After the 1-2 matches in the S15 Worlds Swiss round, a brief pause followed. The quarterfinalists now include KT from the LCK and AL from the LPL. European FNC and PSG from the province have been confirmed out at the round of 16. KaGe struggled to qualify for Worlds this year but lost all Swiss matches and was sent home early. Despite their lack of strength, they were genuinely unfortunate.

In the first two Swiss round games, PSG faced GEN and HLE, losing both 0-2 as expected. Their last match against VKS seemed promising, but the decisive team fight was poorly played by teammates. After this season, KaGe might retire; his bittersweet smile showed he couldn’t accept these results. It’s understandable, though, since after nine Worlds appearances without success, it must be very painful.

BLG’s top, support, and AD are hooked on Spirit Visions

LPL’s top seed BLG performed terribly in this year’s Swiss stage, mainly due to underestimating opponents. They lost unexpectedly to 100T and then to G2. Bin’s in-game attitude showed he didn’t respect opponents as human beings. Also, the starting trio of top, mid, and AD have recently been addicted to Spirit Visions. Recently, a netizen compiled statistics on BLG players’ ranked matches and Spirit Visions usage.

Top laner Bin played 12 Spirit Visions games last week but only 6 ranked matches. ELK was even more extreme, with 12 Spirit Visions games and 10 ranked matches. The most absurd is ON, who played 21 Spirit Visions games last week—the highest on the team—while only playing 13 ranked matches. Even facing elimination, BLG players are still immersed in Spirit Visions, seemingly unaware of how critical the situation is.

SUPA claims he fights for Uzi

On the previous match day, European teams FNC and NKOI faced off in an internal battle. After three games, NKOI eliminated FNC. In the third game, NKOI’s bottom lane AD player SUPA picked Vayne, a counter-meta pick. Thanks to several brilliant plays, SUPA earned the MVP of the BO3. In a post-match interview, the host asked why he chose Vayne in the current meta.

SUPA replied: I picked Vayne because I’m playing on home soil in China. I want to pick Vayne for Uzi. I can’t afford to lose with Vayne on Chinese soil because I fight for Uzi. SUPA’s words genuinely moved Uzi’s fans. His Vayne play actually had a bit of Uzi’s style—bold in team fights. However, Vayne is very weak now, and no one else is picking her.

Wang Duoduo becomes the unlucky caster

After BLG’s last loss, official caster Wang Duoduo was attacked by some extreme fans who blamed him for bringing bad luck that caused BLG’s defeat. Although this is scapegoating the players, Wang Duoduo has indeed been quite unlucky. Since the S8 season, most infamous LPL international defeats happened while he was casting. In S8, he was casting when RNG lost to VIT.

During the S9 group stage, RNG lost to T1, and Wang Duoduo was there for Xiao Hu’s Angel 5500. Later, when Top Esports lost to Vietnamese teams, he was also casting. Last year, when Top Esports got swept by T1, and this year by HLE, Wang Duoduo was there. He was also casting when BLG lost to 100T and G2 in Worlds. The only big matches he missed were RNG vs. G2 and TES vs. CFO or KC. It seems he has some bad chemistry with BLG and Top Esports.

Conclusion:

With two days before the fourth round starts, BLG should focus on studying their opponents seriously. If the top and bottom lanes continue to be obsessed with Spirit Visions and lose to the Brazilian team, they will be heavily criticized. Holding the best seed but continuously lowering their performance, even GEN was once backfired by Spirit Visions. BLG really hasn’t learned their lesson.

So, do you consider Spirit Visions as training?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!