LoL Worlds 2024: TES and HLE head to Paris

Round 4 of the Worlds 2024 Swiss stage kicked off this Thursday and the road to playoffs hasn't been so clear cut. Top Esports (TES) and Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) have joined Gen.G and LNG in the quarterfinals, leaving 8 teams fighting for 4 remaining playoff spots. Dplus KIA (DK) and FlyQuest (FLY) are now 2-2, with one final best-of-3 on Sunday to determine whether they fly to Paris or fly back home.

LPL secures their second team in the quarterfinals as TES swiftly defeat DK in 2-0 fashion. This marks only the second time in 4 years that the team has been able to make it out of the main event, most notably due to their shocking elimination from Worlds 2022 thanks to GAM Esports.

DK could not stop the TES train. In Game 1, DK attempt to defend their bot lane tower at 14:00 which snowballs into 5v5 loss that snowballs the game out of control before Kim "Aiming" Ha-ram could take over the game on Smolder. Game 2 looked to be a much better start for DK as they prioritized Yone in draft for Heo "ShowMaker" Su. Despite a much better early game for DK, TES steamrolled them in the late-game teamfights with Bai "369" Jia-Hao displaying a masterclass on K'Sante.

The two carries of Top Esports, Lin "Creme" Jian and Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo, were especially dominant throughout the series, quick to capitalize on DK's macro errors and worse teamfighting. The LCK's third seed after their second consecutive loss has only one life remaining as they look to continue their run for the Summoner's Cup.

The clash between the first seeds from the LCK and LCS began in champ select. At first, it looked like HLE were given their dream composition with Yone, Sejuani, Rell, and Kai'sa. FlyQuest, however, put their creativity on full display by opting into a top side consisting of Urgot, Amumu, and Cassiopeia. Even though the early stages of Game 1 favored HLE, the Korean team showed cracks as they repeated similar mistakes from their previous match against G2 Esports. Despite the numerous overextensions and thrown leads, HLE find and execute a decisive teamfight off a pick on Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau, stealing back a victory that looked to belong to FlyQuest.

Despite meta junglers such as Maokai remaining open, Kacper "Inspired" Słoma decided it was time to pay homage to EUW solo queue as he pulls out a surprise Nunu & Willump pick. Last seen in 2017, Nunu proved to be the wildcard FlyQuest needed to find their rhythm in the series. Bwipo's classic Olaf was deemed a threat by HLE and Han "Peanut" Wang-ho was determined to keep the viking down. Come late game, Bwipo could be seen diving into 5 HLE members and walking away with 2 more kills under his belt. The FlyQuest top laner ended Game 2 with the most damage dealt and the first western victory against an LCK #1 seed since G2 at MSI 2022.

Game 3 looked to be a return to normalcy as FlyQuest opt into a more standard draft in the decider game. Despite the momentum, the LCS champion found themselves in trouble after a failed gank attempt thrusted Park "Viper" Do-hyeon on Xayah into the driver's seat for the rest of the game. With the gold difference soon hitting 10k, FLY still managed to find decent angles to teamfight...until Peanut on Skarner had something to say about it. While the West has fallen short once again, FlyQuest deserves massive props for pushing Hanwha Life to the brink and breathing life into western League of Legends.

DK and FLY await the round 5 draw following the conclusion of Saturday's matches featuring Weibo Gaming vs. Fnatic as well as Team Liquid vs. GAM Esports, starting at 2 PM CET.