This year's MSI is arguably the most thrilling international event in League of Legends history, as it has generated numerous memorable scenes. The MSI semifinals, in particular, featured all four major regions' top seeds, breaking the "assumptions" of many LPL fans. In the past, Asian teams usually occupied most semifinal spots, and any Western team that reached the semifinals was often mocked as "lucky."

However, during this year's MSI, both G2 and LYON showcased their strong capabilities. LYON, especially, went the full five games against HLE, the LCK's first seed, and this matchup even trended on major domestic social media platforms. LYON's teamfight performance and macro play during the matches amazed LPL casters. Yet, a disappointing outcome for many LPL fans emerged: LYON failed to create an esports miracle, ultimately losing to HLE with a 2-3 scoreline.

Although HLE defeated LYON to advance to the MSI finals, their performance in the BO5 was far from outstanding. In particular, HLE's midlaner Zeka and AD player Gumayusi were heavily criticized by fans as weak links. In Game 3, despite a huge advantage from the top-jungle duo, Gumayusi repeatedly threw away his lead, and Zeka made a critical mistake in a key teamfight, leading to HLE's collapse against LYON. Many viewers summarized the series as Gumayusi throwing frequently and Zeka throwing massively.

In a post-match interview, top laner Zeus admitted that this BO5 severely impacted HLE's team morale and forced their secret weapon to be revealed early. Zeus stated that he originally did not want to pick the Swain top lane champion, as it was intended for the finals against BLG. However, after losing Game 3 to LYON, the team's spirits dropped, so HLE's coach had to unveil this trump card ahead of schedule.

Besides Zeus, HLE's bot lane duo also gave interviews to official media. During the interviews, HLE support Delight said that their earlier loss to BLG was due to BLG's highly coordinated jungle-support duo. Delight stated that HLE would focus on BLG's jungle-support movements in the finals and predicted that HLE would defeat BLG with a 3-0 sweep to win the MSI title. AD player Gumayusi predicted in his interview that HLE would beat BLG with a 3-1 scoreline.

Gumayusi believes that HLE's previous loss to BLG was mainly because BLG's bot lane mage picks were too annoying. He claimed that HLE has already found a way to counter bot lane mages, so they will easily defeat BLG and win the championship. Finally, Gumayusi admitted that he strongly dislikes laning against bot lane mages, as he thinks mage picks make the game boring. He explained that mages can avoid laning by clearing waves quickly in the early game, freeing their support to roam, which reduces bot lane interaction time. He hopes Riot designers will improve the current meta.

Do you think bot lane mage champions make the game less entertaining? Personally, I believe the current patch really suits BLG, because when Viper picks a mage bot, he can safely farm alone while support On roams to support other lanes. However, some industry insiders recently reported that Riot plans to add base magic resistance to bot lane minions to limit mage picks. Do you think this change is specifically targeting BLG?

Conclusion

Personally, I think even if HLE hadn't revealed their "secret weapon," they still wouldn't be a match for BLG. In the previous BO5, BLG's jungle-support roam completely crushed HLE. I truly doubt HLE can find a way to counter BLG's jungle-support duo in just two days. Of course, many viewers are curious about how HLE will draft in the finals to limit Viper's bot lane mage champions.