During the LPL World Championship Swiss stage, only three BO3 matches remain before the end. On the previous match day, both T1 and BLG played their fourth games. Although both teams secured 2-0 sweeps, the quality of the matches was quite disappointing. T1 and 100T had a back-and-forth battle; the first game lasted 40 minutes with Faker’s Taliyah turning the tide, while the second game was tense in mid-game, with Doran making multiple mistakes, allowing the opponent to seize the win.

BLG had a similar experience, sweating it out against VKS. The second game lasted 43 minutes, and it was only thanks to Bin’s clutch base steal that they won this do-or-die match. Judging by their performance, it’s no surprise both teams dropped to 1-2. Among the 16 participating teams, these two from the LTA region are ranked near the bottom. Matches that should have been easy turned into intense battles, which is not the standard expected from Chinese or Korean teams.

However, the final outcome was positive: both T1 and BLG advanced to the 2-2 group. If they win one more match, they will qualify for the knockout stage. BLG, playing on home ground, would normally be cheered after a victory, but when ELK went on stage for an interview, the crowd booed loudly, even shouting "King" (according to on-site reports, this was not cut in by the broadcast). This was quite a rare sight.

Playing at home, no matter the event, the crowd usually cheers loudly. Being booed is definitely a first. This also indirectly shows that BLG’s performance at this year’s World Championship has been really poor. If we consider the draw, the other 15 teams should all be stronger than BLG. At least in the first four rounds of the Swiss stage, BLG did not face any Chinese or Korean teams, yet they lost two matches in a row.

Losing to LCK teams is understandable, and losing internal matches is also accepted by fans. But losing to 100T, a team that is about to leave the league and even had their coach play in matches, is quite surreal. If 100T hadn’t defeated BLG once, they probably would have been eliminated by the third round alongside Karsa’s team. The main reason BLG lost to European and American teams is simply underestimating them, which Knight indirectly confirmed during his interview.

After beating VKS, Knight gave a media interview where he said: "We almost won all our scrims, but we couldn’t fully replicate that performance in official matches. No wonder we took the games lightly — we were unbeatable in scrims." This seems to explain why Bin didn’t take the opposing top laner seriously in matches. Having won so many scrims, BLG probably thought they had no real rivals, so overconfidence was natural.

If the scrim wins were against strong teams like HLE or GEN, the overconfidence would be understandable. But if they only beat European and American teams and still felt very strong, that doesn’t make much sense. The first team eliminated, FNC, had their coach reveal in a previous livestream that in scrims versus BLG, FNC actually won 2-1 in three games. If they can’t even beat FNC, how could BLG claim to be nearly undefeated in scrims?

The good news is that after being defeated by 100T and G2, BLG now approaches matches more seriously. However, the players still haven’t fully regained their form. Even against VKS, they struggled a lot, which is far from the expected performance of a number one seed. If in the next match against Top Esports, BLG can get all players back to peak form and strike hard, then they might still face booing from the crowd after the game.

Conclusion:

If BLG wants to change the audience’s impression this year, it seems their only chance is to draw an LCK team in the knockout stage, defeat them, and advance to the semifinals. Of course, that’s all speculation since BLG hasn’t secured qualification yet. If they continue to underperform and lose to Top Esports, it will be impossible to clear the stain of being the number one seed eliminated in the group of 16.

So, what do you think? Can BLG beat TES?

Feel free to leave your comments and discuss!