Worlds 2022 Blog: Day 1 (Group B)
OH BOY WHERE DO I START I HAD SUCH A LONG DAY
Oh I start at the beginning. Yeah so I stayed up pretty late again😭 after waking up I went with my parents walking around the streets a bit. NYC kinda reminds me of China as in it’s very dense and walkable and everyone is walking but it’s also very loud.
Anyway, y’all don’t care about NYC, y’all care about WORLDS. It was a really long line to get in when I got there at like 2:10 pm. I also got to meet an online friend which is awesome. At the security check, the security person said we had to throw away the signs (they literally had trash cans) because the “material” wasn’t allowed?? (They’re just foam board) And so we were just awkwardly standing around a bit, I wondered if I should call my parents to take the signs since I didn’t want to toss out that hard work. But then this other security guard saw us and asked why we’re just standing around instead of moving along, so I explained they said the signs aren’t allowed. Gigachad security guard was like “I ALLOW THEM” so he saved my life😭😭 Hope this won’t happen again on next two days.
got some pic with forecast janna cosplayer. PEEP THE JOJOCROCS
So we get inside and there’s a long merch line that I don’t join and some cosplayers you can take pictures with. We headed straight to our seats and the pre-show was about to start in like a minute. At some point during the pre-show/countdown/analyst desk stuff/whatever it’s called, the EG players walked onto stage and everyone started screaming excitedly. I was like OMG OMG OMG THEY’RE REAL?? It’s like that moment in kpop concerts when the members actually appear on stage and you’re like I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY ARE REAL. AND THAT I’M BREATHING THE SAME AIR AS THEM.
Also, I had brought the cards I made for EG, in which I put all of my EG stickers (Jojo & Kacper also got some art prints, the ones in the tweet above). Don’t mind the scuffed lettering ahdjsjjd. I didn’t know if I’d be able to give them the cards until last night. Jackie Felling (LCS commissioner, the goat) asked one of her coworkers to help with this!
So he came to my seat and picked up the cards. He also gave me a gift from EG that I really didn’t expect! It’s a Worlds jersey signed by all the players!! It’s a player jersey too, not one that they sell, because it has all the sponsor logos :O I was so touched and grateful for this!! It’s a priceless gift!! I love these boys so much TT
I was told that the EG players liked their cards, and also Jojo said, thank you so much I like it!! so, I’m very happy T_T
Group B Team Info for non-esports friends:
Jindong Gaming Intel (JDG) - CN 1st Place
G2 Esports (G2) - EU 2nd Place
Damwon Kia (DK) - KR 3rd Place
Evil Geniuses (EG) - NA 3rd Place
Anyway game 1, EG vs G2, was SO HYPE as we were utterly smashing them!! I was screaming my lungs out!! What a great first game!! Shen/Hecarim/Akali/Lucian/Nami!! This was also EG’s first time beating G2 all year, as you know the record before this was 0-7 and now it’s 1-7 😎 Also Inspired’s first time beating Jankos and I love that for him. (Previously he was 0-17 vs Jankos😭 I’m not trying to flame with these stats I’m just illustrating how meaningful this dub was—)
Like I said yesterday, all this “superfan buff” talk is just a joke hhh of course I don’t affect results at all. All credit goes to the boys for playing well, of course!!
Sadly, EG lost the very next game to JDG. I really respected them for not giving up in the game and fighting till the very end, clawing for any opportunities they could find. This loss didn’t eliminate EG from the tournament yet, there was still one scenario left in which they could advance to quarterfinals. And that would require DK to go 0-3 and JDG to go 3-0 on the day.
Unfortunately, we can’t rely on Europe (joke) and G2 proceeded to get dumpstered by DK in the next game :( This officially eliminated both G2 and EG from quarterfinals contention. DK and JDG will be advancing.
Oh, also, during this time, some people from twitter came to find me :D I gave them free stickers! They were all very nice people. Thanks for coming to see me!! I still have a lot of stickers so, if you want any, just dm me during worlds.
The next game was G2 vs JDG, so we went to grab dinner and come back. During that time, we saw Nicole (the CEO of EG 😳) standing around.
2023 Edit: Now we know Nicole is problematic and contributed to Danny’s mistreatment and sucks as a CEO in general. So yeah.
For EG’s last game (vs DK), we decided to try moving forward into one of the empty seats so that we could maybe have a chance of getting the signs shown on screen. We tried, but the camera didn’t ever pan to us sadly TT Still, I hope the energy carried through. If I get a chance to go to LCS in the future and Jojo/Inspired are still a duo, I will bring the same sign haha. (Unfortunately uhhhhhh someone may have accidentally stepped on it so there is a slight footprint mark … i’ll see if i can get that off somehow…)
We also happened to sit behind Leicester Perkz @C9Perkz during that time, despite the fact that we sort of stole her seat initially (i’m so sorry we were just seat hopping😭😭) she was really nice and I gave her the C9 stickers.
Sadly EG also lost this game, although I would say again, they tried their hardest and played their hearts out, they never gave up, they never just rolled over and lost, so I appreciate that and I’m proud of them. I mean, of course, people will probably express disappointment over a 1-5 group stage record. But EG is definitely the underdog here, and I think they had great showings, making close games against the other teams. (Also don’t forget how they did great in play-ins.)
They got Jojo for the post-game interview with Sjokz, I was so excited when I noticed him standing on stage, he was wearing his crocs too lol. It was another “wow, this person is actually REAL” moment. Especially when I heard his voice. (I love his voice.)
Oh, you cutie…
We were real tired so we decided to just leave after this since the last game was JDG vs DK and they both already locked quarterfinals so it’s kinda hard for us to care as NA-only fans. Honestly, I’m still pretty tired, but I had a fun time at my first esports event. It is definitely very overwhelming though. And you should definitely have a friend with you.
Regarding EG: It’s just been an unforgettable year I never could have imagined happening. And I really just hope the boys can still be proud of themselves for the incredible year. I mean, it takes a lot to make it to Worlds in the first place. And not only that, but they also won spring and made it to MSI. (And uh.. I’m mentally preparing myself for what might go down in offseason.. my biggest wish, I think, is for Jojo and Inspired to stay together… sigh. But.. I just wish the best for everyone.)
That’s all, I think… tomorrow should be more chill due to no NA teams (I will root for DRX since I love Deft very much)… and even Sunday might be less emotionally taxing since EG is my most emotionally-invested team, anyway… I mean, I think today was always destined to be the most emotional day, one way or the other.
