G2 Esports the first team eliminated from Worlds 2016

European champions G2 Esports became the first team eliminated from the 2016 League of Legends World Championship, losing to Korean champions ROX Tigers Thursday to move to 0-4 on the tournament.

After a close early game, ROX took the lead and squeezed, breaking open the base at 23 minutes. At 31 minutes, another ROX siege (this time with Baron) netted two inhibitors, and the Korean champions were able to close out the game a few minutes later. ROX jungler Wang-ho “Peanut” Han finished the game 4/0/0 on Lee Sin and earned player of the game honors.

The tipping point of the game came at 31 minutes with the ROX Tigers trading two members for Baron, then pushing G2 back to their second tier midlane turret with only three members alive. The Baron quickly led to the top and bottom inhibitors going down, and the ROX Tigers taking the G2 Nexus.

G2 Esports entered the tournament with high hopes as Europe’s No. 1 seed, but an 0-3 start in the first week put a very quick damper on that.

G2 also failed to make it out of the group stages of the Mid-Season Invitational, and it ended up hurting them dearly: no doubt a group with another Pool 2 team rather than the ROX Tigers would have been easier to manage. But G2 still lost to North America’s Counter Logic Gaming and Russia’s Albus NoX Luna, and will once again return home after a disappointing international performance.

With the win, the ROX Tigers move to 3-1 on the tournament, temporarily moving into sole possession of first place. CLG and Albus NoX will be competing with ROX for Group A’s two spots in the quarterfinals. For a breakdown of the scenarios, click here.

It’s been a poor tournament for Europe in general, with the only two winless teams (G2 and 0-3 Splyce) as well as 1-2 H2K. H2K still has a chance to advance from a tight C on Friday.