Gen.G Esports win its first-ever Mid-Season Invitational title after an emphatic 3-1 victory over Bilibili Gaming.
The LCK has proven to be the most dominant region in League of Legends after its undisputed champions Gen.G Esports took down Bilibili Gaming 3-1 in the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational grand finals. This was Gen.G's first-ever international victory and the org's second appearance ever at MSI with its last being in 2020 when they were eliminated at the hands of BLG.
That victory must taste much sweeter now knowing that they have got their revenge over BLG and also managed to do the double over them during the tournament. Unfortunately for BLG, the LPL Spring Split champions have failed to win despite having the home crowd support in Chengdu, China.
Gen.G's win also meant that Zhuo “Knight” Ding could not defend his title after last season's win with JD Gaming. In hindsight, BLG had the much more experienced lineup for a grand final series. Aside from Knight, the rest of the team was in the exact same position last season while Chen “Bin” Ze-bin already knows how to win an MSI title during his time with Royal Never Give Up.
Sadly, it was not meant to be for the LPL team as Gen.G looked to be a step above everyone else, despite fielding a team that was making its first-ever international grand finals. Only Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu had ever been in this position before during his time with Dplus KIA, who was formerly known as DWG.KIA when they won Worlds back in the 2020 season.
And the world championship-winning jungler got Gen.G off to a perfect start in the first game with Karthus, who made its first appearance at MSI during the grand finals. Canyon was a constant menace to BLG as he got six kills and six assists with two deaths to help his team go 1-0 up in the series. Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan also deserves a special mention for his performance on Senna in game one as he was involved in every kill for Gen.G with three kills, two deaths, and 13 assists.
He would then go on to put on a record-breaking performance in the second match of the series, this time on Kalista as he secured 28 kills. This was the most anyone has ever gotten in a single international game and Peyz was making his MSI grand finals debut as well. And it wasn't just him who had a fantastic second match as Canyon was a constant threat with Sejuani while Siwoo “Lehends” Son also had plenty to do with Blitzcrank alongside Kim “Kiin ”Gi-in on Zac.
All three players managed over 20 assists in the second match to help Peyz secure a record-breaking feat as well as a pentakill to close out the game and put Gen.G on match-point. However, BLG did bounce back in the third game and of all people, it was Peng “XUN” Li-Xun who had put the team on his back to put themselves on the board. His jungle Nidalee proved to be the difference-maker as he was the only one with a flawless KDA of seven kills and nine assists.
This gave the live audience something to cheer about as BLG made it a real series after taking the third game. But they couldn't carry that momentum forward to the fourth match as Gen.G was able to take a commanding lead from early on. By the mid-game, it looked like BLG could not stand toe-to-toe against Gen.G just yet and instead opted for split-pushing, which worked out better than anyone could've anticipated.
XUN's Baron steal was another crucial element in BLG's attempt to come back in the fourth match but they could only get so far until Gen.G became too overwhelming to deal with. It was extremely close for BLG though as they managed to break into Gen.G's base first and exposed its Nexus. But in the end, it was Gen.G who survived the split-push onslaught with some great team fights.
While it would be the likes of Peyz, Chovy, and Canyon who would get much of the plaudits, it was Lehends who would eventually walk away with the Finals MVP award of MSI 2024. This came after some stellar performances with Blitzcrank in game two and Maokai in the fourth match. Lehends on Maokai was another determining factor in Gen.G's dominance during the grand finals as he proved to be one of the more underrated supports to come out from the LCK.
Gen.G's MSI victory also meant that it would be the first team to qualify for the 2024 World Championship, scheduled to take place later in September. Of course, they will have to qualify for the LCK Summer Split playoffs first for the rule to take place.
