MAD Lions and DetonatioN FocusMe survived the elimination round Monday and advanced to the Round 2 finals of the League of Legends World Championship Play-In event in Mexico City.
MAD Lions defeated Saigon Buffalo 3-1 and DFM beat LOUD by the same score. On Tuesday, MAD Lions will go up against Evil Geniuses and DFM will meet Royal Never Give Up, with the winners qualifying for the Worlds’ group stage.
Saigon Buffalo and LOUD were eliminated from the competition.
The event’s 12 teams were divided into two groups for an opening round consisting of a single round robin. After five best-of-one matches per club, the top team in each group (Fnatic and DRX) moved straight into the Worlds’ group stage, while the second-, third- and fourth-place teams in each group headed to a second Play-In phase.
Round 2 of the Play-In stage features best-of-five matches. Each group’s third- and fourth-place teams squared off in Monday’s elimination matches for the right to face the second-place team from the opposite group. The winners of Tuesday’s final two matches seal spots in the Worlds’ group stage, while the losers will head home.
On Monday, MAD Lions struck first with a 32-minute win on blue before Saigon Buffalo tied the match 1-1 with a 25-minute win on red. MAD Lions took back control with a quick 23-minute win on red and clinched the match by winning in 33 minutes, also on red.
Javier “Elyoya” Prades Batalla of Spain led MAD Lions’ late surge by posting kills-deaths-assists ratios of 8/1/10 and 7/1/10 on the final two maps.
LOUD pulled out a 45-minute win on blue before DetonatioN FocusMe stormed past them. DFM won three straight maps in 31 minutes on blue, 29 minutes on red and 26 minutes on red. Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura of Japan led DFM by averaging a K-D-A of 8.5/2.0/5.0.
Fourteen teams are already through to the group stage: JD Gaming, Top Esports, EDward Gaming, Gen.G, T1, DAMWON Gaming, Rogue, G2 Esports, Cloud9, 100 Thieves, CTBC Flying Oyster, GAM Esports, Fnatic and DRX.
League of Legends World Championship Play-In opening-round group standings:
Group A
1. Fnatic, 4-1
2. Evil Geniuses, 3-2
3. LOUD, 3-2
4. DetonatioN FocusMe, 3-2
5. Beyond Gaming, 2-3
6. Chiefs Esports Club, 0-5
Group B
1. DRX, 5-0
2. Royal Never Give Up, 4-1
3. MAD Lions, 3-2
4. Saigon Buffalo, 2-3
5. Isurus, 1-4
6. Istanbul Wildcats, 0-5
–Field Level Media