MSI 2022 Day 2 review: Groups get interesting

Day 2 of the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational featured a few matchups that were meant to set the tone of the event. Depending on how they went, the group stage would either get more exciting or become monotonous heading into the second half of the first stage. Thankfully, the matches delivered and the rest of the group stage should be plenty spicy. Here are the top moments from Day 2 of MSI 2022.

Player of the day: SGB Shogun

Saigon Buffalo entered MSI 2022 with their winning strategy relying on their hyper-aggressive bot laner, Nguyễn “Shogun” Văn Huy. With the most kills in the Vietnam Championship Series and up there for the most deaths among bot laners, too, SGB literally lives and dies by Shogun’s performance.

Shogun showed up big on Day 1, but he really demonstrated his impact on Day 2 when locking Lucian in SGB’s first game against DetonatioN FocusMe. After bullying DFM’s bot lane in the early game, Shogun showcased his hyper-carry capabilities by pushing the go button in a critical skirmish in the mid lane. By picking off DFM’s Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura, Shogun allowed SGB to take baron and then the entire map. He ended the game with a 9/3/6 kill/death/assist stat line and SGB picked up their first win at MSI 2022.

Most memorable moments: The groups get even

After the results of Day 1, many of the wild card hopefuls in Day 2 faced important matchups — especially for Saigon Buffalo and the İstanbul Wildcats. After losing their opening matchups at MSI 2022, both teams had a chance to even the playing field in their respective groups against the teams right ahead of them in the standings. After SGB took down the favored DetonatioN FocusME and IW took down the surprisingly strong RED Canids squad, Group A and Group B now look wide open heading into the final games of the first round robin.

Obviously, both of those groups already have the first seeds virtually locked up. But for the second seed, it’s clearly still anyone’s to take. Even Team AZE is only one game behind the second seed in their group. The rest of the group stage is absolutely must-watch action.

Best quote: LS pokes fun at EG

#LIVEEVIL https://t.co/7LYbpCN16D pic.twitter.com/K3OylokAZr

— LS (@LSXYZ9) May 11, 2022

Cloud9’s previous head coach, Nick “LS” De Cesare, is always up for Twitter banter and analysis. During Evil Geniuses’ Day 2 match against G2 Esports, EG were down bad. But after a massive throw by G2 around the Baron pit, EG found themselves in a winning position.

LS noticed this and tweeted out that, “it’s impossible for EG not to win from this game state.” But just like their motto, EG played the villain role for the NA hopeful as they managed to lose the game anyway. EG really decided to continue to #Liveevil.

Best clip: Leona leaves earth behind

MY PEOPLE NEED ME pic.twitter.com/nWSGnT9c9g

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) May 11, 2022

Although it was a so-so day for NA, Evil Geniuses gave fans everywhere a good laugh. That’s thanks to one of the craziest bugs seen in professional League of Legends.

After a weird interaction between Leona and Nautilus, Leona was knocked up a little higher than she should have been. Even the Leona player, EG’s support player, Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme, took to social media for some added fun.

“I have Ascended,” he said.

However, only time will tell if EG have truly ascended after finishing the day with a 1-1 record.

What’s next at MSI 2022?

Day 3 of MSI 2022 features some must-win games for Team AZE and PSG Talon. Although no team will even be close to officially eliminated with losses on Day 3, wins at this stage in the tournament are critical. Team AZE go up against Saigon Buffalo and PSG Talon play against İstanbul Wildcats. Six more games are on the schedule as the action kicks off live at 4 a.m. ET on Thursday.