LoL MSI 2024 PSG vs BLG: PSG Talon made gods bleed

The League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2024 bracket stage pits eight of the best teams in the world against each other. Out of the four opening matches, PSG Talon vs Bilibili Gaming was supposed to be the least exciting one. After all, what's fun watching a smackdown by the heavy favorites in BLG?

However, the stomp that everybody was expecting in PSG vs BLG never arrived. The series may have ended in a BLG win, but it was in a way that nobody expected: a 3-2. PSG Talon held until the very end, handing the first loss to an LCK or LPL team in this bracket stage, and reaching Game 5 against Bilibili Gaming.

With their PSG vs BLG match win, Bilibili Gaming advances in the upper bracket of the LoL MSI 2024. Meanwhile, PSG Talon drops to the lower bracket. They both await the results of G2 Esports vs T1, with BLG facing the winner and PSG, the loser.

PSG Talon support Lin "Woody" Yu-En talked about the game after their loss. As the only representative from the PCS, he believes that the five-game series is already a big win for the region. "We didn't expect that it would reach Game 5," Woody said.

As for points of improvement, Woody said that there were communication issues within the team during the early points of the games.

PSG Talon weren't favorites to make it out of the play-in stage, either. They had to defeat FlyQuest to earn their spot.

Bilibili Gaming support Luo "ON" Wen-Jun also shared his thoughts about the close match.

"I feel like the most difficult part was Game 4, specifically the mid to late game team fights," ON said. "[PSG Talon] did a super good job in the lane swap and in team fights."

Talking about the games that they lost, here's what ON had to say: "We made some mistakes here and there. We need to improve our understanding of the lane swap strategy."

Game 1 was quite the convincing win from Bilibili Gaming. PSG Talon initiated plays of their own, but the game was practically decided when they got aced across the map at minute 14. Despite their efforts, however, Elk's Kalista ran them over.

In Game 2, BLG found a huge lead in the early game via some kills. They successfully snowballed this lead until the lane phase concluded. The tables began to turn when the two teams clashed in the jungle. PSG Talon won two massive back-to-back fights and swung the game in their favor. They pressed the attack with this advantage and made BLG bend the knee.

PSG Talon had Game 3 in the bag with their early game plays. All BLG could do was wait for them to make a mistake and punish them severely. Unfortunately for the PCS representatives, that's exactly what happened. BLG crawled their way back from an abysmal early game and swiped Game 3 thanks to "The Golden Left Hand" knight's Taliyah.

BLG's Game 3 win placed them in match point. For the most part of the early game in their fourth faceoff in this series, it was a neck-and-neck fight. The pendulum tipped after a team fight win from PSG granted them a massive lead, the Baron Nashor, and lots of map pressure. BLG wasn't out yet, but PSG's carries proved too slippery for their engage composition.

Game 5 of PSG vs BLG marked the first Silver Scrapes of LoL MSI 2024. For those uninformed, Silver Scrapes is the moniker used by the LoL Esports community to call a Game 5 of the series. This references an old track released in the League of Legends: Warsongs album.

By this point, Game 5 was expected to be close. The notion of this matchup being a one-sided massacre was long gone. Funnily enough, Game 5 looked like what fans initially expected of this series: a beatdown. BLG handed PSG the L in under 24 minutes. The only things that separated BLG from a perfect win this game were two kills and a Rift Herald.

Bilibili Gaming advances in the upper bracket and now awaits the winner of G2 Esports vs T1. Meanwhile, PSG Talon drops to the lower bracket and waits for the loser of G2 vs T1.

That's all for now. However, stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates.