North American League of Legends teams are off to a rough start in Worlds 2020’s group stage, with an 0-3 record after Team Liquid’s shock defeat against Machi Esports to kick off Day 2.
The 2020 League of Legends World Championship is one of the most stacked international events in recent years, with plenty teams such as JD Gaming, Top Esports, DAMWON Gaming, and more coming into the tournament as legitimate title contenders.
While North America’s 3rd seed, Team Liquid cruised through the play-in stage boasting a 4-1 record, becoming the first team to automatically qualify for the main event, the major region is now off to a poor start in the group stage.
After being drawn into Group A, the only group without a Korean seed, Liquid fans had high hopes for their team’s chances of making it into the knockout stages.
However, their first clash with the PCS representative, Machi Esports, on October 4, did not go quite as planned, as Team Liquid were upset by the Wildcard region team.
Machi Esports managed to take the first Group A match in convincing fashion, after two massive ganks from their Jungler Huang ‘Gemini’ Chu-Xuan put their solo laners in the lead early.
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.@MachiEsports strike first in Group A! #Worlds2020 pic.twitter.com/IQNS2XHijo
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 4, 2020
This early lead gave the likes of veteran mid-laner Chen ‘M1ssion’ Hsiao-Hsien the chance to snowball the game, securing plenty of crucial kills on his impressive Syndra pick.
While Team Liquid will have more chances to redeem themselves, in this double round-robin format, they are faced with G2 Esports and Suning as their next opponents, two teams that have been considered dark horses for Worlds 2020.
Team Liquid is not the only North American team that has had a shaky start in the group stages as the top 2 seeds, TSM and FlyQuest have also dropped their first games, and the major region will be looking to turn things around over the coming days.
You can find all the full results, schedule, and more at our official LoL Worlds 2020 hub.