After the group stage’s end, it’s time for the good old MSI we know and love to start with the Rumble Stage! Top two in each group secured a ticket to this stage where teams will participate in a double round robin action, with the top four advancing to the plain old knockout stage where the best-of-five action start.
Which six team won the group stage and advanced to this madness? Korea’s 20-0 (26-0) T1, Europe’s G2 Esports, China’s Royal Never Give Up, Vietnam’s Saigon Buffalo, North America’s Evil Geniuses and Taiwan’s PSG Talon. Riot Games announced the schedule late, but it’s here, so let’s have a look at the teams and the schedule for the rumble stage.
When considering the teams, we could easily put them in two categories: favourites and underdogs.
Favourites
T1 is definitely the biggest favourite here at MSI 2022. They dominated South Korea without losing a single series, and among the favourites of MSI, they are the best-looking team according to the stats. Keep in mind that T1 dominated those minor league teams while not giving 100% and not trying hard, it’s new for a Korean representative to “have fun”.
Royal Never Give Up naturally follows T1, Chinese champions are always the favourite of any tournament they head into. Until now, playing from their home instead of Busan didn’t affect RNG’s game, but an unexpected loss might hurt their chances of winning. They went through so much, they can’t leave their gaming house in China and they are massively criticized and hated on social media, thus, RNG has to overcome a lot of challenges to succeed at MSI.
They weren’t expected to be here and definitely not as a favourite, but G2 Esports looks amazing. Their new roster went through hell to win LEC but a 12-0 lower bracket run secured them a place in Busan. G2 dominated NA and OCE to advance to Rumble Stage, impressing European fans who turned their backs on them after the disappointments of last year. Safe to say, G2 Esports is back.
Underdogs
Let’s start with Evil Geniuses: they are an incredibly skilled team with high potential, but they might not have the experience to make it here. Impact and Vulcan are there to lead the team obviously, but is that enough? Inspired might not be a problem but Danny and jojopyun definitely struggled against G2 Esports. EG has to use the limited time they have before the Rumble Stage to have a chance of making it to the Knockout Stage.
For most fans, PSG Talon is the fourth-strongest team here in MSI 2022. Their Group Stage performance suggests otherwise. After losing River and Maple, PSG isn’t that strong and they even got bested by Brazil’s RED Canids once. Thanks to Hanabi, their group stage run didn’t end poorly. They will have to upgrade their game if they are to take down Evil Geniuses.
Although they are obviously better than the rest of the minor regions, Vietnam is still a lot behind in majors. Saigon Buffalo is VN #2, and their performance was definitely better than DetonatioN FocusMe who has been impressing us all during 2021, but these aren’t enough reasons to make a good showing and steal the fourth place. They don’t look like they have what it takes to outperform all the Vietnamese representatives, but they can pull some upsets which could affect the outcome of the Rumble Stage dearly.
Schedule of the Rumble Stage
Rumble Stage of MSI 2022 will start with T1 vs G2 Esports on Friday, May 20 at 10:00 CEST. It will take the whole weekend from May 20 to May 23, starting at 10:00 CEST and playing the last game at 15:00 CEST. Check out the schedule for the first week below:
Friday, May 20
T1 (1.20) vs G2 Esports (4.00) - 10:00 CEST
Evil Geniuses (6.60) vs Royal Never Give Up (1.08) - 11:00 CEST
PSG Talon (1.75) vs Saigon Buffalo (1.95) - 12:00 CEST
G2 Esports (2.70) vs Royal Never Give Up (1.40) - 13:00 CEST
Saigon Buffalo (2.15) vs Evil Geniuses (1.65) - 14:00 CEST
PSG Talon (8.50) vs T1 (1.04) - 15:00 CEST
None of the teams have an easy first day, it’s going to be a hell of a start for MSI 2022 Rumble Stage. However, G2 Esports is having an extra hard one. Facing both T1 and RNG might be a blessing in disguise though, they will be able to get through both of these incredibly strong teams and have a clearer mind for the rest of the games. Surely, at least that’s what they are hoping for.
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