It’s a fight to remain alive in the tournament.

The League of Legends teams G2 Esports and PSG Talon played in the Lower Brackets Round 1 of the MSI 2024 Bracket Stage. There is no second chance after this, as only the winner continues competing in the Mid-Season Invitational. In our post, you’ll find the stream, Champions in each game, a post-match interview with the winners, and a detailed recap.

MSI 2024 G2 vs PSG: Live Score

Like all other matches of the Bracket Stage, we had Bo5 here. Three victorious games were needed for a team to close the series successfully. 

Final Score
G2 0:0 PSG
Game 1G2 Esports
Game 2G2 Esports
Game 3G2 Esports
Game 4-
Game 5-

G2 Esports vs PSG Talon: Stream

G2 and PSG had their LB match on May 12. Enjoy the full stream here:

Players and their picks

Let’s check out the list of players in both, their LoL positions, and the Champions they picked up in the LoL MSI 2024 match GEN vs TES.

G2 Esports

G2 Esports
Position
Champions
Sergen "BrokenBlade" ÇelikTopZac (Game 1)
Twisted Fate (Game 2)
Vayne (Game 3)
Martin "Yike" SundelinJungleJarvan IV (Game 1)
Jarvan IV (Game 2)
Jax (Game 3)
Rasmus "Caps" WintherMidTristana (Game 1)
LeBlanc (Game 2)
Orianna (Game 3)
Steven "Hans Sama" LivBotKalista (Game 1)
Kalista (Game 2)
Varus (Game 3)
Mihael "Mikyx" MehleSupportPoppy (Game 1)
Poppy (Game 2)
Poppy (Game 3)

PSG Talon

PSG Talon
Position
Champions
Huang "Azhi" Shang-chihTopK'Sante (Game 1)
Jax (Game 2)
K'Sante (Game 3)
Yu "JunJia" Chun-chiaJungleVi (Game 1)
Vi (Game 2)
Xin Zhao (Game 3)
Huang "Maple" Yi-tangMidTaliyah (Game 1)
Taliyah (Game 2)
Aurelion Sol (Game 3)
Lu "Betty" Yu-hungBotVarus (Game 1)
Varus (Game 2)
Kalista (Game 3)
Lin "Woody" Hung-yuSupportNautilus (Game 1)
Nautilus (Game 2)
Rumble (Game 3)

Match recap

One team obviously dominated here. G2 Esports entered this match as favorites, and it feels like fans’ expectations boosted their abilities. PSG Talon surprised the international League of Legends community with their strong fight against BGL. Still, the miracle did not happen for the PCS team this time. Check out the details of this match condensed in our recap.

Game 1

The match started with a pretty slow game — at least in its beginning. There were no lane swaps, and both teams played rather cautiously. PSG got two nice kills and a dragon, while G2 had a small gold advantage and some minor objectives in their pockets. The even fight continued till the first team battle, where G2 made the team score equal. The response of PSG was devastating for G2; it was a full Ace and a slain dragon. It looked like G2 could recover from this — they eliminated Azhi with his K'Sante and started Baron with a player advantage. Still, PSG won that moment and stole Baron.

Having this boost did not save PSG from a soon-coming disaster. They stepped too deep Into the opponent’s jungle and were eliminated. With this clean Ace, G2 got a gold and kill advantage and took Cloud Drake. With a slight delay, the European team won two team fights and destroyed the Nexus without even taking Baron.

Game 2

The start of this game wasn’t slow at all. In an early jungly fight, PSG was too confident and lost four players. G2’s pressure continued after that, with many fights (and trades) initiated and with a lot of rotation across the map. This approach turned out to be successful in many situations, rather small- and mid-level fights. G2 had a 9-kill and 6k-gold advantage after just 15 minutes. And that grew to 13 kills and 12k gold at the 18th minute.

G2 Esports did not make the mistake of underestimating their opponents and being reckless in their aggression. They acted thoroughly, and only at a proper moment advanced to PSG’s base to win the game. It happened in the 21st minute.

Game 3

G2 got early kills in game 3 as well, including a 1v2 fight win by Caps. PSG Talon answered decently to this — they managed to keep a good presence on the lanes and prevented too many kills in mass fights. This strategy worked relatively well for a while, but then the kill deficit for PSG grew bigger, even if they managed to keep the gold pace.

That fell apart at around the 20th minute when PSG pushed too far in a team fight and lost three players — with a totally unnecessary death of Maple. The stream of kills continued for G2, and it felt like PSG could do nothing at this point. G2 secured Baron and used the buff to destroy two Inhibitors, took Hextech Drake, and… simply won the match.

PSG looked really good at this international LoL esports tournament. We at esports.gg are looking forward to their play at the League of Legends World Champion 2024.

G2 remains in the tournament, and their win certainly strengthens the dreams and hopes of the EU crowd. 

Post-Match interview

After this victory, BrokenBlade and Caps answered some interesting questions. First, the G2 players explained their mood before the match while some people expected them to be overconfident in the match vs PSG.

“[Our] approach was a little bit different; there was not so much tension going into this match. We could see in the first game we were a little sloppy in the beginning, and then we ramped up in game 4, very-very clean in my opinion. I’m happy we didn’t take them lightly.”

BrokenBlade

While reflecting on their two games in the LoL MSI 2024 Bracket stage, Caps talked about his personal performance.

“The T1 series [had] some good moments, some bad moments. They were doing good plays as well, especially in the last two games; I dropped the ball. That’s why I picked Orianna today, so I could pick up the ball again. I think it went a lot better this time.”

Caps

As a less-experienced player, Yike showed some disappointment after their match vs T1. It’s interesting to know how the rest of the team helps the guy refocus and keep competing.

“It definitely feels bad to lose a series like that. A lot of fans were also very disappointed because the closer it is to being winnable the more frustrating it feels to lose. We had a good meeting afterward to make sure everyone was not taking things too hard. People say negative things because we’ve proved that we can win games against T1, and I definitely think we can win against any team in this tournament. We just need to play our best selves.”

Caps

In a few days, G2 plays against Top Esports, which can be a pretty tough matchup

“I would like to say that we match up pretty well against them. So far, we’ve shown a lot of good performances. Top Esports did almost a full reverse sweep against Gen.G, so they are gonna be a tough opponent. But now we have a couple more days to recover and practice. I feel we’re gonna have good odds. I’m pretty excited to play against 369. The last time I played against him it wasn’t too great.”

BrokenBlade

G2 Esports looks pretty strong so far at the MSI 2024. What helps them to play this well internationally?

“I can feel that this year my lane phase improved quite a lot. I’ve put a lot of effort into that. I still do, every day. I think it’s the main reason why playing against these guys feels way easier than in previous years. Me and my team, I feel like this year we elevated the macro game so much more than we did last year. The games don’t feel very random anymore. It feels like we know what’s going on. We are much closer to winning than last year. We are very confident, very excited. I go with this mindset into a game and good things happen.”

BrokenBlade

G2 and PSG: Path to the LB Round 1

G2 Esports is the best European LoL team. These players have been dominating the EMEA region for quite a while. G2 won LEC Spring 2024 and qualified directly to the Bracket Stage of the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2024.

The Upper Brackets Quarter-Final did not go well for G2 — which is pretty understandable. In the first game, G2 Esports faced the LoL World Champions 2023, T1. The Korean team won 3:0, and G2 fell into the lower brackets, with PSG as their first opponent.

PSG Talon is a team from Hong Kong, and it qualified from Pacific, one of the Minor League of Legends regions. PSG won the PCS Spring Playoffs 2024 and qualified for the Play-In Stage.

Their path in the MSI is full of ups and downs. First, PSG Talon lost to FlyQuest. But then, when not many people believed in them, the players got an impressive victory over Estral Esports — and FlyQuest, eliminating the North Americans from the tournament.

In the LoL MSI 2024 Bracket Stage, PSG Talon played against Bilibili Gaming from China. It was a surprisingly close match, and only in game 5, BLG sent PSG to the lower brackets.

Only one team survives this match — to face their next LoL MSI 2024 opponent, which is Top Esports, who lost to Gen.G in the Upper Brackets Semi-Final. Stick around on esports.gg for everything exciting from the Mid-Season Invitational and League of Legends in general.