VCS representatives winless in 7 games played in the Rumble stage.
After seven games played, Saigon Buffalo becomes the first team to be eliminated from MSI 2022 Knockout Stage contention. The VCS representatives were yet to pick up a win in the Rumble stage after day 3. They faced RNG in a must-win rematch today and failed to secure the victory after a close game. Their failure leaves them with 7 losses and no chances of advancing to the MSI 2022 semi-finals.
Despite their Rumble stage exit, Saigon Buffalo reminded everyone of what the VCS are capable of. After two years of international tournaments with no VCS teams in attendance, they still managed to qualify for the Rumble stage. Moreover, the fact that Saigon Buffalo is actually the VCS's second seed also makes their run remarkable and shows the deep pool of talent from the region.
What went wrong for Saigon Buffalo in the MSI 2022 Rumble stage
Saigon finished the group stage with just two losses against T1, building solid foundations to challenge for the fourth spot in the Rumble stage. However, things didn't go as planned as they started with losses against Evil Geniuses and PSG Talon.
While they were very good at team fights, Saigon struggled to dominate their lanes and get advantages. So, even though the team fight meta would have worked in their favour, they were often too far behind to make it work. Moreover, they got outplayed in mid lane severally and could not provide more protection for Bùi "Froggy" Văn Minh. They relied heavily on the strength of their bot lane and the damage from Nguyễn "Shogun" Văn Huy to get ahead.
The game against RNG showed how good the team could be when they were all in sync.
They outplayed RNG in team fights and looked set to win the game but faltered after an overextension in RNG's jungle. Regardless of their rumble stage display, Saigon had some of the most exciting games at MSI 2022. They were also the first team to repeatedly catch T1's bot lane unawares and kill off Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong.
While they're out of Knockout stage contention, Saigon Buffalo still have three more games to play at MSI 2022 and can play spoiler to other teams still in the race.
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