The Knockout Stage continued this Friday with a quarterfinal between the LCK and LPL champions: Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) and BiliBili Gaming (BLG). In a thrilling showdown between two title contenders, BLG emerged victorious, eliminating HLE from the tournament. Despite their exit, HLE can hold their heads high, having delivered a strong performance. In light of this intense matchup, Sheep Esports has decided to offer ratings for each player from both teams.

Hanwha Life Esports: 5

HLE fought hard, but HLE has fallen. After their toplaner Doran was heavily outplayed in most of the games, the team will leave with some drafting disappointments. Zeka’s Ahri didn’t work out, and the same goes for Peanut’s Skarner and Nocturne, which put them in tough situations. Lacking synchronization at times due to the complexity of their drafts in games 2 and 3, they still showed a high level of play in games 1 and 4, where Zeka’s Sylas and Peanut’s Poppy were often outstanding. They’ll walk away with some regrets.

Doran: 3

Choi "Doran" Hyeon-joon is logically penalized in our rating because he was too often outmatched by a dominant Bin. He gave away games 2 and 3 against Bin’s Rumble and Gnar, who impressively crushed him. The lead given in game 2 was so massive that none of Doran’s teammates were able to make an impact after the 12th minute, following the fight at the Void Grubs. Despite the ban on Bin’s Jax, the skill gap was too significant, even though Doran managed to be effective on the frontline with his Gnar, which he had to play three times during the series.

Peanut: 6

Han "Peanut" Wang-ho is once again struck by his curse and will not claim a crown this year either. Despite an impressive start to the BO5 on his Poppy, he faced difficulties in the next two games where the gap in the toplane made it harder for him to shine. Nearly invisible on his Skarner in game 2, he was nonetheless mechanically sharp in game 3, consistently finding good picks with well-timed Nocturne ults. He was put back on his Poppy in game 4, where he delivered exceptional crowd control with his W, both in peeling and catching enemy carries in the intense teamfights both teams threw themselves into. He was HLE's most consistent player and deserves the highest rating.

Zeka: 5

We witnessed a real midlaner battle today, but Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo struggled more to make an impact compared to his counterpart overall. Positioned on Ahri in games 2 and 3, he was relatively invisible, as the lack of damage in the early skirmishes was noticeable, consistently giving BLG the advantage by midgame. It was in games 1 and 4, on his two Sylas picks, where he seemed much more capable of disrupting the enemy carries. With great ults to steal from the opposing team, he repeatedly burst down Elk’s Miss Fortune in game 1 and provided incredible sustain in the team fights of game 4 by stealing ultimates from Rakan, Kindred, and Galio.

Viper: 5

Park "Viper" Do-hyeon was unable to showcase his clutch factor today. Playing four different champions in four games, he mainly shone on his Ezreal in game 1, dealing an impressive 35.7k damage as the top damage dealer of the match. Aside from that, he couldn’t make an impact with his Kai'Sa in game 2, as the topside was too far ahead, nor with his Zeri in game 3, where he had a difficult laning phase after losing his flash at level 1. Even though Nocturne and Ahri helped him recover with a gank in the 8th minute, multiple flanks from BLG left him with a 1/5/7 score. The Miss Fortune pick in game 4 almost worked, especially since he consistently found ult angles that melted BLG's frontline, but his reliance on flash made him too vulnerable to do more than that.

Delight: 4

Yoo "Delight" Hwan-joong treated us to some flashy plays once again today, especially in the first two games with his Alistar, where he didn’t hesitate to turn back even in 1v5 situations to give his team a chance to turn any teamfight around. He was slightly more invisible in the next two games with his Rell, but he controlled vision around objectives well enough to prevent Bin’s flanks as much as possible. He also enabled some good pick-offs, like the one on Xun’s Kindred in game 4. Unfortunately, he paid the price for his 10 deaths on Rell across two games, where he had to sacrifice himself a lot to allow his carries to live a few seconds more.

BiliBili Gaming: 7

Starting the series on shaky ground, Bilibili Gaming quickly picked up the pace and secured a swift but hard-fought victory. While the matches were scrappy, the team clearly demonstrated that their meta-read and preparation were much better than their South Korean counterparts. The issues that once plagued the LPL champions are long gone, and now BLG may once again look like serious contenders for Worlds 2024, as the team’s identity seems clearer than ever. In addition to defeating the South Korean champions, they also achieved a notable feat by beating Hanwha Life Esports twice on the red side, something few teams have managed, given the current meta’s emphasis on blue side advantages. Through calculated and decisive actions, Bilibili Gaming repeatedly exploited HLE’s weak spots, notably by targeting Choi "Doran" Hyeon-joon, the South Korean team’s top laner.

Bin: 8

Chen "Bin" Zebin was expected to crush his matchup today… And he did. With Rumble first, in game 2, as he got focused a lot in the game and still managed to turn things around at least two times (by temporizing for his jungler to come and take a kill, and then by tradekilling on a Zeka gank later). Then in game 3, he decided that this series should come to an end and that he didn’t need to play on the blue side to do so… Doran was placed six feet under, or actually 2.5k gold under at 20 min. Then in game 4, Gigabin got to play his Jax, and as always his flanks were devastating, especially since Elk was able to follow up easily with his Kai’Sa.

Xun: 7

Peng "XUN" Lixun came back for his team in the middle of these Worlds, and it was definitely worth it. The jungler is not even scared to play, as we even got to see his famous Kindred for the decisive game. Even though Peanut’s performance was definitely more flashy, XUN still did what he had to do in most of the games to have an impact. The objectives control was also something the Chinese player was aiming for in every game, as he was mainly playing for those in the early stages. With his Wukong and his Kindred, he was also very impactful in teamfights. Wei is unlikely to leave the bench anytime soon…

Knight: 7

Zhuo "knight" Ding won his duel, in a matchup that could’ve been tricky for him. As Zeka is a difficult opponent, especially when it comes to the big stage, knight rose to the challenge and even outclassed him. His Sylas and Yone games, as he stole some of the main champions from Zeka, were completely up to the challenge as he was popping off in teamfights and wasn’t scared to dive very deep, while showcasing his mechanics. For the decisive game on Galio, he was very accurate and played very well around his jungler, as he soon became unkillable and baited HLE for the final battle. The real Zhuo "knight" Ding has definitely landed in Paris.

Elk: 8

Despite some laning struggles, Zhao "Elk" Jia-Hao remained a positive element for Bilibili Gaming throughout the series. While Viper and Delight brought the heat in the early game, Elk excelled as an enabler and stable presence for his team in later fights, becoming the main playmaker of his team with his perfect Arrows on Ashe and delivering absolute cinema in Game 4 on his Kai’Sa. While the scores may not indicate a stellar performance, the Chinese bot laner delivered plays worthy of a professional sniper, often acting as his team’s engager and main playmaker. A silent and deadly killer, the 23-year-old AD Carry retained his composure in the face of adversity.

ON: 7

One of the least regarded players on Bilibili Gaming, Luo "ON" Wen-Jun certainly made himself known to fans today, for better or worse. After an abysmal first game on Rell, where he ended with a score of 0/6/7, the 21-year-old support quickly picked up the pace in the next three games, finding his mark on his signature Rakan. Truth be told, the fact that Hanwha Life Esports opted to give away ON’s Rakan in three consecutive games is a mistake that should be studied by future opponents of Bilibili Gaming. Nonetheless, despite good performances on Rakan, ON still had some cringe-worthy moments, such as his flash engage in Game 4, where he impaled himself onto Hanwha Life Esports' 5-man team, only to be bailed out by the rest of his squad.