That makes it three out of four LPL teams through to the Worlds 2023 semifinals.
The LPL are now 2-0 in its quarter-final showdown series after JD Gaming defeated KT Rolster at Worlds 2023. JDG's win over KT also meant that this was the second ‘LPL vs LCK’ showdown that went in favour of the Chinese. This will now put JDG through to the semifinals where they will be joined by the likes of Weibo Gaming and Bilibili Gaming.
What's unfortunate for the Busan crowd in Korea is that they have already watched two LCK teams bow out of the Knockout Stage with only T1 left, who will play their series tomorrow. Gen.G almost came through with a reverse-sweep comeback against BLG yesterday but could not finish the job in the end. KT even started the series on the front foot but alas, it was not meant to be.
JD Gaming
vs
KT RolsterHaving finished third all-season long, KT Rolster solidified its third seed status with aplomb and showed JDG that they are not to be messed with. JDG has always been seen as an immaculate team-fighting squad with impeccable timing and reflexes. However, the first match of the series was anything but as KT came out swinging by using JDG's own game plan against them. From the get-go, JDG appeared rattled by KT's playstyle, which resulted in them losing control from the early game.
Three members of KT walked away with perfect KDAs in game one as both Bo-Seong “Bdd” Kwak and Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram ran the show with Akali and Aphelios respectively. Aiming secured six kills and five assists to go with zero deaths while Bdd had seven kills and three assists. Lee “Cuzz” Woo-jin was the third player to get a perfect KDA as he ended the match at 2/0/10. But it was Siwoo “Lehends” Son that kept the team running smoothly as his Lulu had one death with 12 assists, the most in the game.
As JDG got taken aback by the first game, they became a totally different animal in game two. This time, it was JDG's turn to keep KT at just four kills the entire match to take control from the start. Despite KT getting the first blood, it was all JDG as Jin-hyeok “Kanavi” Seo turned up the heat with Vi to go 6/1/8. Bai “369” Jia-Hao was one of three players who went for a perfect KDA game as his Aatrox delivered with four kills, zero deaths, and six assists.
But if there was a player that JDG could turn to in times of need, it would be Jae-Hyuk “Ruler” Park. Jis Jinx was the second player with a perfect 5/0/9 KDA to go with a neat triple kill. Even Zhuo “Knight” Ding saw plenty of action despite his Neeko only getting two kills and three deaths, he had nine assists that also included a clutch four-man ultimate. And lastly, the missing piece of JDG's puzzle was of course, Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng as his Rakan also had a perfect 1/0/13 KDA.
With the series tied at 1-1, it was anyone's game now and that was when JDG decided to turn things up a notch. The third match once again saw JDG take control from early on even after giving away the first blood to KT. Instead, JDG optimised for winning key skirmishes that resulted in objectives being taken like the four drakes that brought plenty of additional buffs to the line-up. Missing was all over the map once again as his Rakan had another perfect 1/0/11 KDA game. Knight was the only other player with a perfect KDA as his Orianna contributed with seven assists and four kills, three of which came from a sick triple kill. Even Ruler had his own triple kill later on as his Sivir was almost unkillable.
Despite dropping two games in a row, KT were not out of it just yet and in game four, they stepped up in a big way. Its team-fight heavy composition meant that KT was able to stand toe-to-toe with JDG and they were able to come out on top numerous times. But it was only during the mid-game did KT truly start to get a strong lead, which grew to as much as 5.8K gold. Unfortunately, it all soon went downhill from there.
JDG was able to get the Baron ahead of KT, which was the catalyst for JDG to try to push the envelope. They had even exposed KT's base beforehand but could not deal the final blow. The back-and-forth match between both teams came to a head when all five of JDG were pressing towards KT's Nexus. And while KT were able to fend off JDG, they forgot to deal with the siege minion who managed to deal the final two hits to destroy the Nexus as well as KT's hearts.
That win will now put JDG into the semifinals where they will await the victor between T1 and LNG Esports. If LNG were able to pull off an upset against the three-time champions, we could be getting our first-ever all-LPL semifinal showdown at Worlds.
