On the 23rd of September(CST), the 2017 League of Legends World Championship official began. As expected from fans, Team WE and Cloud9 each took two wins for the day.

But unlike C9 who won both of their games in dominating fashion, Team WE had an unexpected struggle when playing against Lyon Gaming. They also had made many shaky decisions in their game against Gambit Esports, by giving them a couple of opportunities to make comebacks.

The team that showed the most amount of potential was Lyon Gaming - despite having lost their game against WE. The team's two carries, White Lotus and Seiya, displayed stellar performance on both sets. 

■ Play of the Day

The toplaner, jungler, and midlaner all dove on Seiya with everything that they had, in an attempt to take him down. However, despite having all the odds against him, Seiya makes it out alive, and the game starts to flow in favor of LYN. The only thing that was waiting for Camille, who had to return to toplane empty-handed, was Jax's lamppost. 

■ Man of the Match

◇ Game 1. Team WE vs Lyon Gaming

Although during the midgame, Oddie was successful in attracting the enemy and letting the team push through the midlane, every other point in the game, his presence was quite lacking. His lack of playmaking stood out even more since both WhiteLotus and Seiya displayed great performances throughout the entirety of the game.

[Korean Reaction]
- Censer did it again.
- LYN lost because Lee Sin didn't buy Ardent Censer. Kog'Maw was 8/1/7!
- Riot, do you still have nothing to say about Ardent Censer, even after watching this game?


◇ Game 2. Cloud9 vs Team oNe eSports

Making plays that perfectly met his fans' and team's expectations, Jensen completely dominated his lane opponent, Lucian, and even went as far as to widen the CS difference by having twice as much over his enemy. The rest of C9 made sure to snowball Jensen's lead to take over the game. The "core" of oNe's lategame strategy was Kog'Maw - but Jensen made sure Kog'Maw remained dead.

[Korean Reaction]
- It was as expected.
- Both sides were able to buy Ardent Censer. But midlane blew up far before that.
- Ignite Lucian against Jensen? Bad choice.


◇ Game 3. Gambit Esports vs Lyon Gaming

Lyon Gaming did more than makeup for their loss in set 1 through their game against Gambit. By surviving a three-men gank at around 11 minutes into the game, LYN secured both a solo-kill in toplane and even a dragon. The snowball started rolling, and no one was able to stop it. 

[Korean Reaction] 
- I think WhiteLotus is the best wildcard ADC.
- Seiya? More like Seiker. (Seiya + Faker)
- Oddie's Lee Sin was meh... but his Maokai was pretty good.


◇ Game 4. Dire Wolves vs Cloud9

Team oNe eSports probably wanted a Nidalee like this when they decided to pick her in game 2. Through perfect coordination with Jensen, Contractz secured first blood. Afterwards, the said jungler went about completely bringing chaos to the Dire Wolves all over the map. As if he was rebelling against the tank meta, Contractz dealt the most amount of damage - and placed his team 1st in the group.

[Korean Reaction]
- Completely different from the Nidalee earlier.
- Did C9 have major improvements? or aside from Lyon Gaming, are the play-in teams just really bad?
- Dire Wolves look stronger than oNe... but I guess C9 is C9.


◇ Game 5. Gambit Gaming vs Team WE

There were many skirmishes starting from the earlygame. But Condi made sure the flow of the game was in the hands of WE. By making sharp plays, Condi made sure the game didn't go out of control. Although his lategame positioning near the inner toplane tower almost gave the enemy an opportunity to rise back, Condi paid back the favor by stealing the Baron and securing the victory.

[Korean Reaction]
- As expected from a Kayn... Master Yi with a scythe just won't do. Condi held his team by the collar and led them to victory.
- The past is the past.
- Cho'Gath completely ruined the entire game. How can he get Baron stolen?


◇ Game 6. Dire Wolves vs Team oNe eSports

The skill-gap between the last two teams that played, was quite visible. He constantly gave the chase to oNe eSports and have also dealt the most amount of damage.

[Korean Reaction]
- oNe's midlaner and jungler seem too weak.
- I never thought I'd see the day of Phantiks carrying a game.
- How long would it take to swim from China all the way to Brazil? I don't think the Brazillian fans will allow oNe to take the plane.

■ Match Results

Game 1. Team WE vs Lyon Gaming - Team WE win
Game 2. Cloud9 vs Team oNe eSports - Cloud9 win
Game 3. Gambit Esports vs Lyon Gaming - Lyon Gaming win
Game 4. Dire Wolves vs Cloud9 - Cloud9 win
Game 5. Gambit Esports vs Team WE - Team WE win
Game 6. Dire Wolves vs Team oNe eSports - Dire Wolves win

■ Group Results