Gen.G vs BLG Worlds 2023 Quarterfinals Day 2.
The 2023 League of Legends World Championship rolls on with a battle between two Eastern titans as the defending LCK champions Gen.G goes up against BLG. This is the first we are seeing of Gen.G in some time after quickly exiting the Swiss stage with a perfect 3-0 record. BLG, on the other hand, had to scratch and claw their way out as they finished 3-2, eliminating the European first seed in G2 in the process. Who will come out on top, the LPL or the LCK?
Gen.G vs BLG Recap – Game 1
When the sides met at the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational, it was the Chinese squad who came away with a dominant 3-0 victory. It seemed early on in game one that BLG was ready for history to repeat itself once again. Xun at level 3 could execute a routine tower dive onto the Gen.G bottom lane that set the snowball rolling for the LPL second seed. Even with Gen.G being able to get a couple of return kills, it was BLG who had the shove in every lane, allowing them to have control of the entire map, leaving Peanut with very little to do.
BLG controlled the dragons, had the gold lead and Xun was putting on an excellent display, being aggressive across multiple lanes and getting a 3/0 start in the early stages of the game. The game-breaking fight came around the fifteen-minute mark. Gen.G felt the game was slipping away from them, so they attempted to fight BLG at the Rift Herald. This went in BLG’s favor and now the LPL squad was off to the races. With a 20-minute Ocean Soul, BLG was able to take the Elder Dragon in record time, putting Gen.G away in 29 minutes.
Quick Stats
- Teams: Gen.G vs BLG
- Time: 29:37
- Kills: 5-14
- Turrets: 3-8
- Gold: 48.5k – 59.1k
- Dragons: 0 – 4
- Barons: 0 – 1
Gen.G vs BLG Recap – Game 2
The early game could not have gone better for Elk, who was gifted double buffs in the third minute after a Gen.G gank went awry. Xayah is arguably the best bottom laner in the game right now, and with a 2/0 lead, Gen.G was already on the back foot with BLG having the easier-to-execute composition. With the bot side well and truly ahead, it was a straightforward gameplan for Xun, dive Jax to ensure Doran is a nonfactor for the foreseeable future. We have already seen at Worlds Jax has not been a good answer into Rumble, and paired with Jarvan, the game is almost unplayable in the top lane.
This became ever-so apparent when Peanut and Doran went for a 2v1 play with Bin, the top laner was able to survive long enough to turn the fight around with Xun in his back pocket, proving why the Rumble + Jarvan combo is so deadly. As the game approached the 20-minute mark, BLG was almost 7k in the lead and was on soul point heading towards the end of game two. It may have taken two Barons to end the game, but this was an absolute stomp from BLG, Gen.G has been a disappointment thus far and will need a much-improved game three to keep their world title aspirations alive.
Quick Stats
- Teams: Gen.G vs BLG
- Time: 27:53
- Kills: 3 – 15
- Turrets: 0 – 10
- Gold: 42.3k – 58.7k
- Dragons: 0 – 4
- Barons: 0 – 2
Gen.G vs BLG Recap – Game 3
Gen.G will not go quietly into the night as the LCK’s first seed held out a 40+ minute win to take this series to a fourth game. Many feared the worst for Gen.G after they once again allowed Xun to get Jarvan, the third time in this series. The early portion of this game went very similar to games one and two, BLG were able to shove in and secure themselves an early Dragon advantage as well as a couple of kills early, one of those going onto Elk’s Caitlyn. Come the mid-game it was by far the closest these two teams have been in terms of the gold difference with only a few hundred separating the sides heading towards the crunch objective fights.
At just before the 30-minute mark, the game turned on its head, this time for the side of Gen.G. BLG started up the Baron, forcing the teleport out of Chovy which was eloquently placed behind enemy lines as the two Gen.G solo laners were able to pick off Yagao and subsequently cleaned up the rest of Gen.G, much to the excitement of the Busan crowd. It was a struggle to get over the finish line but Gen.G was able to take the series to a fourth game.
Quick Stats
- Teams: Gen.G vs BLG
- Time: 46:05
- Kills: 13 – 9
- Turrets: 11 – 5
- Gold: 90.1k – 77k
- Dragons: 4 – 3
- Barons: 3 – 0
Gen.G vs BLG Recap – Game 4
Queue up the Silver Scrapes because we are going to game five! Against all odds, Gen.G was able to pull out another victory in game four to put them one win away from a historic reverse sweep as well as a semi-final showdown with Weibo Gaming. Bilibili Gaming was on a mission to wrap up this series in four games with an aggressive early game which saw the LPL squad wrack up a few kills. Gen.G however for one of the first times in this best-of-five was able to secure the first Dragon. Xun was having another monstrous early game on the Jarvan with a 3/0 start as the 20-minute mark approached.
BLG was on the march towards securing victory in game four, with an early Baron secured, the odds were heavily leaning towards the first all-LPL Semifinal. At 23:43, the game flipped on its head, with Yagao already picked off in a side lane prior, Gen.G knew this was their time to strike. At the mid-tier 2, Delight flashes forward onto three members of BLG, allowing for Chovy to teleport into the backline and help secure crucial shutdowns to bring the gold to a more even footing. The momentum had fully swung in the favor of the Busan heroes, as Gen.G was able to ride that wave all the way to the nexus, queuing up the Silver Scrapes.
Quick Stats
- Teams: Gen.G vs BLG
- Time: 35: 44
- Kills: 20 – 11
- Turrets: 8 – 4
- Gold: 68.7k – 60.1k
- Dragons: 3 – 2
- Barons: 1 – 1
Gen.G vs BLG Recap – Game 5
It was so close, yet so far for Gen.G as BLG sets up an LPL class with Weibo Gaming in the Worlds 2023 semi-finals. After a hard-fought comeback to bring the series to five games, BLG found that extra gear when they needed it most to avoid the reverse sweep from coming to fruition. From an early game point-of-view, BLG was the only team playing the game in this series. It was another strong showing from the LPL squad that allowed them to get another early kill in the top lane to get their superstar carry ahead. Gen.G was able to regain some control but it always felt like BLG was the one dictating how the game was going as we went into the mid-game.
In typical LPL fashion, around the 21st-minute mark, BLG wasted no time in forcing a Baron fight. This forced Gen.G into a position they did not want to be in and a fight broke out, resulting in a big win for Bilibili Gaming. Despite coming out ahead in the fight, BLG was unable to do the Baron due to the low health bars. Gen.G was able to stabilize and garner a nice 2k gold lead for themselves. BLG was able to make a crucial pick onto Chovy near the river, allowing them to get Baron. Despite Gen.G’s best efforts, they were unable to withstand the onslaught from BLG. The LPL squad would take the series 3-2.
Quick Stats
- Teams: Gen.G vs BLG
- Time: 33:38
- Kills: 6 – 14
- Turrets: 4 – 10
- Gold: 56k – 63.3k
- Dragons: 2-2
- Barons: 0 – 2
