2023 League of Legends Worlds Quarterfinals Weibo vs. NRG Recap

The Quarterfinals of the 2023 League of Legends Worlds began with NRG facing Weibo Gaming in the first of four matches.

NRG was looking for revenge for their loss during the first round of Swiss to Weibo. They were also looking to carry the banner as the lone western team left at Worlds. Weibo was looking to keep adding to the LPL’s dominance over the tournament and eliminated the LCS summer champion and top seed.

Game one went to Weibo in what seemed to be the closest game, but it was still a 3,000 gold and three-kill deficit for NRG. It was a nearly 40-minute game, the longest of the series, but Weibo was still too much for NRG to handle.

Game two started with a teleport play by Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok which resulted in an early lead for Weibo. Weibo continued to maintain the lead through strong play from “TheShy, who was playing  Aatrox and looking unkillable.

Though NRG did try and get back into the game with a baron, they lost a team fight at the baron pit to only have one champion left with the baron buff. This wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit, as Weibo took game two in a convincing fashion. Wang “Light” Guang-Yu was a big contributor to the win, as his Aphelios went legendary with a 9/1/4 stat line and provided lethal damage during the closing charges onto the NRG base.

Game three started with a pair of early kills and the first dragon to Weibo. Cristian “Palafox” Palafox would then get NRG on the board with a kill off a roam to the bottom lane.

This was then traded back to Weibo, which also took herald. Weibo continued to take objectives throughout the midgame and accumulated a 6,000-gold lead at 20 minutes.

Weibo then snowballed this advantage to 10,000 gold thanks to a dragon soul and baron take 25 minutes into the game.  That was enough to give Weibo the momentum to take the base and close it out in dominating fashion.

Weibo continues their Worlds run with a trip to the semi-finals where they play the winner of Gen.G and Bilibili Gaming. NRG concludes their season with a top eight finish.