Worlds 2017 Group Stage day 2 recap

The second day of the 2017 World Championship Group Stages has come to an end, and it was full of exciting games and narrow victories.

If day one was all about quick comebacks in short games, day 2 had a few more long close games, with two matches that went over 50 minutes. Despite both of these games involving North American teams, it was a great day for the region as they managed to finish 3-0. Meanwhile defending World Champions SKT found themselves in their own close game that went on for almost 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, the other games today featured some convincing wins and impressive displays from both Longzhu and Team WE as they stunned their opponents in two games that barely managed to crest the fifty minute mark combined.

For a full look at who looked good and who still has a long way to go if they want to make it out of their groups, check out our full breakdown of day 2 below.

Flash Wolves vs Team SoloMid

Winner: Team SoloMid

Riot Games

This game was an absolute disaster from both teams. At the end of the 54 minute game both teams were pushing the enemy Nexus with TSM barely coming out on top. Flash Wolves had an almost 5k gold early, but gave up the lead to TSM thanks to a few opportune fights and Barons for the North American team, who played the early game extremely safe.

Team WE vs Misfits

Winner: Team WE

This was one of the most one sided games we have seen at worlds so far as WE rolled past Misfits with no trouble at all. Outside of one tower taken by Misfits, WE managed a perfect game showing that their struggles in Play-ins aren’t going to be the norm for them at Worlds 2017.

Immortals vs Fnatic

Winner: Immortals

Fnatic lead this game for almost 47 minutes, got the gold onto the carry they were looking for and still couldn’t quite close the game. Thanks to some fantastic Baron control by Immortals, they hung around in a game they should have lost, and pushed it late enough that it came down to one meaningful pick against Fnatic’s AD Carry to determine the winner of the game.

Longzhu Gaming vs GIGABYTE Marines

Winner: Longzhu Gaming

Riot Games

Marines came into this game promising something we had never seen before, and we would have gotten that if it wasn’t for some pitch perfect preemptive strikes from Longzhu Gaming who predicated GAM’s lane swap and punished it without missing a beat. After that, the game was all Longzhu’s giving them full control of the map and allowing their support to roam all over the map picking up assists in every lane.

ahq e-Sports vs Cloud9

Winner: Cloud9

The only NA team to win in under 50 minutes, Cloud9 looked impressive, bouncing back quickly after their day one loss to SKT. While ahq had a brief window back into the game around 20 minutes, Cloud9 relied on their mid lane and AD Carry leads to keep control of the game and secure the win around 30 minutes for their first victory of the tournament.

Edward Gaming vs SK telecom T1

Winners: SK telecom T1

Edward Gaming have always proven a tough match for the three time World Champions SKT, and today was no different as EDG went up almost 10k gold at 28 minutes. Despite that, SK telecom T1 made an incredible comeback thanks to some smart map movement and three perfectly timed ultimates in a mid lane team fight that set them down the path back into the game. From there, SKT ground out the game playing slowly and claiming EDG’s base almost 20 minutes after the tide-turning teamfight in yet another of day 2’s many extremely close games.