Rookie slays Team Liquid at LoL Worlds 2019, IG starts 2-0

Invictus Gaming got its revenge on Team Liquid at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship thanks to an outstanding performance by Song “Rookie” Eui-jin. 

Invictus Gaming and Team Liquid previously met at the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational. At the time, Team Liquid knocked IG out of the competition in the semifinals.

That loss kicked off a rocky summer season for Invictus Gaming, but the reigning World Champion seems to be back in strong form for Worlds 2019 and looks to have a shot at defending its title.

Team Liquid and Invictus Gaming meet again

Team Liquid was confident they could take the game from IG given the results of their previous encounter.

Coming into the event, there were many questions around IG. The team had a shaky summer season and didn’t look especially strong in its journey through the LPL regional gauntlet. Rookie and Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning were heavily criticized due to their poor performances and were considered the weak links of the team. To everyone’s surprise, it was Rookie who came through big for IG against Team Liquid.

The North American champion did a good job in the early game. Jake “Xmithie” Puchero spent a lot of time around the bottom lane, trying to get Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng ahead. Meanwhile, the solo laners absorbed pressure from Rookie and Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok.

Team Liquid, true to their style, amassed a gold advantage through power-farming and playing smart. As the game advanced, IG started to get comfortable and showed a willingness to fight. Team Liquid had the upper hand, but a team fight around baron completely changed the course of the game.

IG secured the baron and Team Liquid walked up to try and stop the recalls. TheShy lowered Liquid’s health with Vladimir and Rookie shot his Shockwave to catch Xmithie and Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in. That was the opening that IG needed to jump in and initiate on the rest of the team. 

The fight left four members of Team Liquid dead and put IG in position to take the win. With the bottom lane already pushed deep into Liquid territory, IG set up to take the Nexus. Team Liquid wasn’t able to come back online and respond in time, which allowed IG to seal the victory.

Now 2-0 in the group, IG stands in first place. Team Liquid fell to second at 1-1. Group D will play again on October 14.