With the need for every team to prove themselves, Day Three of the Rumble Stage was intense.
After an exciting start to the Rumble Stage, then a stellar Day Two, the MSI 2021 Rumble Stage is nearing closer to its end. At the top of the day, some teams like Cloud9 and Pentanet.GG had to fight for their tournament lives. Meanwhile, the likes of RNG and DAMWON tried to maintain their dominance over the rest of the competition. Here’s how the day’s action all went down!
Cloud9 vs Pentanet.GG
Starting off the day was the battle between winless teams. A win here was crucial for either team’s hopes of advancing to the Knockout Stage. And it began with Pabu securing First Blood on Perkz in the mid lane. Despite falling down one kill, it didn’t faze C9, as Blaber went to town on objectives, taking a Rift Herald and dragons on spawn. The first crazy fight happened at 12 minutes in the bot lane. C9 collapsed on a PGG gank and turned the play around and go three-for-two in kills.
From here, C9 tightened their control on the game. They moved together as a unit, using their long-range to find picks and win skirmishes all over the map. Though BioPanther’s Yorick was making his presence known on the side lane, his team simply couldn’t withstand C9’s pressure.
At 19 minutes, a skirmish lasted quite a while, which led to three more kills for C9. All the while, the Yorick was pushing the bot lane, but C9 didn’t mind as this gave them the opportunity to take a free Baron right when it showed up on the Rift. Empowered with the buff, C9 cleaned up some outer towers before claiming their Cloud Soul. Shortly after that, PGG completely fell apart. They were caught out in their own jungle as C9 rampaged forward, killing multiple members before crashing through the base and taking a very important Nexus kill.
Quick Stats:
- Time: 25:19
- Kills: 19-6
- Turrets: 7-3
- Gold: 51.8k-41.2k
- Dragons: 4-0
- Barons: 1-0
Royal Never Give Up vs PSG.Talon
Moving into the second match of the day, PSG had the mammoth task of taking on RNG, who were currently undefeated. However, PSG came out swinging. Though RNG Gala picked up First Blood in the bot lane 2v2, Kaiwing walked away with a Double Kill. This was quickly overshadowed by PSG’s heavy aggression towards the bottom side of the map. At five minutes, PSG invaded the RNG jungle to find two kills. Then, a minute later, PSG sent four members bot to get three more kills.
At this point, PSG had a monumental lead where none expected them to. And they never let go of it. They continued to push their lead, taking dragons and constantly pressuring RNG whenever they tried to farm. Even at just the 14-minute mark, PSG found a game-breaking team fight around the mid lane, where they claimed three more kills. This helped them two minutes later when they took an Infernal Dragon and put themselves on Soul point.
Moving post-20 minutes, it was still all PSG as they forced another team fight on RNG to go three-for-two in kills and take a Baron. After yet another fight, this time a clean three-for-zero, PSG secured the Infernal Soul too. With all of this backing them, PSG set to work taking down RNG’s base as the LPL superstars struggled to stay afloat. Finally, at 27 minutes, PSG put the final nail in the coffin by diving into RNG’s base to engage one last fight, Ace RNG and level their Nexus. As a result, RNG now had a blemish on their record and was knocked down a peg by the PCS representatives.
Quick Stats:
- Time: 28:00
- Kills: 9-26
- Turrets: 2-11
- Gold: 47.8k-59.6k
- Dragons: 0-4
- Barons: 0-1
DAMWON KIA vs MAD Lions
Following two explosive games, things calmed down a bit for the match between DAMWON and MAD Lions. That’s not to say there was no action though, as at only two minutes into the game Elyoya Flashed onto ShowMaker in the mid lane to set Humanoid up for First Blood. Just two minutes later, a skirmish broke out in the bottom lane, where DK pulled ahead two-for-one in kills. But from here, the game slowed down as the teams traded objectives. While DK managed to take the First Tower bonus top, MAD caught out and killed Khan.
Overall, the game was relatively even. That was until 14 minutes when the next real fight happened. Both squads met at the Infernal Dragon and a team fight erupted. DK outmaneuvered MAD to go two-for-one in kills, giving them access to the drake too. It was a nice bit of excitement but was followed by another period of quiet. For around the next 10 minutes, the teams poked at each other, though DK gradually grew their gold lead.
Finally, something important happened at the 26-minute mark. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what MAD wanted, as DK found and killed Carzzy, giving them the opportunity to claim Baron Nashor. Knowing this was their chance, DK pushed the MAD base, chipping the structures down slowly. But they never made a critical strike and were chased out of the base by MAD. However, MAD chased too far and were caught in a team fight in the jungle, where DK slaughtered four MAD champions. After a grind of a game, DK finally finished off MAD and tied their score with RNG at 4-1.
Quick Stats:
- Time: 31:16
- Kills: 9-4
- Turrets: 8-2
- Gold: 58.1k-49.0k
- Dragons: 4-1
- Barons: 1-0
Royal Never Give Up vs Pentanet.GG
Due to their earlier loss in the day, RNG went into their match versus PGG with a vengeance, while PGG had nothing to lose and were fine playing a chaotic, bloody game. And that’s exactly what viewers got to see. The opening fight saw Chazz pick up First Blood on his Akali in a top side skirmish, but things soon went downhill quick for PGG. Cryin solo killed Chazz, and as Pabu tried to kill him in response, he only served to give a kill over to Wei.
Then the game truly devolved. All the players in the game played as aggressively as seemingly possible, leading to pure chaos. The RNG bottom lane killed the PGG duo three times without any assistance. Wei roamed throughout the entire map to burn people down with his fed Rumble. Cryin and Xiaohu spearheaded a dive in the top side to get more kills. It was an absolute slaughter, and the 20 to 4 kill score in favor of RNG at 15 minutes showed that clearly.
Honestly, it was only a matter of time until RNG picked up the Rift Herald and pushed mid. Cleaning up more kills on the way, they charged Shelly right to PGG’s Nexus and finished up quite a terrifying rebound game.
Quick Stats:
- Time: 18:25
- Kills: 30-4
- Turrets: 8-0
- Gold: 42.0k-26.1k
- Dragons: 1-1
- Barons: 0-0
Cloud9 vs DAMWON KIA
With their backs against the wall, C9 was in a dire situation and needed a win against reigning World Champions, DK. Though they beat them once before, DK was surely going to bring their a-game for the grudge match. It started off in DK’s favor too, as a 3v3 in the top river resulted in Canyon getting First Blood on Fudge. Afterward, C9 sought revenge by attacking the top lane too, ganking and killing Khan twice.
During the early-mid game, there were quite a few picks and skirmishes, with kills allocated to both teams. But it seemed like DK was pulling ahead, slowly but surely. In addition, DK was killing dragons and set themselves on Soul point at 22 minutes. Eventually, after a near-even team fight, DK did secure the Infernal Soul for themselves. It was bad-to-worse, but then C9 found a miracle pick onto Canyon in front of the Baron. Unfortunately, they couldn’t claim the Baron, but did get another kill to help stem the tide.
Two minutes later, a scuffle started at the Baron. During the course, DK secures the objective but lost four members on the back end of the play. With this, C9 bought precious time, as the timer towards Elder Dragon ticked down. This was where the match would be decided. The team fight erupted around it, and somehow Blaber secure the Elder buff with Smite, but it wasn’t enough. DK completely routed C9, killing all five members before running down mid to smash C9’s Nexus and all but ruin NA’s hopes of a decent MSI showing.
Quick Stats:
- Time: 35:21
- Kills: 16-16
- Turrets: 3-7
- Gold: 63.0k-68.4k
- Dragons: 2-4
- Barons: 0-1
PSG.Talon vs MAD Lions
To wrap up the day, MAD and PSG took to the Rift to gain an edge over the other in the standings. It began in a crazy way, as PSG used the blast cone to hop over the blue buff wall and surprise MAD at the camp. It was only a one-for-one but set the tempo for the game. PSG went on a tear, with River dominating the jungle matchup by invading and taking camps constantly, and the PSG bottom lane getting kills on kills in the isolated 2v2.
The early game was rough for MAD and it wasn’t getting any better. PSG kept up the pressure, specifically focusing Kaiser and Elyoya, finding and killing them over and over again. To their credit, MAD did try to find plays to get back into the game, but it simply wasn’t enough. As time went on, more MAD Lions fell to PSG’s onslaught, as the team tried to cement themselves as a serious threat in MSI.
Inevitably, PSG eventually won a team fight three-for-zero and secured the Baron buff. From here, MAD did manage to keep them off the base for a while, but couldn’t keep it up. An extended mid lane team fight ultimately led to multiple kills for PSG and a Nexus kill for them too. With this, PSG went to a 4-2 record, inching closer to both DAMWON and RNG.
Quick Stats:
- Time: 26:01
- Kills: 24-5
- Turrets: 10-5
- Gold: 55.6k-39.8k
- Dragons: 4-0
- Barons: 1-0
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