JD Gaming swept Rogue 3-0 to qualify for the Worlds 2022 semifinals. Despite the score line, LPL’s first seed had difficulty snowballing and closing things out in game three, that is, until Bai “369” Jia-Hao’s Ornn stepped in.
Rogue switched up their draft, picking a strong Kalista-Soraka bot lane that dominated the opposing Lucian-Nami tandem. Just four minutes in, Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos’s Kalista scored a double kill in the 2v2, and had four kills by mid game, matched by teammate Emil “Larssen” Larsson on LeBlanc who got equally fed.
Even though JDG still maintained a tiny gold lead, it was solely due to the CS difference at jungle and top. Objective wise, Rogue had three dragons to JDG’s one. At the 32-minute mark, both teams stood off against each other in 5v5 down mid, where their fate was determined in nine seconds.
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JD Gaming’s 369 Ornn showed up big for his team in the late game against Rogue
The moment Zeng “Yagao” Qi teleported in on a minion, Wang “Hope” Jie stepped on the pedal, opening the fight with Lucian’s ultimate, The Culling, which brought down Rogue’s duo laners to half health.
369 attempted to chain the damage with Call of the Forge God, but it was negated by Comp’s Stopwatch and Fate’s Call. In response, Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu’s Maokai used his ultimate, which zoned off four members of JDG in the backline.
In that moment, as the roots covered the entirety of mid lane, Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng’s Nami found an opportune Aqua Prison onto Comp. Just as 369’s Ornn was rooted, he followed up on the bubble with Searing Charge, knocking up and stunning three, which was the signal for JDG to go.
Cleaning up the fight, taking down four, they bulldozed down mid lane for the series win, ending Rogue’s journey here at Worlds.
In the post-match stats, LoL Esports revealed that MVP winner 369 had dealt the most damage on his team at 25.2K, even more than Hope’s Lucian, and just 900 less than Larssen’s LeBlanc. He didn’t even buy Sunfire Cape, but rather, Frostfire Gauntlet as his Mythic item, followed by Frozen Heart and Abyssal Mask.
In an interview with ONE Esports during the Group Stage, JDG head coach Yoon “Homme” Sung-young said that reaching the semifinals was his goal, and he has achieved it. This is the furthest that the organization has reached since their quarterfinals elimination at Worlds 2020.
The team will face the winner of T1 versus Royal Never Give Up, who play tomorrow. Watch the 2022 World Championship matches live on Riot Games’ official channels on Twitch and YouTube.
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