MSI Day 2: Early skirmishes and upsets!

Day 2 of MSI 2016 got off to a fast paced start. Check out some highlights below and let us know about your favorite #MSI2016 moments.

First blood to North America in the Battle of the Atlantic

The North America vs. Europe rivalry is as old as competitive League of Legends.

Here at the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational, it was North America’s Counter Logic Gaming that drew first blood against Europe’s G2 Esports on Day 2. So far it’s been a tough tournament for the rookies from Europe. An overall lack of cohesion has seen them drop more games than expected.

CLG, on the other hand, looked more focused than ever. Sure, there were a couple of whiffs and misplays, but it was their overall composure that allowed them to capitalize on mistakes and show exceptional macro play.

It was a Darshan Teleport play that put them up 6-1 early in the game, turning G2’s aggression on its head. The early lead put CLG in a position to snowball their lead into a comprehensive victory.

During the Spring Finals CLG’s motto was “win everything”. Now, it’s a little more refined, focused, and evocative.

"Respect all. Fear none."

For now, CLG will be looking to the future and the incremental improvements they can make as they advance through the regional tournament.

China takes down the king at MSI 2016

…Wow.

China’s Royal Never Give Up tore a hole in the supposed cloak of invincibility draped over the shoulders of the Korean kings SKTelecom T1.

If their result comes as a shock, then you're not the only one. Almost no one could have predicted that SKT would be 0-4 at 10 minutes into the game, or that "The Demon King" Faker would be 0/5/0 on Azir at 50. Though, low and behold, here we are.

RNG put on a dominant show. Xiahou's LeBlanc picked up an early first blood and from there, China's top team abused their mid lane advantage. Follow up ganks by mlxg's Graves made Faker’s life miserable. Afterwards, it wasn’t hard for Xiahou to turn himself into a slippery LeBlanc wrecking ball.

"It's not like I had faith in him, it's just the only champion he plays well," RNG support Mata said about Xiaohu with a laugh. "This was the first time I've seen my jungler and mid laner win."

To SKT’s credit, they managed to hold on for a whole hour, even when they were 11k gold behind at one point. They took an inhibitor from RNG and we even got to see what happens when Baron buff meets five Dragons.

The atmosphere in the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center was palpable. No one dared even cheer, such were the nerves of the home crowd support.

"All my teammates thought we had a good chance of winning a team fight," said Mata, whose focus was on finding the perfect initiation on Alistar. 

Both teams had full item builds and open bases. In the end it was a fight outside the Dragon pit that decided it for RNG. On an even playing field they aced SKT and the arena erupted.

Did it mean more to Mata to beat a Korean team? "I play on a Chinese team now," he says, showing his regional pride. "I beat a Korean team, but it was more like they're the best team and we beat the best team. That's what meant a lot to me."

China's RNG is now the only undefeated 4-0 team at MSI 2016. The power of the home crowd is strong, and after shaking the nerves of Day 1 and coming back with such a compelling performance on Day 2, they've put China one step closer to reclaiming the MSI trophy.

Turkey shoots down North America

If Day 2 of the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational will be remembered for anything it will almost certainly be the monumental upsets that occurred. First, China's Royal Never Give Up took down Korea's SKTelecom T1. Now, the IWCI winner from Turkey, SuperMassive, bulldozed their way to a decisive victory over North America's Counter Logic Gaming.

When everyone was told that the Turkish team didn’t stand a chance of winning a game here at MSI, clearly SuperMassive didn’t get the memo. Dumbledoge was landing clutch Cosmic Bindings with Bard, Achuu repeatedly solo killed Stixxay, and Stomaged was everywhere that CLG didn’t want him to be on Kindred.

SuperMassive didn’t just win -- they looked great doing it.

“To be honest we were also expecting to win against Flash Wolves. We had high hopes, so losing that game was really bad for us," said Dumbledoge. "But we always thought that if we can forget the defeat and focus on the next game we can make it happen. We tried our best to win and somehow it happened.”

It all started with first blood on Huhi. A well timed gank from Stomaged put Naru and SuperMassive in the lead. From there, they picked up more kills, snowballing their carries into scary territory. While the gold was even (CLG pulled ahead at times), SuperMassive maintained their composure and continued to notch up kills -- eventually pulling ahead to the point where CLG had no chance of catching up.

“When I checked the score and we were like 6-5 or something, I said, 'I think we are going to win this game. This is the game we are going to win,'" said Dumbledoge.

"I’m glad we had control all game and didn’t throw it -- and at some point we were like, yes, we are ahead, but we can’t throw it. We shouldn’t force anything. We should control the game, go slow, and win the game. GG.”

But this isn’t the end of the road for SuperMassive. They still have plenty more games to play at MSI 2016, and will be looking to ride this momentum to more victories. Today they proved that just because you’re from an IWC region, it doesn’t mean you’re going to step down in the face of adversity.

“In the previous games we were kinda scared," Dumbledoge admits. "But as we stepped into this game we decided not to be afraid. We were going to play our game. If it doesn’t happen it’s not the end of the world. There are more games, and if there are not more games, there are more MSIs, and we have nothing to lose.”

And who knows? Maybe we’ll see Turkey earn a top four seed at Worlds. Keep following the Mid-Season Invitational and show some love to Turkey on Twitter with #MSI2016.

Flash Wolves claim another one of SKT’s lives

Flash Wolves of the LMS have thrown everyone’s bracket out the window and sufficiently made this one of the worst days in the history of Korea’s SKTelecom T1. Coming into the tournament people were asking whether or not SKT would drop a single game.

Well, now they’ve dropped two. In the same day no less.

For Flash Wolves it was a clinical performance. The game started even, with plenty of skirmishes and both sides trading tit for tat. Though it was Flash Wolves’ superior rotations and immaculate objective control that gave them to the lead. Besides one Rift Herald, Flash Wolves made it impossible for SKT to get close to taking an objective -- it took them forty minutes to claim their first one.

We asked Steak, former top laner and now coach of Flash Wolves how he felt about that.

“Freaking great” he said with a laugh. “You don’t see SKT lose like that.”

Not only did FW support SwordArt introduce himself like a champ in the post-game interview, he also put on a performance that could earn him a place as the best support in the competition. Between him, MMD, and Maple, Flash Wolves gave a masterclass in how to use flanking in competitive League of Legends.

“I knew SKT were really good before the RNG game. After the RNG game, I saw that some of their players and their picks are pretty questionable," said Steak.

He continued, "I think Maple is at the same level as Faker, maybe better. So all we had to do is get Maple ahead and he could snowball the game.”

Eventually, Flash Wolves emphasis on Dragon control pushed them over the line to take the win. Ironically, it’s something which Korean teams and SKT in particular are renowned for. Something which we didn’t see today.

For SKT this will be a day they will be hoping to forget.

Their team comp looked lackluster in both games -- the only difference being that Wolf played Trundle and Tahm Kench. If SKT want to bounce back they will have to show flexibility in their champions pools. Something which we know they have, but sure as hell didn’t see today.

For Flash Wolves, they move into 2nd place behind the currently undefeated RNG, which also happens to be the first game of the day tomorrow.

“I think they’re a lot tougher than we thought, but it’s going to be a close match,” said Steak.

Tune in tomorrow to see a top of the table clash between the LMS and China and show us your regional pride on Twitter with #MSI2016.

--By Paul Marshall