Group D—group of death? The final day of the 2021 League of Legends (LoL) World Championship group stage was utter madness, with Gen.G and MAD Lions coming out on top of a four-way tie—the first-ever in Worlds history. They now round out the 16 teams who have advanced to the knockout stage.

Before coming into Week 2, Group D was already looking tumultuous, with all four teams sporting close records. From the first round robin, Gen.G and LNG Esports were tied at 2-1, while MAD Lions and Team Liquid (TL) were both at 1-2. While analysts might have predicted some changes to the table by the end of the second round robin, they certainly could not have expected the mayhem that would ensue.

Gen.G and MAD survive Worlds Group Stage

Worlds' last group stage day started out in an unsurprising way, with Gen.G defeating MAD Lions in a 40-minute bloodbath. While the result was not unexpected, the LCK representatives didn't look as dominant, though they did grab four drakes and 18 kills. Their LEC opponents, however, made the match interesting, putting up 12 kills of their own and keeping the gold close. It was a warning of what was to come, with Europe's last hope grappling for a quarterfinal berth.

The chaos really began when Liquid took down LNG to tie their records at 2-2 in the middle of the table. But LPL's representatives came back with a vengeance the next game, routing Gen.G to again draw even at 3-2 apiece. Xie “icon” Tian-Yu put up a monstrous 7/2/6 performance on Syndra—and against Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong's Azir, no less.

That defeat almost seemed to have broken the Korean team, as Gen.G also fell to TL later in the day. Perhaps following in the footsteps of icon, Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen had a noteworthy showing on Syndra. In contrast, the LCK representatives struggled all around.

Between the two Gen.G losses, however, Liquid also dropped their game against MAD, who punished the LCS squad's positioning errors in the latter stages of the match. With 100% kill participation, Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser executed brilliant engages on Rakan. His bot lane partner, Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság, similarly had an impressive 6/1/7 KDA on Miss Fortune.

MAD take EU to Worlds quarters

With only one regular game remaining in the day, the standings still looked way too close to call. No one was willing to go down without a putting up a strong fight to the very end.

LEC's top seed stood at 2-3, while the LPL squad was at 3-2. If LNG were to beat MAD, they'd top the group, leaving Gen.G and TL—both at 3-3—to battle for second seed. It would've been simple, really. China would have bounced back after dropping so many games during Week 2, while EU would have no representatives in the knockout stage.

But what were the odds of all the games to unfold in that specific way? True to being their region's last hope, MAD pulled out all the stops to thwart LNG and force the four-way tie. Their teamfight comp paid off as Marek “Humanoid” Brázda showcased his mastery on Orianna alongside jungler Javier “Elyoya” Prades Batalla's Poppy.

Riding on that momentum, MAD again fought tooth and nail to defeat their LPL opponents in the do-or-die match. The EU squad crucially held on when LNG was knocking on their door. This gave İrfan Berk “Armut” Tükek's Gnar time to escort minions up until the nexus turrets as his team defended their own base. While China's representatives were retreating back into their jungle on low health, a Trueshot Barrage from Carzzy's Ezreal sealed the last two LNG players' fate.

There, finally, after 41 kills in a grueling 47-minute game, MAD Lions punched their ticket to the quarterfinals—joining NA's Cloud9 as the only Western squads with their Worlds campaigns still alive.

Gen.G grinds out the win

Fellow LCS squad Team Liquid could not catch the same break, however. In the other tiebreaker match, Gen.G went back to winning ways after their scary two losses earlier in the day. Bot lane duo Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk and Kim “Life” Jeong-min both went deathless that game on Miss Fortune and Yuumi, respectively. Ruler's former bot lane partner, Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, and the rest of TL couldn't hold up the fort against the Korean squad.

In the final match of the day—really, the final game this time—to determine seeding, Gen.G had a relatively good showing yet again, going with the same champions for the bot duo. At around 36 minutes into the game, EU's representatives found an ace around the baron pit, keeping the game alive for the time being although minions were already at their nexus turrets. It took another 10 minutes for the game to reach its exhilarating conclusion, with Gen.G securing baron and taking down four MAD players in an elder dragon fight.

Bdd, tired of having lost to Syndra twice earlier on, skillfully wielded the champion. His health bar dropped dangerously low at the Red Buff area as from Viktor's Death Ray and Chaos Storm. But Gen.G's mid laner landed a Dark Sphere in return, deleting his counterpart Humanoid in one move. After recalling then teleporting back in, bdd dished out the damage on the opposing Lucian through Syndra's ult, helping his team secure the drake and marching on for the win.

In the last 8, Gen.G will now be facing Cloud9 in a best-of-five, while MAD on the opposite side of the Worlds bracket will go up against Damwon Gaming. If Week 2 of groups was anything to go by—not to mention how the teams' forms all flip-flopped after just a few days—then LoL fans are certainly in for a thrilling set of matches for the knockout rounds.

The single-elimination knockout stage begins on Friday, October 22, 2021, with Korean giants T1 and Hanhwa Life Esports kicking off the first series. Stay tuned for more of ClutchPoints' ongoing Worlds coverage and our predictions for the brackets.