Legacy Esports have had their 2020 World Championship campaign brought to an end, after a 3–0 defeat at the hands of resurgent Chinese giants LGD Gaming in the Worlds Play-In Qualification Round. But they’ll return home as heroes.
There was a moment that hope ran high on Wednesday night.
In game two of the best-of-five series, there was a moment Oceanic fans had faith. Legacy had risen into the ascendancy, and were in control of the map. LGD were struggling to contain the OCE squad. It looked like the series was just beginning.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Su “xiye” Han-Wei came alive on Kassadin, building up a hefty pocket of gold off a shock quadra-kill. The late-game carry was online.
That moment was the beginning of the end for Legacy in the game, and eventually the series as a whole. The Oceanic champions watched their 3.4k gold lead drain away, until a massive fight at Baron went LGD’s way. Legacy were able to eliminate xiye, but bot laner Ha “Kramer” Jong-hun, playing Ezreal, dished out a triple kill, and the Game 2 death blow.
LGD were just 93 gold ahead when they closed out the game. Australia’s Julian “Pastrytime” Carr (who, I’ll note, was a pleasure to listen to all game long) delivered a verdict the whole of Oceania already knew: “LGD has stolen this game away… it was Legacy’s to lose.”
The shock win put China’s fourth-seed up 2–0 in the series.
To Legacy’s credit, they had bounced back from a shellshock opening loss. LGD had choked the OCE heroes out of the game, finishing with a 9–3 advantage in kills, an 11.5k gold lead in the bank, and 20 objectives claimed to Legacy’s modest two.
Game 3 was somewhere in the middle.
Legacy never had a major lead in the clash, but they were competitive. Unfortunately, LGD, who had fallen to one too many of Legacy marksman Quin “Raes” Korebrits’ whirling Draven blades in game two, knew what they had to do.
Raes suffered in Game 3, as Han “Peanut” Wang-ho and Ling “Mark” Xu hunted him across the map. Xiye added the hurt on Twisted Fate, and the standout Kiwi bot laner — who did his absolute best across the entire campaign — fell to a 0/5/0 scoreline.
LGD slow-played the game from there, content to build their lead. The advantage culminated in a five-man ace 24 minutes in, and Oceania were punted from Worlds moments later.
Legacy finished 17th-18th at Worlds: a best-ever finish for Oceania.
James “Tally” Shute promised chaos at Worlds.
Leo “Romer” Babip suggested there was something special brewing for the OPL champions, and Jonah “Isles” Rosario simply declared Oceania had nothing to fear at Worlds.
In the end, they were all right.
Legacy may be heading home from Shanghai after Wednesday’s defeat, but the Australian team has already done their region proud. It’s an international run Oceania will never forget, and this Legacy Esports lineup will be treated like kings when they return home.
