Another pair of world-class rosters struggle for another chance at an upper-bracket series in MSI 2024.

Hungry for glory, two powerhouse rosters rise up to stake a claim on the winner’s series. G2 Esports’ nail-biter silver scrapes against reigning world champ T1 almost ended in a historic win.

PSG Talon faced similar struggles after the underdogs took the LPL #1 seed through all five games in their series. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. But this MSI marked the first time these underdogs came that close to toppling a titan in LoL esports.

Two of the last regional reps fought for their right to stay in MSI 2024. Here’s everything that happened:

PSG Talon vs G2 Esports MSI 2024 Recap

Game 1

G2’s star player found tons of success with Poppy in the past, so PSG needed to lock him down fast.

A slow early game saw both teams play respectfully while the jungle objectives were evenly split. But the extra defense from Mountain Drake gave Maple enough sustain to take Mikyx out of play. Another kill by Azhi — PSG’s win condition — put the PCS roster in a confident lead.

Two more teamfights went PSG’s way, highlighting Betty’s presence on the rift. So G2 did everything they could to delay Azhi’s respawns and get Baron while PSG was a man down. A Baron that JunJia was able to deny.

PSG Talon began their mid siege, but was split in the enemy jungle. This allowed Hans, Mikyx and BB to take JunJia out of play. A Weaver’s Wall tried to kill their pace, but A Zac and a Tristana had no trouble getting over—a flawless front-t0-back assault. And after a clean ace from Caps, the fight was decided in a stellar display of LEC dominance.

This gave them enough time to get a Baron of their own, and slowly close out the game. G2 turn things around in game one.

Quick Stats:

• Teams: PSG Talon 0 – 1 G2 Esports
• Game Time: 31:24
• Gold: 64.6k – 53.9k
• Kills: (First Blood) 24 – 14
• Turrets: (First Turret) 9 – 3
• Dragons: 2 – 3
• Barons: 1 – 1

Game 2

Twisted Fate top made a lane switch possible early into the series, but PSG traded traditional follow-ups for backline threat.

The LEC team got an early gold injection from Yike’s jungle presence, which let them win a dragon pit exchange 4-1. Five minutes in, and G2 already found their stride. Which was a dangerous thing to play against.

Slowly, Caps and co. found more fights around the map. By 15 minutes, the boys in black already had three times more kills than PSG. And the PCS reps got pushed back into their base as they withstood wave after wave. G2 Esports claims the most dominant win in MSI 2024 so far for game two.

Quick Stats:

• Teams: G2 Esports 2 – 0 PSG Talon
• Game Time: 20:50
• Gold: 48.7k – 39.1k
• Kills: (First Blood) 23 – 4
• Turrets: (First Turret) 10 – 1
• Dragons: 2 – 0
• Barons: 0 – o

Game 3

With PSG on the blue side, they were poised for the strongest botlane match-up so far. But time would tell if they’d have a game-winning economy by the mid-game.

Fast trades by minute three put G2 two kills ahead. It certainly didn’t help that Maple picked Aurelion against Caps’ Orianna, a match-up that ‘Little Faker’ won against his actual namesake a few days prior.

PSG Azhi and Woody slowly shifted the momentum after the laning phase, but HansSama already had all the gold he needed to build Serrated Dirk and speed boots. From there, Maple zoned G2 away from vulnerable teammates while they found better fights around botlane. Which would have impacted G2’s snowball, if Yike hadn’t used Herald to break PSG’s midlane open.

From there, G2 slowly marched into PSG’s base and brought the pressure. After their jungler secured a Hexdrake, they barrelled down toplane to force Azhi and co. to turtle up in their base. One teamfight later, and it was over. G2 Esports secure a scathing win that secured their return to the MSI bracket,

Quick Stats:

• Teams: PSG Talon 0 – 3 G2 Esports
• Game Time: 25:41
• Gold: 40.5k – 52.2k
• Kills:  6 – 23 (First Blood)
• Turrets: (First Turret) 2 – 9
• Dragons: 0 – 3
• Barons: 0 – 1

Another year wiser and ready to face each other again – will it be the same story or will there be revenge? #MSI2024 pic.twitter.com/gTaCpss6hN

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) May 12, 2024

For the latest esports news on international tournaments, follow ESTNN.