LoL Worlds 2024 Play-In: MDK vs PSG: The best team of this stage?

One team here is the best in their region. The other regularly struggles to jump higher than the top 3 in their home splits. But these backgrounds should be left behind on the scene of League of Legends World Championship 2024 (LoL Worlds 2024). MAD Lions KOI and PSG Talon need to prove themselves here and now. Their match could continue the initial success or seed shaky doubts in the heads of the players.

Everything about the qualification Play-In match MDK vs PSG is here: from the stream and lists of LoL champions to a brief recap and some info on the teams.

The MDK vs PSG stream is embedded below on this page. The qualification matches happened on Sept. 27.

Two games were needed for each team to proceed from the Play-In to the Swiss Stage of LoL Worlds 2024. The match was of the best-of-three (Bo3) format.

Like in their previous match, PSG looked quite shaky, making mistakes on the Summoner’s Rift and probably even during the draft stage. MDK were somewhat more stable in their play — even if not everything went right for them.

The teams exchanged Games 1 and 2. It felt like both could go in different directions. The team fights were close. Only a little bit of advantage helped MDK and PSG burst with secured objectives or eliminated opponents to eventually destroy the Nexus.

Game 3 was close and risky for MDK, as they took Aurora to the top lane and actively chased PSG players, cutting them from teammates. Successes of MDK were possible because of mistakes made by PSG in terms of positioning and over-aggression. Is this a result of high expectations after their good MSI 2024 run?

MDK won this series, and they are the first team to proceed to the LoL Worlds 2024 Swiss Stage.

PSG fell to the lower brackets. They will play the decider match on Sept. 29.

PSG had a very solid start to Game 1 — nothing too heroic, just thorough work on scaling their champions. MDK ruined that plan with one successful team fight. PSG did not look destroyed. They are an experienced team, and they responded to their opponents pretty successfully in a variety of situations. But it felt that the initial plan fell apart, and PSG didn't properly recover.

That was notable after a good team fight for PSG. They got a couple of kills and started chasing the remnants of PSG. But when Azhi actually caught MDK players, he suddenly was at a disadvantage. PSG over-chased and ended up losing the whole fight.

MDK were careful with unnecessary aggression. They focused on calm scaling. That reached another excellent fight, which put PSG’s Nexus into the ruins. MDK won this game.

This time, PSG did not lose their initial advantage — they only increased it. A lot of that became possible thanks to excellent play by Maple on Ahri. MDK just couldn’t escape tricky traps and contest objectives.

The European team lost the moment when their opponents got overpowered to the level of easily winning team fights. MDK demonstrated good positioning and really great defense near their base. But eventually, they got eliminated in another team fight. PSG made the score even.

Looking back, it feels like PSG made some disastrous mistakes with their picks. LeBlanc of Maple did not work properly against the team composition of MDK. Also, taking Corki against the new champion, Aurora, wasn’t too convincing.

MDK did a great job tracking their opponents down and earning kills. That was crucial in the mid-game to put opponents at a disadvantage, secure objectives, and then continue scaling the champions. 

PSG added some totally unnecessary mistakes in positioning. That cost them quite a few team fights — and at some point, two inhibitors. After a short delay, MAD Lions KOI destroyed the Nexus, won the match, and proceeded to the Swiss Stage.

Not only do these teams have different successes in their home regions, but they also have different experiences in their first LoL Worlds 2024 matches. How strong is their ability to focus their mind on one goal?

MAD Lions KOI had a pretty expected victory against the second Vietnamese team, Vikings Esports. In a way, it wasn’t a complete annihilation, as the VKE players managed to demonstrate their creative bravery in both games. Still, most people will remember only the result, and it’s 2-0 in favor of MDK.

This emotional boost must continue for the European team — especially because the LoL World 2024 happens on home ground. One good win and MAD Lions KOI are in the Swiss Stage with victorious vibes only. G2 and FNC would greet them with open arms. It’s only later on when MDK fight against these opponents in League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) for breaking the top 3 curse.

PSG Talon has been dominating the Pacific Championship Series (PCS). Rare 2nd and 3rd placements can't ruin their reputation — and probably their mood. Finishing Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2024 in the top 8 is also a great achievement.

The opening LoL Worlds 2024 match did not go perfectly smoothly for PSG. They faced PNG, and most people considered the Taiwanese team favorites. Game 1 was such a disaster, but the match returned to the right rails for PSG, and sealing this recovery with a great qualification victory would be certainly wonderful for them.

The LoL Worlds 2024 Swiss Stage starts on Oct. 3. It consists of many short best-of-one (Bo1) matches and a few best-of-five (Bo5) elimination and advancement matches. For all LoL news and updates, stick around on esports.gg!