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Albus NoX Luna is one step closer to becoming the first Wildcard team to ever qualify for the Worlds knockout stage. The Russian upstarts took down North America’s Counter Logic Gaming for the second time this tournament Thursday, defeating CLG in clinical fashion 12-3 in 29 minutes.
With the win, Albus NoX moves to 3-1 on the tournament and tied for first place in Group A — that’s the most wins for a Wildcard team ever at Worlds, eclipsing paIN Gaming’s mark of two. Now the team just has to defeat 0-4 G2 Esports later in the day to become the first Wildcard team to advance out of the group stage.
For the third time in four Worlds games, Albus NoX secured the first kill, tower and dragon of the game. Up three thousand gold at 20 minutes, Albus NoX used good rotations and a strong team-fighting composition to turn that into a bigger lead, taking Baron at 24 minutes.
3 more kills for @albusnoxteam in mid lane! #Worlds https://t.co/X9zrX2e58F
— lolesports #Worlds (@lolesports) October 7, 2016
It’s a bitter disappointing for CLG, who after a poor Summer Split looked in much better form in the first week of play. The team took down Korean champions ROX Tigers, and looked close to its form at the Mid-Season Invitational.
But with Aurelion Sol banned, CLG was unable to get any meaningful impact out of the mid lane, and lost this one in convincing fashion.