MSI 2021: RNG and MAD Lions slayed their opponents, DWG faced their first fall

The time has finally come and the Rumble Stage of the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational has begun, with the top six teams of the tournament facing against each other in a round-robin for the tickets to the Knockout Stage and a chance to become MSI Champions.

After almost a whole week of dominant clashes and even some incredible upsets, the champions of the LPL and the LCK began this new phase with one of the most anticipated duels since before the start of the tournament, where players and fans got to see their first taste over the favourite teams to win it all.

RNG got the first assault against the world champions

(Picture: Riot Games)

To kick off the Rumble, both RNG, champions of the MSI 2018, and DWG KIA, current world champions, started showing their characteristic playstyles featuring the aggressivity of the Chinese region, and the tactical strategies of the Korean league.

Starting the game, DK started to build a good advantage thanks to the power of ShowMaker’s Lucian, and the rotation of Canyon’s Udyr, while their bot lane showed a great performance by themselves against GALA and Ming, putting RNG against the current in the early game.

(Picture: Riot Games)

RNG remained strong in the battle, trying to find opportunities to catch their opponents unprepared and taking advantage of Khan’s mistakes. Thanks to this and Xiaohu’s Everfrost build in his Gragas, the Chinese champions started to flip the wave, negating DK’s intentions to counter their advance on objectives and team fights.

With time against DK, RNG’s comp make effect as they were capable of overcoming the whole gold difference, and after a successful rush to Baron, they opened and destroyed DK’s base, who even though they tried to stop the Chinese train, they couldn’t handle the pressure and got their first fall on the MSI 2021.

Europe reigns with the victory of MAD Lions against C9

The second featured and last match of the day came with the duel between the LEC champions, MAD Lions, against the LCS Top 1, Cloud9, showcasing their first showdown as part of the Europe vs. North America classic matchup.

(Picture: Riot Games)

Prior to this match, both teams had quite opposite results, as MAD Lions faced a gruelling match against Pentanet.GG, who made their debut with a good performance on their side but ended losing to the European, while the North American team ended up falling apart against RNG, giving them their 10th consecutive win in this MSI.

With this momentum on the side of the Spaniards, they showed since the start of the match everything they prepared for the war as they demolished their opponents starting with a triple kill for their jungler, Elyoya, and even more team fights in their favour as the game progressed.

By the end of the match, the gold difference between both squads reached an impressive 15,000 gold, with nearly every single objective on their hands. So for now, Europe celebrates as their representatives share the first place road to the second day of competition.

MSI 2021 Standings

• MAD Lions: 2-0
• RNG: 2-0
• DWG KIA: 1-1
• PSG Talon: 1-1
• Cloud9: 0-2
• Pentanet.GG: 0-2

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