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The home crowd might have been heavily in the favor of 100 Thieves, but the North American faithful were left disappointed after CFO Flying Oysters pulled off an impressive victory to kick off their 2022 League of Legends World Championship run.
Expectations were high for the Thieves after they reached the 2022 LCS Championship with series wins against Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses. Although they eventually fell to Cloud9 in the Finals, they had enough starpower and experience to give LCS fans plenty of hope in their chances at the biggest tournament in League.
CFO, on the other hand, made an incredible run through the 2022 Summer Split. After finishing as the region’s fourth seed through the regular season with a 12-6 record, the team stunned fans by taking down PSG Talon, Frank Esports, and Beyond Gaming to capture their first regional trophy. Fans still underestimated the Oysters heading into this match-up with 100T, and they were stunned into submission.
From the opening moments, CFO showed poise and aggression that took 100T off-guard. They drafted a deadly team composition including Aatrox, Kai’Sa, and Viego that was too hard to handle once they committed into a dive towards their enemy backline. 100T, on the other hand, couldn’t find any successful picks, even opting into classic death brushes to grab a lone kill. But CFO were too quick to respond and collapse on their enemies.
Welcome to the Shunn Show
It might be his first year as a professional League player, but 20-year-old AD carry Chao “Shunn” Ying-Shun looked like a bonafide veteran on the Summoner’s Rift against 100T today. The young prospect had a pretty good summer to show his talents, but against his first major region opponent, he came up huge on Kai’Sa.
Right from the get-go, CFO fast-tracked Shunn to carry the team by grabbing a couple of picks in the bottom lane. His smart positioning and fearless style of play was supported by the rest of his team, who jumped into the fray without a second thought. He finished the game with 10 kills and one assist without a single death.
Funnily enough, Kai’Sa isn’t a champion that many people have seen Shunn play in the past. Across his short stint with CFO, he only played Kai’Sa twice during the 2022 Spring Playoffs. Besides that, he has frequented a smaller champion pool with picks like Aphelios, Zeri, Kalista, and Draven.
Things were nice… while it lasted
This slow start is the worst way that LCS fans would have wanted their representatives to begin the group stage, especially after Evil Geniuses’ triumphant three-game sweep over MAD Lions last weekend. However, fans shouldn’t worry too much about this sluggish opener.
Teams are still warming up after taking such a long break away from competitive stage play, and for NA teams, there’s still plenty of time to get the ball rolling and rack up some wins. There are, however, plenty of juggernauts in both C9 and 100T’s respective groups, with the former facing off against Edward Gaming and T1 while the latter takes on Gen.G and Royal Never Give Up.
NA fans are now placing all of their hopes on Evil Geniuses, as they face off against one of the toughest competitors in the tournament, JD Gaming. Catch all of the action when the group stage rages onward this week.
