BLG's Rollercoaster Ride Against PSG.T in S14 Worlds

The S14 World Championship matchup between China’s BLG and Taiwan’s PSG.T was a series filled with twists, turns, and no shortage of heart-pounding moments for fans. In the end, BLG emerged victorious with a 2-0 scoreline, but the path to closing out the series was anything but straightforward for the LPL first seed.

Game 1 started disastrously for BLG, with jungler ON getting outclassed early and often by his counterpart Kaiwing. ON’s ill-advised invades and overaggression put BLG in a significant gold and objective deficit by the mid game. It took heroic efforts from BLG’s solo laners Bin and Elk to drag the game back from the brink, with Elk earning MVP honors for his clutch plays on the Caitlyn.

But even as BLG pulled off the comeback, glaring issues in their gameplay were apparent. Their early game woes, stemming largely from ON’s unforced errors and the team’s lack of synergy, will be ruthlessly punished by stronger teams deeper in the tournament. Closing out a massive lead against PSG should not have been this difficult for a squad of BLG’s caliber.

If Game 1 was worrying, Game 2 was downright alarming for stretches. Once again, ON was a liability, mindlessly diving into certain death and gifting over kills. BLG’s drafting was also called into question, as they inexplicably let through power pick Mordekaiser and opted into an AP heavy composition with questionable scaling.

To their credit, BLG’s individual talent and tenacity shone through when it mattered most. Bin, in particular, took over teamfights in the late game with his Jax, rendering PSG’s frontline useless with perfectly timed stuns and split-pushing his way to victory. Support Milk also deserves recognition for his crucial bindings on Morgana to set up pick after pick.

Ultimately, BLG have to be relieved to survive the scare against PSG. But it’s clear this version of the team is a far cry from the utterly dominant squad that steamrolled through the LPL playoffs. The individual brilliance of players like Bin and Elk can only take them so far against the world’s elite.

For BLG to make a deep run, they’ll need a more stable early game, improved drafting, and most importantly, a solution to their ON problem in the jungle. The rest of the tournament won’t be as forgiving of BLG’s flaws and inconsistencies. They’ll have to level up quickly if they want to keep their World Championship dreams alive.