PSG Talon have had their fairy tale unbeaten run at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship play-ins ended at the bloody hands of the CIS’ best team, Unicorns of Love.
After this loss, as PSG’s rise from underdogs to potential Worlds threat fades in the minds of fans, the very same prospects have instead been placed onto their slayers. With this win, UOL looks quite certain to clinch first in their play-in group, and the automatic qualification into the group stage where they could look to take some big names as scalps.
The draft for this game perfectly encapsulated what each team were trying to achieve. UOL play hard and fast in the early game which helps them to secure early objectives thanks like Rift Herald, so they drafted Hecarim and Renekton to bully PSG away from the top side for this purpose. PSG, however, drafted Volibear, Sett, and Alistar in the hopes that all the HP stacking would allow them to survive through the early onslaught laid out by UOL, but this draft would actually work against them later in the game.
The Unicorns, just as they had done in the previous match, forced a five-vs-five teamfight top side for the first Herald and despite losing the fight, secured the objective, which helped them snowball early on. This play netted them two turrets and complete deep vision into PSG’s jungle.
Having lost a great amount of map pressure off of this, PSG had to resort to teamfighting over Drakes to stabilize. But this is where their draft really hurt them.
In their first two matches yesterday, PSG’s substitute ADC Dee was endlessly praised for being able to keep his head afloat at the highest level of the competition despite being a long-time retired player. But where his team drafts Sett mid lane and Volibear top, the amount of pressure resting on his shoulders to carry is far too much. Especially considering he has output just 24 percent of his team’s overall damage in games, which is staggeringly low compared to other ADCs.
This lack of damage meant that PSG were being run over in teamfights well before their team composition could recover from the deficit they found themselves early on. From there, it was a simple few drake pit fights and a nice smite by AHaHaCiK to secure Ocean Soul and run it quickly into PSG’s base to secure their second win.
UOL have really exposed the blueprint on how to beat PSG, in their great draft and early game domination. They are now sitting pretty at the top of Group B and look to be among the favorites from play-ins to make a name for themselves on the mainstage in groups.
The Worlds play-in stage continues tomorrow, Sept. 27, at 3am CT.
