Gen.G Esports makes it to its first-ever international grand final at the Mid-Season Invitational.
The upper bracket final of the Mid-Season Invitational saw Gen.G Esports take a decisive victory over Bilibili Gaming and gain the first grand final spot. And because Gen.G is already in the grand finals, it is also a boost for the LCK as they will be granted one additional slot for Worlds 2024 later this year.
This now means that the LCK has four slots to the world championship, one greater than the rest of the regions for now. The next-best performing region will also gain an additional spot to Worlds, which will be great news for both the LPL and LEC seeing as BLG and G2 Esports are still in the running.
As for Gen.G, this is its first-ever international grand final in only the org's second-ever attempt at MSI. Gen.G's road to the grand finals also saw them drop just three games in three best-of-five series. Its latest loss came in the first match against BLG after the LPL Spring Split champions proved too much to handle for Gen.G. And it was Chen “Bin" Ze-Bin who made the most of BLG's first map win as his Camille secured six kills with seven assists and one death.
Even Zhao “Elk” Jia-Hao got heavily involved with five kills and 11 assists to go with one death for Kalista. In the battle of the mid-lane between Zhao “Knight” Ding and Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon, Knight came out on top with his signature Ahri as he got four kills and 11 assists to go with one death as well. However, Gen.G didn't take that loss lying down and would go on to win the next three games on the trot to end the series.
And who else but the Worlds 2020 champion jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu who led Gen.G's revival with a stellar performance on Nidalee. He was the only player with zero deaths in the second game while chipping in with seven kills and seven assists. Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan was also heavily involved in plenty of the action as he recorded 14 assists to go with two kills and just a singular death.
The third game was also Peyz's time to shine as he secured 10 kills on Kalista to go with zero deaths and seven assists, a completely flawless performance from the Gen.G AD carry. To make matters even worse, Gen.G was able to hold BLG to just three kills in the entirety of game three with only Bin and Knight being able to get on the board. With BLG's backs against the wall and with Gen.G on match-point, the LPL champs needed to change things up and they did just that.
Bin brought out the K'Sante again in the fourth game, which was the only similarity from the third game and he was putting the team on his back with five kills, two deaths, and four assists. Elk's Kalista was also able to find gaps in Gen.G's defence that allowed him to secure eight kills to go with four deaths and assists. Unfortunately, it was time for Chovy to put his talents on display with Corki as he would also get eight kills alongside 10 assists and just three deaths.
Even Peyz on Lucian had another stellar showing with seven kills, three deaths, and nine assists alongside Canyon's Maokai with 18 assists, four deaths, and just one kill. Siwoo “Lehends” Son on Nami was also crucial in Gen.G's victory as he was heavily involved in multiple team fights that saw him rack up two kills, five deaths, and 19 assists. While BLG fought valiantly, it still wasn't enough to see them through. They will now wait in the lower bracket final for the winner of tomorrow's match-up between T1 and G2 Esports.
