The LPL is still standing strong after Bilibili Gaming managed to contain Gen.G in five games.
Bilibili Gaming can breathe a huge sigh of relief as they managed to see off Gen.G Esports to secure a semifinal series against fellow LPL team, Weibo Gaming at Worlds 2023. BLG managed to take the first two games of the series but Gen.G was able to rally in the next four, which left the series to its fifth and final game that BLG won. Despite winning both LCK regional titles this year, it was their second quarter-final exit from Worlds in four years.
Billed as one of the highly-anticipated series of the quarter-finals of Worlds 2023, this was also the first of three ‘LPL vs LCK’ showdowns and it was China who took the first step to victory. Game three of the BLG vs Gen.G series also broke the current Worlds 2023 record for the longest game in the tournament, which was also held by BLG previously in their match against KT Rolster.
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Bilibili GamingThe first two games of the best-of-five between Gen.G and BLG was very much leaning towards the LPL second seed. Game one may have taken close to half-an-hour for BLG to finish but it was a slow and methodical approach that saw them take down Gen.G with little resistance. The second match once again saw BLG in total control and this time, they left Gen.G with even less to work with as Luo “ON” Wen-Jun had put up another stellar display with Renata Glasc in both games. But it would be Zhao “Elk” Jia-Hao who stole the plaudits in the second match with his mid-game triple kill on Xayah.
With their backs against the wall, Gen.G knew that they needed three perfect games in order for them to stand a chance against BLG. And in the third match, Gen.G would begin its journey to complete the reverse-sweep. After not being able to get any objectives in the first two matches, Gen.G finally got themselves on the board and was able to dominate BLG into submission. This included a crucial Aatrox triple kill for Hyeon-joon “Doran” Choi to give Gen.G a fighting chance come the fourth match.
And much like the third, game four was very back-and-forth between both teams before Gen.G eventually got to win. And it was Doran once more, this time with Rumble who managed to bring his team back into contention. Hwan-joong “Delight” Yoo also showed great awareness and team fight prowess to get 17 assists with Rell. Even Wang-Ho “Peanut” Han and Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan got in on the action with six kills apiece.
Unfortunately, it all came crashing down for Gen.G in game five. BLG was finally able to start on the front foot after going behind in the past two games. And up until the first Baron spawn, it was actually Gen.G who was leading the game. The team fights were scrappy and all over the place and that worked perfectly into BLG's game plan as Peng “XUN” Li-Xun went to town with Jarvan IV, which he played in all five games.
With all his talent and skill, it was an unfortunate series for one of the LCK's best midlaners as Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon was unable to impose himself in any of the five games. His only noteworthy performance was in the fourth game on Akali where he had five kills, two deaths, and eight assists in an overall great game for Gen.G. Sadly, it wasn't enough as BLG would take the game after some great team play all round.
This will also mark the second time that BLG had bested Gen.G in an international tournament this year. BLG eliminated Gen.G in the lower bracket semifinal of MSI 2023 earlier this year and they have once again got the better of the LCK number one seed. BLG will now move on to the semifinals where will they face up against Weibo Gaming, making it an all-LPL series to determine who moves on to the grand finals.
