Close but no cigar: G2 Esports fight valiantly with surprise picks but fall short against Worlds favorites

A few heroic plays weren't enough to take down the juggernauts.

Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games

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Despite the brilliant effort and being ahead in some periods of their third game at Worlds 2022, G2 Esports were defeated by JD Gaming during the fourth day of the Main Event.

The LPL champions were clear favorites of the matchup, similarly to how they are often picked as the clear-cut favorites to win the whole event. And despite early game prowess, JDG made a few mistakes in the mid-game against G2 which gave the European team a slight upper hand.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough for Jankos and crew to grab their second win in New York, with JDG claiming the victory in under 35 minutes.

JDG were quick to start their macro game, as they began to secure first kills early, mostly in the bot lane where Hope and Missing’s duo was doing much better than Flakked and Targamas. Still, with a surprise, strong pick of Darius in the top lane and Jankos’ admirable showcase of skills on Graves, G2 were able to hold on and didn’t allow JDG to control the game from the get-go.

The Chinese side at some point started doing some mistakes, which G2 exploited. A slippery positioning from JDG players allowed Flakked to land an almost-perfect Encore, which led to a slaughter of their players, and a Baron Nashor for G2 afterward.

Still, despite one more rocky fight for JDG, their individuals finally caught G2 off guard when both teams were dancing around the fifth Dragon and Baron Nashor. Unprepared to fight on their conditions, G2 were dominated and their Nexus was destroyed in the following seconds.

With that result, JDG secured the first place in Group B of Worlds 2022 Main Event, which won’t be contested until Friday, Oct. 14, when the remaining matches in the group will be played.

One more match from the group is scheduled for today, with Evil Geniuses taking on DWG KIA at 6 pm CT. If NA representatives win, three teams, EG, G2, and DK will sit in third place until Friday with a 1-2 score.

The Korean side has a chance to claim second place if they defeat EG.

Author
Image of Mateusz Miter
Mateusz Miter
Freelance Writer at Dot Esports. Mateusz previously worked for numerous outlets and gaming-adjacent companies, including ESL. League of Legends or CS:GO? He loves them both. In fact, he wonders which game he loves more every day. He wanted to go pro years ago, but somewhere along the way decided journalism was the more sensible option—and he was right.