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