NRG vs G2 Esports will decide of a North American or an EMEA team will advance first to the Knockout Stage.
Only 12 teams remain in the Swiss Stage of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship! Team BDS and Team Liquid already left the fray, while JD Gaming and Gen.G won themselves a short vacation after qualifying with a 3-0 record.
While the first two teams qualified are from the Eastern leagues, at least one Western team will get into the next segment, as NRG will face G2 Esports on Saturday.
NRG vs G2 Esports Preview
NRG
The 1st seed of the LCS has surpassed all expectations by making it to the edge of the Knockout stage. After rejoining the North American tournament before the start of the Summer Split, they won it all out of nowhere. At Worlds, they faced Weibo Gaming first, and even though they didn’t win, the game had some highlights thanks to Palafox.
Afterwards they were able to beat Team Liquid with ease, FBI and IgNar played an incredible Senna-Tahm Kench lane while Palafox smurfed as usual. They continued their streak against MAD Lions, who held out until 41 minutes, but couldn’t defend themselves forever.
NRG Roster
- Niship “Dhokla” Doshi
- Juan “Contractz” Arturo Garcia
- Cristian “Cristian” Palafox
- Ian “FBI” Victor Huang
- Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun
G2 Esports
G2 Esports also had a great performance so far, becoming the strongest Western of the Swiss Stage. They beat Dplus KIA in a nailbiter of a match on the first day of the Main Event, defeating Deft with the help of the 3rd Baron and the 1st Elder Drake. Afterwards, they did the same with Weibo Gaming – they even gifted them a Baron Nashor, just as with DK, but still managed to bounce back thanks to their great teamfighting.
Against Gen.G, they made blatant draft mistakes in both matches, followed by questionable plays on the Rift, so they didn’t move onto the Knockout Stage with a 3-0 record. But some things are inevitable.
G2 Esports Roster
- Sergen “BrokenBlade” Celik
- Martin “Yike” Sundelin
- Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther
- Steven “Hans sama” Liv
- Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle
NRG vs G2 Esports Predictions
G2 Esports is one of the most creative teams in the world. They can do incredible drafts, have great stats, and 5 players that can carry. While NRG had a lacklustre showing against Weibo, they proved to be better than most Western teams. The most important thing to keep in mind for G2 is to deal with Palafox in the midlane, while also trying to put NRG behind, as they tend to win their matches if they are strong early. But G2 is no stranger to getting early leads, so they should have this in the bag.
Where to watch NRG vs G2 Esports
The Kings of Europe will face the Biggest Surprise of the LCS on Saturday at 09:00 CEST. Follow the matches on lolesports.com, the LoL Esports YouTube channel and the Riot Games Twitch channel – as well as ESTNN for the latest Worlds and League of Legends news!