PSG Talon advanced to the group stage of the main event, while LGD Gaming managed to survive another day in an end to Group B round robin play of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship Play-In stage.
Talon -- who used three substitute players on Friday and Saturday, prior to the approval of AD carry Wong "Unified" Chun Kit's visa and arrival in Shanghai, and then two on Sunday -- managed to defeat V3 Esports in their first match of the day and win a first-place tiebreaker over Unicorns of Love. The Pacific Championship Series team surprised many with their strong performance throughout the three days, dropping just one game to Unicorns on Saturday.
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Talon have guaranteed themselves a spot in the group stage, where depending on other outcomes, could see them placed in Group B, C or D. They cannot be placed in Group A, as Machi Esports -- who are also from the PCS -- await. No two teams from the same region can be placed in the same group.
Talon will be forced to use their qualifying team for the main event group stage. Their jungler Kim "River" Dong-woo and Park "Tank" Dan-won, both who are South Korean, have had issues gaining entry to China due to visa issues in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In their place, the team has used ahq eSports Club jungler Hsiao "Kongyue" Jen-Tso and mid laner Chen "Uniboy" Chang-Chu on loan. Both River and Tank are expected to receive approval and compete with Talon next week, according to Riot's broadcast commentators.
Meanwhile, for League Pro League fourth seed LGD, the team failed to meet expectations set by many analysts and fans.
While they are the weakest team of the four from China, LGD surprisingly dropped games to Talon, Rainbow7 and Unicorns, all from non-major regions. LGD won a tiebreaker on Sunday against Japan's V3 Esports to avoid going home and earned a spot in an elimination best-of-five series set for Tuesday against Rainbow7. The winner of that match will face the second seed of Play-In Group A for one of the two final spots in the group stage.
Group A play returns Monday, with North America's Team Liquid and Turkey's SuperMassive Esports tied for first, both with two wins and zero losses. The most surprising standing in that group is MAD Lions, the European fourth seed who in the regular season finished second. Both in the European playoffs and now on the world stage, MAD Lions, who are in fourth place in Group A, have struggled to find success in high-pressure moments.