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Worlds 2023 Semifinals have now been locked in. The four teams heading back to Busan's Sajik Indoor Gymnasium next weekend are: WBG, BLG, JDG and T1.  

(Almost) complete Chinese dominance

  The LPL joined the Quarter-finals with all four representatives and were one series away from turning Worlds into a single-elimination repeat of the LPL Playoffs.  

Image via LoL 

BLG channeled a portion of their MSI form and once again upset Gen.G, who looked like a shell of what they should've been. Despite their victory, the LPL team has been looking much weaker than they did in their Summer Split. And this weakness might be enough for their future opponents to punish them in the civil-war that's coming in this side of the bracket. WBG convincingly dismantled NRG, the weakest opposition of the entire Worlds Playoffs. BLG and WBG haven't faced each-other in a BO5 since Spring Playoffs, where Weibo were destroyed in a dominant 3-0. As we've said before, though, this isn't the BLG that we saw at MSI, so this should be a very close series. The bottom side of the bracket was, contrary to expectations, the one with the fastest series in Quarterfinals. kt Rolster should've taken JDG to a 5 game series, but despite their failure to close game 4, showed that the Golden Roaders can bleed. Ruler and Knight showed why they're two of the best players in the world to pull that game back, but Missing had a truly impressive series to behold.  

Image via Riot Games

Last, but most definitely not least, we saw T1 dismantle LNG in the most one-sided series of the tournament so far, shocking all LPL fans watching. The final LCK representative might've been slight favorites to take this one, but what they showed us on stage was utter dominance. LNG did choke, especially their crucial mid-jungle duo of Scout and Tarzan, but that shouldn't take any credit away from T1. The Korean representatives returned to former comfort and seem to have cracked a new side of the Worlds 2023 meta.  

Worlds 2023 Semifinals Matchups and Schedule

  The Semifinals matchups and their respectively schedules are as follows:  

Image via Riot Games

WBG and BLG will fight for their tournament lives next Saturday, while JDG and T1 play on Sunday. It is hard to say which of the series is harder to predict, but JDG vs T1 is likely the tournament-deciding BO5. JDG entered this tournament as the true favorites alongside GEN, who are now out of the race. They got through Swiss-stage undefeated and convincingly took down KT. T1 came into Worlds 2023 with much smaller expectations, but with the same roster that made Grand Finals just last year. They haven't lost a single game to an LPL team (they'd 2-0d BLG in Swiss-Stage) and showed a very confident side to their gameplan today. JDG are undoubtedly still the favorites, but T1 have a chance. BLG should be the favorites in their series, but recent form might give WBG enough of a window to pounce. The years of these four rosters are on a knife's edge. Who's heading to Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome, and who's going back home?

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Featured image via Riot Games. If you enjoyed this article, keep an eye on our LoL page. We're covering the tournament closely.