The MVPs of the MSI Group Stage | RiftFeed
Who stood out in MSI's first round?

The MVPs of the MSI Group Stage

News 16-05-2022 21:50


Gala MSI 1605
Hint: One of them got a Pentakill twice. | © Riot Games

The Mid-Season Invitational has delivered a week full of high-octane bangers featuring some of the best teams in the world - and it's only getting started! Here are our MVPs of the three groups.

After six days of games, the MSI group stage is over and the top six teams are getting ready for the Rumble. With the two Asian juggernauts T1 and RNG dominating their groups and G2 Esports making the EU vs NA rivalry that much more one-sided, we saw the top teams go undefeated in their groups as they delivered a masterclass in pro League of Legends. There are many players who made our mouths drop, but for the sake of brevity, we will limit ourselves to one per group - and also, that way we don't just name the entire T1 Roster.

Group A: T1 Oner

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That's not the face of mercy | © Riot Games

Speaking of the devil (or, if you prefer, of the Unkillable Demon King), picking one MVP for the entire T1 is always a challenge. The LCK champions have been a class above everyone in the LCK all year, not losing a single series in the entire season before going 6-0 in the MSI groups. For us, however, it's Moon "Oner" Hyeon-joon who really stood out. T1's jungler has been key to his team's early game dominance and amazing map play this tournament. In what looked like the closest game the LCK champions had - their first game against Saigon Buffalo - it was Oner who stopped what looked like a promising early game by the VCS team. Oner proved that he is the king of the LCK jungle and he will make sure everyone who faces him in Busan knows learns this.

Group B: RNG GALA

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He got it last year and he's aiming to get it again | © Riot Games

It's not easy to follow in the footsteps of a legend, but Chen "GALA" Wei has done so amazingly well, taking over the position from RNG superstar Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao. He has since become the top AD Carry of the LPL and a big reason for his team's success in the heavily contested spring playoffs. In Busan, he was seen as the biggest challenge to hometown favorite Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong and he stepped up in a big way. RNG ended up playing nine games after a controversy with the latency resulted in having to replay the first three, but GALA was a terror in the bot lane in every one of them - and scored a Pentakill in two of them. What more do we need to say?

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Group C: G2 Flakked

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This rookie has something to prove | © Riot Games

Six month ago, Victor "Flakked" Lirola Tortosa was a former MAD Lions Madrid player who people saw as a cheap replacement for Martin "Rekkles" Larsson on a rebuilding G2 roster. He didn't have any LEC experience, he hadn't won any big trophies, he wasn't even an EU Masters superstar. Within six months, however, he's faced off the best bot lanes in Europe and lifted the LEC cup in his rookie split. Now he's at MSI and he has no intention of slowing down. Flakked's rock-solid performance was a big reason why G2 exited the group undefeated. The G2 AD carry is both aggressive and hard to catch, dominating both 2v2s and teamfights and averaging less than one death per game for a KDA of nearly 17 throughout the group stage. What is the limit for the Spanish marksman?

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Now, however, these MVPs are going to face off against each other. The MSI Rumble starts on Friday, May 20th - don't miss it!