Worlds Semifinals: BLG vs. WBG

Worlds 2023 Semifinals Day 1: Bilibili Gaming vs. Weibo Gaming

The League of Legends Worlds 2023 Semifinals have begun! As we draw nearer to the Grand Final, tensions are rising. Today, Bilibili Gaming, the second seed from the LPL, and Weibo Gaming, the fourth seed from the same region, will battle it out for a place on the biggest stage in the gaming world. Today’s match isn’t just about the popularity boost or the bragging rights; it’s about unlocking the gate to the final boss!

BLG has been regarded as one of the strongest teams in the world over the last few years, but they have consistently failed to win any big trophies so far, despite getting first place in the 2022 Demacia Cup and second place in both the LPL and the MSI for 2023. BLG’s roster includes Bin, XUN, Yagao, Elk, and ON. Bin is regarded as one of, if not the best, top-laners in League of Legends competitive history.

On the opposite corner is WBG, formerly known as Suning, who you might remember for taking second place against Damwon in Worlds 2020. Despite starting out small this year, they made it against Top Esports and Edward Gaming under the leadership of TheShy, together with the veterans Weiwei, Xiaohu, Light, and Crisp.

The fans have spoken, and the Pick'em gave BLG the overwhelming majority of votes, almost declaring them the sure winners. However, WBG started out the first match with a few intense plays in the top-lane, and TheShy showed that maybe Bin is not the best top-laner in Worlds 2023. The early advantage led to WBG snowballing heavily, but BLG managed to stay behind. Soon enough, however, a safe Baron buff gave WBG the boost they needed to get a super-aggressive engage and steam into BLG’s base. Weibo Gaming took the first win, and, to everyone’s surprise, it was a very one-sided match.

Game 2 focused once again on the stars of both teams. Bin took out TheShy early on, but WBG knew exactly what to do and quickly three-man ganked him to reverse the advantage. It seemed like WBG could take the lead again, but sometimes all it takes is one bad call. WBG overextended in the bot lane, and BLG took them out and snowballed off the play, gathering objectives and farming as much as they could. Soon enough, they were ready to fight and started taking picks from the scattered WBG. The match was extremely close, but BLG strategically poked WBG before every objective fight using Ashe and Varus’ arrows. Bilibili managed to get some good plays and come out on top, but Weibo always got at least a couple of kills every time. Bin finally decided it was enough and, with an incredible tower dive, took out three WBG members and a Nexus turret. Weibo kept on fighting, and even with the Drake soul, BLG were having a very hard time getting past the doors to Weibo’s base. It took 35 minutes, the Elder Dragon stat boost, and a very long siege, but BLG finally got the win.

Game three saw BLG breathe a sigh of relief and renewed hope as they started ahead in terms of objectives. However, WBG managed to counter BLG with some sneaky split pushing, and at 23 minutes, they got the Baron buff, cementing their advantage of 6,000 gold. Weibo Gaming’s unconventionally fast playstyle proved to be too much for BLG, and TheShy was carrying the game as a 5/0/1 Graves. After a disengage from BLG, who thought they were safe, WBG chose to surprise them and kept pressing on, taking a couple more kills and rendering BLG’s base defenseless. 2-1 in favour of Weibo Gaming.

Last chance for Bilibili Gaming. Weibo had TheShy on Quinn and Heimer Support on Crisp’s hands, but a strong start rendered WBG’s strategy moot. We finally got to see the BLG we’re used to, as they punished every single misstep from WBG. At 26 minutes, BLG captured a Baron buff, boosting their snowballing gold lead to an unstoppable level. WBG were helpless to stop BLG as they finally took over and finished the match, tying the series at 2-2. BLG vs. WBG is going to game 5, Silver Scrapes is playing, and the entire LPL is biting their nails!

The last match of the series was nothing short of chaotic, as both teams gave it their all to reach the Grand Finals. Throughout the game, we saw some of the most impressive individual performances from every player on each team, with the gold counter for both BLG and WBG never going above a 1,000-gold difference. There’s something special about the 20-minute mark in League of Legends, and this match exploded right before that mark! From this moment on, team fights became the main event, with every objective being heavily disputed and the gold difference still staying close. The game only started to shift after 30 minutes! As Weibo Gaming stole away the Dragon Soul and three kills from BLG’s side, they wasted no time and simply pushed into the base. In a twist of fate, an incredible do-or-die play from Elk managed to push back WBG, keeping the game alive for BLG. It was time to end the game. Both teams engaged in a front-to-back team fight in the middle lane, taking us back to classic League of Legends, and with Crisp’s impeccable engage, Weibo Gaming took out BLG and shredded through the disbelief and doubt to become the first finalists in League of Legends Worlds 2023.

Our MVP for the BLG vs. WBG Semifinal is Weibo Gaming’s TheShy! Happy birthday to him, and congratulations on an incredible performance!

Stay tuned for the match that people are calling the pre-final, JDG vs. T1!

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