LoL Worlds 2024: FLY-GEN, David versus Goliath

The League of Legends Worlds 2024 quarter-finals are drawing to a close, with Weibo Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, and T1 already through to the semi-finals. This Sunday, FlyQuest will meet the Korean titan Gen.G in BO5 to determine the team that will face T1 next week. This will be the first-ever meeting between these two organisations, and FLY's first-ever Worlds quarter-final, as they will need to count on a crazy upset to advance.

Since the start of the year, Gen.G has been one of the favorites to win the prestigious tournament, given the names lined up by the organisation. They confirmed expectations by winning the LCK Spring Split and the MSI to start the year. However, Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon and Co. slipped up in the Summer Split when they were stunned by Hanwha Life in the grand final (2-3), despite a near-perfect split — losing just four games out of 45 played in the regular season and playoffs. Gen.G didn't suffer any setbacks when they arrived at the Worlds, as they were one of two Swiss Stage teams to qualify for the quarter-finals unbeaten, alongside LNG (3-0). They even got revenge on their Summer Split tormentors, HLE, albeit with a lost game (2-1).

On the other hand, FlyQuest were also among the favorites from the start of the year, but certainly not to win the famous end-of-year international tournament. Even in the LCS, FLY quickly faded into the shadow of Team Liquid, who seemed to be the only team in the region capable of doing well internationally. After being beaten by their rivals in the Spring Split final (1-3), FLY didn't even manage to get out of the MSI Play-In, losing flatly to PSG Talon (0-2). On the other hand, although Team Liquid failed to win a series, they did manage to take a game off the giant T1.

But in the Summer, with the arrival of Song ‘Quad’ Su-hyeong to replace a tired Nicolaj ‘Jensen’ Jensen, the cards were reshuffled and it was FlyQuest who took advantage by winning the final against the big favorites TL (3-1). However, there was no guarantee that they would be the ones to carry the last Western hopes of the world championships on their shoulders... But after having been given a bit of a chance in the draw — they themselves make no secret of it in interviews —FlyQuest had to play for their quarter-final qualification, as did Gen.G, through a rematch of their regional final. Once again, Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau and Co. proved to be better than their rivals at the end of the year (2-1).

Kacper "Inspired" Słoma, the team's jungler, remained lucid in an interview with our micro: "If we just play standard, they will roll over us. [...] So, I feel like we need to be patient and try to make one or two good plays as a team during the game, and maybe that way we can win. Other than that, we just need to cook a bit in the draft." While he will have to rise to the challenge of facing his direct rival, the legendary Kim ‘Canyon’ Geon-bu - Gen.G's star recruit this year - the Polish player considers that he will be up against ‘the best jungler in the world’.

He added: "They’re a well-made team that doesn’t make mistakes. They play well with tempo for objectives, and they don’t overstay, so it’s hard to make proactive plays against them. Every time I played against Canyon and tried to make something happen, it instantly backfired, and I couldn’t play the game for 25 minutes while they finished us off really fast".

Clearly, FlyQuest arrive with the biggest underdogs status of these quarter-finals. In reality, nobody expects them to achieve the feat, and all the examples in previous years with a Western team in the quarter-finals have proved that it's futile to expect anything from this stage. Since 2020, not a single LEC or LCS team has managed to take a single game into the quarter-finals. Perhaps their real challenge lies here. Taking a game from the invincible Gen.G would be an achievement in itself, making them bleed would make the whole of the West believe that even the best teams in the East are not untouchable.

While the outcome of this match may seem obvious, FlyQuest's creativity could well catch the Koreans and their conventional game unawares, at least for a game. FlyQuest have already done so against the HLE at the Swiss Stage, thanks in particular to the Nunu & Willump of the creative Inspired. If they can't realistically win the series, they can at least Make Everyone Believe.