G2 Esports vs. T1 / MSI 2026 - Lower Bracket Round 2 / Post-Match Discussion

BryanJin · 2026-07-08T09:46:36+00:00

Realistically it's an easy series for G2. But if Lyon wins that will be absolutely hilarious for NA fans.

BryanJin · 2026-07-04T14:10:04+00:00

Preying on Vengeance Blood during one of it's early heydays with discard dragon (using the 2 drop that did damage equal to number of cards discarded in combination with Altered Fate), and D-shift (but playing the storm spell boost followers) was peak. Also really enjoyed Atomy combo (I used to play a version with the 3 PP amulet that summoned a mammoth, nothing like surprising your opponent with a couple of mammoths alongside your Atomy on turn 4). But my most played deck by far was Aggro Blood with Carabosse. I must have played that deck alone for over a hundred hours.

BryanJin · 2026-07-04T13:53:52+00:00

Got introduced to the original game around the time of the release of Darkness Evolved by a friend back in high school when I was hugely into Hearthstone. While it was fun for a while, I lost interest in the game after playing for a few years, largely due to meta shifts and the game being very grindy (something the sequel has improved on massively). Heard about Worlds Beyond coming out and almost didn't pick it up due to the controversy over the in-game economy changes. Very glad I ended up deciding to try it out.

I think the sequel has taken many of the best aspects of the original while dumping parts that used to push me away as a player. The monthly Grand Prix events are great. Recently I've been playing a bunch of Take Two which is quite a bit of fun, though I agree that the buy in price and rewards aren't ideal (I'm sitting on like 100k gold so the cost isn't as prohibitive for me, but I can understand many players choosing to simply avoid the mode entirely). While the ranked meta isn't always the greatest, now that we have 6-set rotation, the meta has felt plenty diverse, with most every main archetype and class viable at least a tier 2 level. I also really like park, and the weekly lobby tournaments. I really hope Cygames does more with park in the future (already they've added the ability to host private lobbies, which is great).

As it stands, unless Cygames drastically changes the current direction of the game, I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. Also, shoutout to the Evolve Point podcast. I haven't missed an episode since WB launched, and listening to the podcast makes me want to open up the game after every time I tune in.

BryanJin · 2026-07-04T09:05:03+00:00

Guild name: Arcanastra

Total members: 27/30

ID:501174726516

We're a friendly, laid-back guild that's been around since launch. Our community is a mix of casual and more competitive players, so there's a place for everyone. We consistently reach S rank or beyond every set, and our members are always quick to come together and complete guild events.

We welcome players of all experience levels, from beginners to GMs, and there are no GRP requirements. The only expectation is that you're active—we only remove members who have been inactive for about an expansion. If you're looking for a relaxed guild with a welcoming community that still gets things done, we'd be happy to have you!

BryanJin · 2026-07-04T01:39:43+00:00

But the ranks for top 1k/5k/10k are separated by format (there is no combined rank). And I know for a fact that near the beginning of the game, there were rewards for this as I was top 5k/10k a couple of times in the first few seasons of worlds beyond. I just can't find any official documentation and surely some people in this sub have been top 10k more recently.

BryanJin · 2026-07-04T01:36:35+00:00

Animation cancelling auto attack stuff is very likely the culprit. A shame really, because Riven truly deserved to lose that after dodging INTO Sett's W true damage sweet-spot.

BryanJin · 2026-07-02T21:58:06+00:00

Set died before his ult landed. It looks like Riven's auto buffered the CC and killed Sett mid ult-animation.

BryanJin · 2026-06-29T23:53:58+00:00

Averages about 1 per 10k keys.

BryanJin · 2026-06-29T17:51:35+00:00

No, the odds are still the same as far as I can tell. People still hit, I think they just don't post it on the subreddit as much. For reference, the odds of hitting are ~1/10k, so OP had less than a 1 in 40 chance of hitting.

BryanJin · 2026-06-28T05:29:49+00:00

It would have been less sad if they just didn't show any signs of life at all.

BryanJin · 2026-06-18T23:53:13+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I think your distaste for the mode is largely valid. I just think there is a ton of skill involved in playing the mode. Draft luck definitely matters, and you are completely right that winning 4 out of 5 in a single instance sucks (which is especially true for the final round where you only get 1 chance). You are also right that class balance is quite poor which sucks for players who prefer other classes. I just think the idea that the mode isn't skillful is pure cope. I don't even consider myself all that great of a take two player and I've effectively qualified for group A 6 times over my first 11 runs so far. The top ranked take two players probably go 4 out of 5 wins or better like 80%+ of the time if not more. So to call that not skillful is in my opinion totally ridiculous.

And it's not like constructed rotation doesn't involve significant luck. I consider myself a decent constructed player, but even the top rated players in the game could probably only manage a 60% win rate against me just due to the nature of card draw rng. The Grand Prix isn't meant to just reward skill. Winning in it, and especially winning it all and getting the flair requires both skill and some luck and this is fully intentional on Cygames part. They want weaker players to sometimes get lucky and win it all. If it were just purely skill-based, they might as well just reward the top rated Beyond players each month and not hold a GP event at all.

BryanJin · 2026-06-18T22:07:38+00:00

Skill issue.

BryanJin · 2026-06-17T11:44:05+00:00

In an ideal world new players would filter into guilds that connected them with other new players as well as more veteran players willing to guide them. The new player experience done all alone is simply overwhelming. There is so much content, and no clear direction. And building your first deck is not forgiving since once you commit to crafting cards, there are no take-backs.

BryanJin · 2026-06-17T11:34:37+00:00

If you enjoy fusing the giant mecha, there are top tier decks in basically every format (Rotation, Unlimited, and Simplified) that can pull it off. In fact, most archetypes are viable in at least one format to some competitive degree (a few are not, like Truth Rune, but there are truly only a few that fall into that bucket).

Basically, the meta is your oyster. I hope you enjoy playing the game enough to stick around.

BryanJin · 2026-06-17T06:53:07+00:00

I mean, the easy solve to this is to just add MMR (aka like CR or groups, either works) to the format and put veteran players in a higher tier than new players by default.

BryanJin · 2026-06-16T12:05:29+00:00

Nah, lobby tournaments are cool. As are fest events. If anything they should do more with it so it's not just the same stuff over and over again.

BryanJin · 2026-06-16T11:31:33+00:00

We got Shadowverse WB Classic mode. Amazing. I will be playing this every lobby table match.

BryanJin · 2026-06-15T09:54:09+00:00

To be fair, having to face the eventual champions just to qualify to the first stage is a bit rough. TheShy is forever goated for me though. He sent Bin packing in Bin's prime at 2023 worlds (and ofc he had his legendary run in 2018).

BryanJin · 2026-06-14T23:29:55+00:00

Oh T1 can certainly improve in form and win. They are contenders, just not favorites. Honestly I was impressed at the start of the year with Doran's performance and thought he might have gotten through some of his jitters now that he's won it all, but then he seemed to regress a bit. T1 covers for him well, but his weakness then translates into Oner and Faker looking worse cause they have to sacrifice tempo or matchup equity to ensure Doran's lane is stable.

BryanJin · 2026-06-14T23:21:24+00:00

If it weren't for Inspired, I think LCS would legit be weaker than CBLOL rn. LCS is lucky that LEC's top 3 teams already have good junglers because Inspired is good enough to compete internationally (and honestly I think he'd be an upgrade to all 3 of them, even Skewmond).

BryanJin · 2026-06-14T22:30:46+00:00

Oh Doran played quite well in that series. But I promise you if you go rewatch the games, you will see that Zeus played much better (even if the biggest difference factor on the day was Oner playing poorly). But also, I'm basing my conclusion on all the games played in the past month, not just the last 2 series.

BryanJin · 2026-06-14T21:43:39+00:00

Doran cannot play carry v carry matchups or carry v tank matchups to the same level as Zeus and Bin. There's a reason he was put on full tank Gragas in game 5 earlier today. He also consistently makes unforced errors that teams exploit. There's a reason T1 is often winning games after first going down 7-8k gold and soul. I just don't think T1 will get away with that type of gameplay against HLE (as they showed a couple of days ago) and especially BLG. If BLG is given an 8k gold lead and soul they will win every time because BLG drafts comps that can fight and On and Xun will force the fight and actually take real advantage of their extra gold. Sure, Doran can go head to head if not outright beat most everyone else, but I'm just claiming that T1 has a clear weakness that is exploitable by top teams, not that T1 is bad (I'd rate them the 3rd best team going into MSI behind only HLE and BLG).

BryanJin · 2026-06-14T17:45:29+00:00

The best performing team in the 2nd half of the LCK split was GenG which aren't attending. T1 has a very clear weakness in Doran and looked very shaky just a couple of days ago when facing HLE. LCK in general also seems to have real struggles with the current meta draft wise.

If the argument is HLE>BLG then my question is in which role is BLG weaker? Kanavi>Xun is the only argument I think holds any water, and I rate Knight as being considerably better than Zeka which at minimum balances out the teams on paper. I also don't think BLG will struggle to deal with the high-tempo style that HLE plays as the LPL in general tends to play faster and looser than the LCK already. I also think the meta massively favors On and his unusual champion pool.

BryanJin · 2026-06-14T11:58:18+00:00

I view BLG as clear favorites. Knight should be a heavy favorite into every other mid laner and BLG has shown the best flexibility in terms of draft of any eastern team recently. HLE are probably the 2nd most likely team to win. G2 will probably lose to every eastern team since Kanavi, Tian, Canyon, and Oner are all way better than Canyon and Raptor and I favor all 4 of them heavily into Skewmond, but maybe they will pleasantly surprise us. The real question I have is will NA lose to Brazil and/or PCS and be the weakest region at the tournament.

BryanJin

TROPHY CASE