Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
Chinese LPL team Bilibili Gaming BLG completed a stellar lower bracket run to book themselves a slot in the grand final at MSI 2023 London after defeating LCK side T1.
They beat the Korean legends 3-1 today, after stunning T1 in the first two games.
T1 fought back in game four to make it 2-1, but BLG took the final game to win the series.
Game four was an exciting match, with BLG taking the dragon soul and a coinflip baron before Faker and T1 made a decisive winning teamfight. There was a pause following a spilt drink by T1, but then play resumed.
BLG won a teamfight at the Elder Dragon before taking T1’s Nexus.
The result comes after BLG defeated European organisation G2 Esports and Korean team Gen.G earlier in the week at MSI.
T1’s side today consisted of Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi and Keria, while BLG’s roster was Bin, XUN, Yagao, Elk and ON.
The series was full of tense moments, objective battles, steals and close teamfights, and gave the crowd a spectacle as we approach the last match of MSI 2023.
BLG will now face fellow Chinese team JDG in the grand final at MSI 2023 London, which takes place on Sunday May 21st. This is apparently the first ever all-LPL final in an international League of Legends tournament, according to British esports broadcast talent Munchables.
BLG’s coach Tabe said on stage after the win: “I think JDG will fear us. If we win bot lane, we win the game.”
We’ll also be back with coverage of the final tomorrow, including comments from players in the post-final press conference, and quotes from Riot Games executives on the tournament as a whole.
Esports News UK MSI 2023 Coverage Powered by SideQuest Gamers Hub
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
