LEC Champions G2 Esports have been eliminated from the Esports World Cup (EWC) following a loss to the LCK’s bottom seeds DPlus Kia.
G2 defeated Brazil’s FURIA in their first match, but then failed to win a single game in their qualifiers against AG.AL and DPlus Kia.
It continues a poor turn of form since G2’s surpirse win over T1, having then lost 3-0 to LYON to be eliminated from MSI earlier this month.
Ahead of EWC, G2 surprisingly dropped head coach Dylan Falco and promoted Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković, but he wasn’t able to turn the team’s fortunes around.
DPlus Kia’s Players Perform Under Difficult Circumstances
DPlus Kia secured their place in the EWC LoL top eight and guaranteed themselves at least $90k in prize money.
This could be crucial because DPlus Kia is being put up for sale and its players’ wages have not been paid for over a month.
Though there’s a long way to go, considering the team’s wages are reported to be around 3 billion KRW ($2 million) per year.
And Polymarket users only give DPlus Kia a 1% chance of winning the EWC LoL tournament.
Nonetheless, the team performed excellently versus G2, dominating the first game and then showing great resilience in the second.
After G2 secured Baron, it looked like the cagey Game 2 was going to the EMEA champions.
However, some poor positioning by Steven ‘Hans Sama’ Liv allowed Oh ‘Career’ Hyeong-seok to find a massive engage around Dragon, which allowed his team to find an ace.
DPlus charged to G2’s base but couldn’t end. Upon respawn, G2 then teleported in and forced another fight, only to get aced again and lose the game.
DPlus KIA will now face LPL champions Bilibili Gaming in the quarter-finals.
Who do you think will win the Esports World Cup? Let us know your predictions on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, another LEC team in Movistar KOI were also eliminated from EWC following a surpirse loss to GAM. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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