haruki “tol2” Shibata was reportedly abused by the team’s coaches, Kazuta “Kazu” Suzuki and Kyohei “Ceros” Yoshida, which ended with the young player becoming inactive, then leaving DFM altogether. The most decorated Japanese team managed to win the Summer Split and Playoffs with their ADC, Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura on the toplane, while Ryo “Milan” Nakamoto filled the role of the carry in the team. They swept the competition with this lineup but decided to change it up before the start of Worlds. DFM signed Ryo “apaMEN” Odagiri, Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS’ toplaner – who retired in 2021. While apaMEN didn’t play a professional match for 2 years, DFM still had a strong core and a lot of hype to live up to – especially after their blowout at the MSI.
Their first opponent was PCS 2nd seed CTBC Flying Oyter, a slower, but very collected team. In true PCS fashion, Gemini and his teammates played a very laid-back game in their first match against DFM, even though they picked Draven for Shunn. The Draven became a problem alright, but not as much as Rest’ Rumble and JimieN’s Jayce. Even though Aria had a great game on Ahri, apaMEN was gapped in the toplane, and the Senna – Maokai botlane of Yutapon and Harp didn’t work out.
Flying Oyster shifted to gear 6 in game 2, especially Shunn, who went 8/1/8 in a 27-minute match with Kai’Sa. DFM didn’t learn their lesson, playing Aatrox into Rumble again, as well as failing to ban Jayce which surprised even JimieN. While Yutapon and Harp were much better than in the first match, they couldn’t deal with Shunn, meaning DF got knocked down to the Loser’s Bracket.
The Japanese representatives faced Team BDS next – it seemed like the universe wanted DFM to fail, as it gave them the hardest battles in Worlds. Team BDS didn’t play the style they showcased in the first match against Team Whales and in the Bo3 versus Golden Guardians, instead opting for a Jayce-Xayah axis with Adam on Renekton as a frontline, while Labrov and Sheo supported the team with Braum and Ivern. They strategy worked out fine, as DFM only managed to get 2 kills and a single Turret in the entirety of the match, their Nexus crumbling before the 27-minute mark.
The second bout saw apaMEN give his Aatrox up in favour of Poppy, while Yutapon and Aria played Kai’Sa and Tristana with an Ivern on their side – this was the strongest draft DFM has put together so far. BDS drafted similarly to their first match, but this time, Sheo was on Vi in order to shut down either one of DFM’s carries. Sadly, the selected champions are only one part of the game, with execution being much more important than planning. DFM held out in the early game, but could only mitigate their losses after 10 minutes, when BDS took everything from them. While the Swiss team needed 2 Barons, their win was inevitable, and DetonatioN FocusMe joined Movistar R7 on the way home after two 0-2 series.
While two teams already got knocked out of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship, the brunt of the competition is still ahead of us – are you ready to find out who will make it to the Swiss Stage of Worlds?
