PINOY WILD Rift squad Rex Regum Qeon secured their Icon’s Championship group slot after sweeping Japan’s Unsold Stuff Gaming.
This is the second time the squad of Keith “DevilJ” Gonzales, Sean “Helios” Miranda Palisoc, Charles “Chaazz” Esguerra, Eric “Exosen” Gubatan, Marc “Marky” Ilagan, and Mark “Maze” Galang has faced Japan’s second seed, after sweeping them in their opener last Tuesday.
RRQ vs. USG recap
RRQ opened the series with a unique lineup, bringing out the Twisted Fate Dragon lane with a Galio support for maximum global presence.
It was an action-packed opener as RRQ tried to force fights after fights with their Dragon lane duo and jungle Lee Sin.
The Japanese reps would not go down without a fight, punishing RRQ’s over-aggression highlighted by a three-for-one trades in the 6th and 8th minute of the game. But it wasn’t enough to finish the King of Kings as the single-lane duo of Devil J and Helios headed RRQ’s macro game, split pushing the lanes.
It was this split push that stretched USG thin. A 16:53 team fight saw all five USG champions in the mid lane trying to start a fight to secure map control for the Elder Dragon.
It was also at this time that RRQ’s trap was set in action with both DevilJ and Helios leading their own minion waves in the two side lanes.
With USG all in mid, the damage of the Camille, Jayce and the Baron-empowered minions was enough to take USG’s nexus with no one defending.
Back against the wall, USG brought out their pocket pick mid Akshan, which had previously allowed them to reverse sweep Latin America’s STMN Esports a day earlier. But RRQ countered with an Alistar support and Lux carry to dissuade any aggressive dives from the Japanese side.
The second match was a quieter series for the first 11 minutes as both teams tried to match farm instead of finding picks. It was the second drake team fight in the 11:30 minute that tilted the scales as RRQ found three USG champions, who came to contest the Dragon take.
A minute later, RRQ would retry the Dragon and caught USG trying to contest, running into Exosen’s Alistar and starting a team fight that led to RRQ acing USG.
They would find another team fight win in the 15:55 mark as USG tried to dispel RRQ’s Baron push. This time, they caught four of USG’s champions, losing two in the process.
RRQ would ace USG another time in the 18:44 mark as the Japanese squad tried to contest the Elder Dragon take. RRQ stormed down mid to the end the series in just over 19 minutes.
DevilJ had his best performance in the tournament so far, grabbing 7/0/6 on his Akali and shutdown USG’s Darius. Meanwhile, Marky’s Lux also came out huge, earning himself a 7/1/9 KDA.
The RRQ also meant that all WCS teams have secured a spot in the in global championship’s group stage.
Earlier in the week, Thailand’s Buriram United topped their play-in groups to earn a group stage seat, while Flash Wolves took down Europe’s Game-Lord in the series prior to RRQ’s to secure their spot in groups.
RRQ had a chance to earn a spot in groups earlier in the week as they faced China’s JD Gaming in the winner’s match.
JD Gaming struck first with a quick 15-minute win in game one, but RRQ managed to equalize the series thanks to Helio’s massive Rakan game in game two. Unfortunately, it was JDG who came out on top in the decider, with their carry Lux proving to be a thorn in RRQ’s side.
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