2021 World Championship Team Breakdown

Beyond Gaming
Pacific Championship Series (PCS)
14-4 (2nd in Summer)

In the PCS, Paris Saint Germain is king. They have had what seems like a stranglehold on the region with most other organizations looking up to them. In the Summer finals though we saw Beyond Gaming take the MSI semifinalists to a full 5 game series which most believed was impossible. BG had a tough road through playoffs and you see how when they are tested, their numbers as a team drop. How will they respond to the challenges of the World Championship? That is the question on the minds of PCS fans heading into the Play-In Stage.

TOP: Liang: Liang, like many top tier players from minor regions, have a wide range of aggressive champions that he would use to try and create a skill gap against his opponents. Champion picks like Gwen, Lucian, and Jax were all on the list of those he chose with results that varied. In the summer season Liang had a 4.6 KDA with 47 kills in 14 games. In playoffs that KDA dropped off to a 2.5 KDA.  My question about Liang is how will he respond to players who he cannot skill gap. There is a real chance that Liang could be a real liability for BG. 

JUNGLE: HuSha: I like HuSha a lot and in this lineup, I think his consistency is important. You can expect HuSha to play utility/front line champions that can help control fights and allow his carries unload damage safely. I don’t want HuSha to lose his aggression when he goes up against the likes of Blaber in the round robin stage or Tarzan/Willer in the Bo5 series to get to groups. Beyond Gaming will need him to continue being a leader in game and find opportunities to initiate good fights for the team. 

MID: Maoan: While Maoan’s over numbers went down in playoffs (especially his Ryze performance numbers 10.29 KDA in Summer to 2.15 KDA in Playoffs) I think Maoan refined his play overall. In the Summer Split Maoan played 11 different champions in 19 games with 7 games with champions played only once. I think this approach is really difficult because it is a challenge to build a team identity when champions are drastically changed from game to game. In the Playoffs, Maoan played 6 total champions over 14 games and only two champions played a single time. I hope this is the approach that BG take during this tournament, because having a singular identity can make more difficult matches simpler to gameplan for. 

ADC: Doggo: This is the carry. Doggo, who actually subbed in for PSG at the MSI tournament and was one of the biggest reasons why they advanced as far as they had. Doggo has had a similar impact on BG in the Summer Split and Summer Playoffs. In 19 games for the Summer Split Doggo had 77 kills and 125 assists. He had a dominating split while in lane as well averaging +402 gold differential at 10 minutes and averaged a +127 experience difference in that same time. BG will need Doggo to to play at that high level to find their way through to the Group Stage and I suspect that Doggo could find himself with offers to play on a major region team for the 2022 season. 

SUPPORT: Kino: This is the team tank. Kino had one game out of 33 played in Summer in which he did not play a tank/engage champion. What does this mean? He is at the center of his team’s production. In the playoffs he had a team kill participation of 71% with 111 assists in 14 games. He will have higher death numbers compared to other supports in the tournament based on his playstyle but he could have a huge upside to picking him with bigger assist numbers. 

I believe in Doggo. I think the majority of my faith in this team comes from the impact Doggo had on PSG in their MSI run. If Doggo and the BG jungler (HuSha) cannot control the pace of the game and scale into the late game, BG will struggle. They have an opportunity to make a big splash in a very winnable group, but performance will be very important in terms of whether or not they make it to the Group Stage. 

Cann’s Final Prediction: Play-In Stage Participant