DWG KIA destroy MAD Lions, locking semifinals duel against T1

After a more than exciting series with two LPL powerhouses yesterday, the action of the best professional League of Legends continues with the third date of the quarterfinals of Worlds 2021.

This time, we had one of the most anticipated clashes by many, where the current world champions, DWG KIA, sought to retain his championship run and remain undefeated against MAD Lions, the two-time LEC champions, in search of qualifying for the semifinals to face off with T1, who previously beat Hanwha Life with a resounding 3-0.

Since the start of Worlds, DWG KIA has been one of the most dominant teams and has stood on its way to seek to match SKT's feat in 2016, by reaching a final as defending champions, so they didn’t hide their competitive level from the start.

During the first duel, Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu with his Lee Sin was key to guiding the advantage of his team, keeping not only the objectives but also contributing with good initiations on MAD Lions, and with an advantage of almost 10,000 gold, DWG KIA placed the first point on the scoreboard.

MAD Lions responded for the second game by completely dominating the entire early game looking to nullify Kim “Khan” Dong-ha with constant ambushes in the top lane.

While the European squad had a 6,000 gold lead at some point, DWG KIA forced two key teamfights that allowed them to turn the game around. In the end, the Korean top laner and a very good ultimate from Kennen managed to put them in matchpoint.

For the third matchup, DWG KIA came out to close the map quickly with the same Lee Sin pick for Canyon, who had an incredible performance with the blind champion throughout the series.

Here, the Koreans managed to crush their opponents throughout the early game, although the MAD Lions refused to walk out of the tournament without a fight, forcing a couple of engages that lengthened the game to escalate their comp. However, this was not enough and after a close battle in the dragon pit, the world champions tied up the ticket to semis.

Now, with their victory against the European squad, DWG KIA will have to face T1 this 31st October, being both a rematch between the LCK top seeds and an advanced final that could be framed in the history books, as it happened in the series between SKT and ROX Tigers on 2016.

In addition, this showdown managed to break the viewership record once again, getting almost 2.3 million viewers at its peak according to data from Esports Charts.

The action of Worlds 2021 will continue tomorrow with the final quarter-final showdown, in a best-of-five series between Gen.G and Cloud9, looking for the rival of Edward Gaming.

• Read more: Worlds 2021 DK ShowMaker: “I think EDG are very good right now”

For more Worlds coverage, head over to our dedicated League of Legends section.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games and Getty Images.