Rogue have been on an eye-catching hot streak to open their run at the Worlds 2022 group stage, convincingly beating DRX and GAM Esports to begin their march towards the quarterfinals. But at Worlds, there’s no heat check quite like challenging an LPL team.
And when Rogue faced off against Top Esports today, they drained a three-pointer from the half-court line, convincingly beating the LPL runners-up and solidifying their place atop Group C.
Rogue got off to an early lead in this game, winning teamfight after teamfight across the entirety of the map.
Their multiple Baron takes (including one just past the 20-minute mark—the fastest of Worlds thus far) and late-game picks eventually applied enough pressure onto Top, allowing the LEC champions to push down mid lane with little to no punishment in response.
Just as G2 was able to hang with JD Gaming through a majority of their matchup earlier today, Rogue hung tough with Top for a good portion of the early-to-mid-game. In stark contrast to their EU counterparts, though, Rogue sealed the deal, defeating Top in 33 minutes.
For Rogue, it was jungler Malrang who was the main factor in Rogue’s success. His spotless 3/0/8 scoreline aside, it was his late-game Dragon’s Rage ultimate on Top’s backline that ultimately secured the victory and perfect round robin for Rogue.
“I was planning to play Maokai jungle, and then my top laner said he wanted it, so I had to lock in Lee Sin and it turned out really well, so good for me,” Malrang said in a post-game interview.
On the other side of the bout, a 1-2 record spells early disaster for Top. The team dropped a game to DRX last night, laying an uphill battle before them when the group stage resumes next weekend. Should GAM Esports upset DRX later today, there would be a three-way tie at 1-2 at the bottom of the group. Regardless of result, though, Rogue is guaranteed to have sole possession of first at the end of the day.
Group C will return to play on Oct. 15 to play out its second round robin games.
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