MSI 2021: MAD Lions tops the Group B, while PSG Talon shines towards the Rumble Stage

The journey to the Rumble Stage of the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational continues, now that both RNG and Pentanet.GG got their names into the Top 6 of the tournament, and with the Group B finishing its Group Stage matches along the way.

With MAD Lions dominating in the previous three days, and a fierce fight between PCS’ PSG Talon, TCL’s fastPay Wildcats, and CBLOL’s paIN Gaming to get the second seed into the next phase, today’s matches left us with a lot of hype and even an incredible upset to begin the Group B matchday.

MAD Lions fails at first, but regains momentum to top the group

Just starting the day, everyone watched the unexpected as the Wildcats got their taste of glory, after achieving their first ever victory in the international stage against no other than the LEC’s MAD Lions.

(Picture: Riot Games)

The Spanish squad had a strong game during which they maintained a good advantage, getting most of the drakes while having a stalemate on the turrets count. However as the game advanced, the Turkish champions started to change their strategy making better skirmishes and rotations.

Meanwhile, the IW’s AD Carry HolyPhoenix continued scaling the power of his Kai’Sa getting an incredible seven kills and three assists with no deaths around at the minute 23, making him a nightmare towards the mid and late game.

At the end after 30 minutes of a game that heavily favoured the team composition of the Wildcats, they did the unthinkable and handled their first loss of the MSI 2021 to the MAD Lions, making the next matches of the day a little bit more exciting.

Later on, the European champions got to secure their spot at the next stage by winning an “all or nothing” match against paIN Gaming, showing a stronger performance and more solid play against the Brazilian team, who although couldn’t handle the pressure at the end, they got good approaches trying to find their way to the Rumble.

PSG Talon gets momentum thanks to Doggo

The PCS champions started the day with a hard fought battle against paIN Gaming, who maintained a good composure during the early game, however Doggo, player who joined the PSG squad as a substitute for Unified, showed some of his quality and aggressive playstyle thanks to his Aphelios that never stopped harassing the enemy team and the objectives.

(Picture: Riot Games)

This performance stayed consistent for the remaining matches, where he demolished the fastPay Wildcats thanks to his impeccable Tristana, and then having a good try against MAD Lions in the last match of the day where they ended up falling, getting the second place of the Group B and advancing to the Rumble Stage.

By now, PSG Talon achieved their objective making a similar performance to theirs on Worlds 2020, and with a good consistency on both Doggo and Maple, they will be a good rival to be aware of in the fight for the tickets to the Knockout Stage.

paIN Gaming goes back home with respect

Even after the elimination of this team from this year’s MSI, the Brazilian squad got its own taste of victory after a long wait for an international performance.

Without going that far, after not qualifying for an international tournament since 2015, paIN Gaming shocked many during their matches by showing good strategies and even getting close wins against all their opponents, although they only ended up winning both of their matches against IW.

Nonetheless, seeing a good performance from a team that belongs to the current worst ranked region in the world, is a great sign that gives hope to all their fans who have waited for the comeback of the CBLOL teams to the biggest stage.

The final teams to join in the Rumble Stage will be defined in the Group C matchday between the LCK’s DWG KIA, LCS’ Cloud9, LLA’s Infinity Esports, and LJL’s DetonationN FocusMe.

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