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Leaguesports: Worlds Recap (Damwon Gaming Kia vs Mad Lions)

The final European team isn't nearly a match for Korea’s best, who sweep and eliminate them.

There wasn’t a lot of hope going into this match for Western fans, and despite coming close at times, they lost 0-3 to a damning DAMWON and were sent back home. It was such a quick and dominant series that we barely need a table of contents.

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Game 1

At the early stages of the matches, DAMWON seemed to have a lane advantage and began to form a gold lead in the top lane very early on. Mad Lions did manage to claim the first blood although they lost two of their members in the process.

It remained even for the first 14 minutes of the match until DK got a quick two kills in a surprise dive on the Mad Lion’s bot-lane. With the man advantage, they also managed to pick up the first objective of the match, which boosted them into an already 3K gold lead. The Korean team also picked up the rift herald and used it to claim the top-lane tower, to which Mad Lions responded by claiming a free bottom-lane tower. When Mad Lions attempted to stop DK from getting a second tower, they were killed and forced to give it up.

DAMWON kept solo killing Mad Lions’ members with nothing the European team could have done about it. They went on to take the baron only 20-minutes into the match and the hopes for game 1 were already dead. Kill after kill, Damwon found themselves at an 11-2 kill score lead, a 7K gold lead, and a tower and objective lead. With that and the baron buff, they didn’t wait long to push into their enemy’s base but did not overcommit to the win despite realistically being able to get it.

At 25 minutes, they went in through the mid and top lane and began the team fight. They took down all three towers and one of Mad Lion’s members but once again don’t overcommit and went back to not have to worry about a possible comeback from the European team.

DAMWON went back and claimed another dragon and another baron, completely sealing the possibilities of MAD. They once again ran into the enemy’s base, pressuring from multiple sides and crumbling down MAD’s players. And in 29 minutes, DAMWON claimed a dominant game 1 win with an 11K gold lead and a kill score lead of 16-3.

Game 2

After a very one-sided game 1, Mad Lions took DAMWON by surprise and got a quick 3-minute first blood on Khan in the top-lane. The teams then traded back a kill each until Elyoya got a triple kill in the top lane, pushing his team to a 2.5K gold lead. While DK claimed the first dragon of the match, MAD prioritized the rift herald instead and quickly spawned it, claiming the first tower of the match and taking down a second to about a quarter of its original health.

When the two teams traded towers 13 minutes into the match, they found themselves in a team fight which Mad Lions still impressively won. They also claimed the second dragon, maintaining a 5K gold lead now.

While it may seem like MAD were at a huge advantage, they really weren’t, especially against a team as punishing as DAMWON; they kept trying to pick at Mad Lions although unsuccessful at getting kills. Slowly, they made their way back into the match, and in a second team fight that occurred shortly afterward in the mid-lane, the teams traded two kills each.

21 minutes into the match, Mad Lions were ahead in towers, kills, gold, and objectives, and their chances of a win were getting more and more realistic by the second. Although having an advantage, Mad Lions couldn’t win team fights and always came out even, in which case was a win for DAMWON who somehow continued to hold on despite being at a large deficit early on in the game.

As mad overcommit to a team fight, they saw themselves losing it along with a mid-lane tower as they escaped backward towards their base. When all members were alive again, MAD took a 3rd objective and went back to building back the gold lead they had earlier on in the game.

Both teams spent the next few minutes leveling up their champions and building their goal; Khan got the better of that as he had 3 of his items to use in his next fight that happened very soon at the baron. While MAD began a good engagement, Khan caught them and aided DK into ACEing MAD. DAMWON took the baron and closed on the gold difference that was there.

Just a minute later, another team fight occurred in the bot-lane. It came close, but it ended in a 3-3 kill trade, which once again, was a win for DAMWON. 34 minutes into the match, DAMWON was actually now in a small gold and tower lead, and was only slightly behind on kills, with 17 for them compared to Mad Lions’ 19.

Losing another team fight to Khan and DAMWON, the Koreans pushed their way through the mid-lane, ACEd MAD, and took the game win.

In a disappointing comeback loss for Mad Lions, they see themselves down 0-2 at the series point against the tournament favorite.

Game 3

At the series point, DAMWON put early pressure onto Mad Lions, claiming the first blood three and a half minutes into the match. An overcommitment by Carzzy also saw him falling at the hands of DK players. Simultaneously, DAMWON jumped the other lanes and got some kills as well. Five minutes into the match, DK had 4 kills on the board compared to only 1 by Mad Lions.

Despite being good at trading back kills, MAD almost always ended up in the frustrating situation of losing team fights over and over again. DK also took down the first two towers of the game, which helped them maintain a 2K gold lead on their opponents.

With a small overstep, MAD was ACEd and lost an important dragon as a result.

22 minutes into the game, DK started the baron and threatened to claim it, but instead of going for a steal, they jumped the DK players and took down 4 and stole the baron. They manage to close down the gold gap by a good margin and turn the game back a little more in their favor. Using the long-lasting baron buff, Mad Lions take a kill and a tower in the mid-lane and put themselves in a position to challenge the dragon.

Khan once again stopped MAD from taking down the dragon with an unexpected jump on them, and with that, it further slimmed Mad Lion’s chances and hopes of starting a miraculous reverse sweep.

The teams found themselves next at the Infernal Soul dragon, and while MAD was barely able to secure it and run back, they found themselves on the wrong side of the rift, near DAMWON’s base rather than their own.

DAMWON start the baron on the opposite side to force a push from MAD, and with not much time to plan for the attack, DK caught out MAD’s top laner and jungler, forcing them away and leaving an uncontested baron for the LCK number one seed. Using the power buff, they get a pick and take a man advantage into their enemy’s base as they look to end the match.

Mad Lions manage to hold them at bay for the duration of the baron buff. They had to however fight for a dragon in a 3v4 where they saw pressure from three different sides. Canyon steals the dragon from them and finishes them off. DAMWON did not hesitate this time and went immediately into Mad Lion’s base and finished off the Nexus. In a dominant one-sided series, they sweep the final European team and send them home.

Despite coming close in games 2 and 3, Mad Lion’s were simply not a match for the skill level of DAMWON, the tournament favorites.

Want to Watch?

DAMWON Gaming KIA will face T1 in the Semi-Finals of #Worlds2021.

In a highly anticipated best of 5, there’s simply no way to predict who will take the series, but with confidence, we can say whoever wins of the two will go on to win Worlds. Can Faker do it again? Or will their fellow Koreans deny them from another title and set themselves up for a potential back-to-back Worlds wins?

Catch all the World's 2021 action on Twitch at: twitch.tv/RiotGames or on YouTube at: YouTube.com/c/LoLEsports

For the full schedule, check out LoLEsports.com/schedule

Go Faker!

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