Worlds 2024: Gen.G vs FlyQuest, Does FLY Stand a Chance?

The final Quarterfinal matchup of Worlds 2024 is likely to be the most anti-climactic. The LCK’s second seed and top Swiss Stage finisher Gen.G will be taking on the only western team left in the tournament, North America’s very own FlyQuest. As much as everyone would love for this to be a close series, the prognosis is dim for our sprightly underdogs.

A Goliath Named Gen.G

If we were to Gen.G’s recent achievements, they’ve won four of the last five LCK titles, being just one game from the five-peat this past Summer. They also earned a near perfect 34-2 record in the LCK regular season this year.

To top it off, Gen.G are the defending Mid-Season Invitational champions, finally breaking their curse of underperforming in international events. Essentially, Gen.G are the most consistent team in the world, and with there being no huge standouts so far at Worlds 2024, it’s very possible that this is their year to win it all.

In the other corner, we have FlyQuest. The org just won their first ever LCS trophy at the end of the Summer Split and qualified for their second ever Worlds. This was no mean feat to be sure, and making top eight at Worlds 2024 is the icing on the cake. However, FLY is now being thrown into the deep end.

So instead of talking about what FlyQuest can’t do, let’s talk about what they can do.

NA Finally Playing their Game

Every year in interviews before Worlds, we hear the western teams talk about how they can’t expect to go toe to toe with the eastern teams playing a standardized meta.

They say that they need to “play their own game” to have a chance, yet they always end up defaulting back to the standard meta either because of lack of confidence or complacency.

Well, FlyQuest is finally making good on their word. They’ve come into Worlds with a slew of unorthodox picks and compositions for the purpose of throwing the LPL and LCK teams off.

Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau and Kacper “Inspired” Słoma have been leading the charge, picking champs like Urgot and Nunu. This has led to some hilarious moments, most hilariously Hanwha Life’s Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon not knowing what Nunu does and dying after channeling Teleport.

It’s unlikely something that egregious happens here, as Gen.G has had over a week to prepare for the wildcard that is FlyQuest. If FLY’s bag of tricks is especially deep, they could manage to cheese a game off the favorites.

It would be shocking if they ended up with anything more. Gen.G is just too consistent and their floor is too high. Winning the series is likely a bridge too far for our North American representatives, but making the series exciting is the goal here. For Gen.G, this is as easy a first step as they could ask for.