G2 loses to Europe’s best team at Worlds

For the second time at Worlds, Russia’s Albus Nox Luna has taken down a team from a premier region. This time, it was European champions G2 Esports, who have now concluded the first week of the tournament with a dreadful 0-3 record.

It’s the third Wildcard upset of the tournament, following INTZ e-Sports’ win against EDward Gaming and Albus Nox’s victory over Counter Logic Gaming.

At no point did G2 have control of this game. Albus NoX was allowed to draft comfort champions in the mid lane (Kira’s Anivia) and at support (Likkrit’s famous Brand), and the dynamic duo did not disappoint.

After an early First Blood from Kira allowed him to dominate his lane, Albus NoX pulled the same trick it did against CLG -- a surprise early Baron, this time at 23 minutes. This allowed the team to overcome its lack of vision by grouping up and sieging with the buff minions, holding on their lead and eventually winning the game at 40 minutes.

G2’s solo laners Perkz and Expect had particularly rough games, getting caught out multiple times by Albus NoX’s wicked Poppy-Anivia combo.

Now sitting at 2-1 in Group A, Albus NoX has a more than decent chance of becoming the first Wildcard team to ever make it out of the group stage. If it can repeat with wins against CLG and G2 next week, the spot will be clinched.

With H2K at 1-2 and Splyce and G2 Esports both at 0-3, it’s pretty much settled: through one week, Wildcard representative Albus NoX was Europe’s best team at Worlds.