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Worlds 2023 Swiss Stage is coming to a close in Round 5, bringing us into playoffs next week. The final matchups have been drawn, and there are no good news for LCK and EU fans here.  

Round 4 Results

  Round 4 of Swiss Stage was exclusively BO3s. Elimination and qualification matches to decide who goes home and who moves onto Top 8.  

Image via Riot Games

After two days of "by the books" results, T1 and NRG saved all the surprises for the final day of Round 4. LNG and KT had the best series of this round, a cutthroat three game affair between two teams that have a shot at taking the Summoner's Cup home. Fnatic eliminated a demoralized Cloud9 while Dplus Kia and WBG dismantled their respective opposition. NRG shocked the World with the biggest upset of the tournament so far, sweeping G2 Esports in two incredibly dominant games and keeping the American Dream alive at Worlds 2023. T1 fought back their MSI demons and dispatched of BLG in two impressive showings, giving new-found hope to the LoL Park that was seemingly completely full of T1 fans.  

Worlds 2023 Round 5 Swiss Stage Draw

  The fifth and final draw of the first ever Swiss Stage at Worlds is done, and the referee has done his best Thanos-snap to the remaining LCK seeds.  

Image via Riot Games

KT will have to face DK yet again in a series that guarantees that Korea will not have all four seeds in playoffs. G2's slip-up against NRG proved costly, as they face LPL's #2 in a battle for their lives. FNC will have to show a lot more than they did against C9 to take down Weibo Gaming. LPL has a chance to get all four seeds into playoffs, which would mean that LEC would not take a single team into Top 8. 2023 would be the first Worlds tournament since 2014 with no EU teams in Playoffs.  

Knockout Stage Draw

  The Knockout-Stage draw will be done after tomorrow's games. The only draw rules are the following:  

Image via Riot Games

This means that we will have GEN and JDG on opposite sides of the bracket, but we might have another deluge of civil wars. The winner of KT/DK can be drawn into GEN, BLG and WBG can be drawn into JDG. Hopefully that doesn't happen, but the amount of crucial moments in this tournament that are decided by pure chance is worrying.

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Featured image courtesy of Riot Games. We will be following Worlds 2023 closely. Keep an eye on our LoL directory for more content like this!