BILIBILI GAMING are into the Worlds semifinals. They swept Dplus KIA 3-0 in the quarterfinals on November 5, eliminating a DK side that had come through the Swiss stage without dropping a series.

That record made DK the team on form coming in. They had beaten G2, T1 and MKOI on their way out of Swiss, while BLG needed five series to get through, losing to MKOI and TES before a 2-0 win over HLE secured their spot. None of that carried into the best-of-five. All three games landed between 32 and 34 minutes, and DK did not win any of them.

Objectives tell the story

The objective totals were arguably the starkest part of the series. BLG took 14 of the 15 dragons and all four Baron Nashors, and finished with 28 towers to DK's eight. Whatever DK tried across a varied set of drafts, from Rumble and Qiyana to Kennen and Ryze, they could not get control of the map.

BLG also had a different carry each time. Xun went 12/1/8 on Naafiri in the opener, while Bin finished game three 12/4/5 on Jax. Knight was the constant: he died twice in three games and ended the series with 11 kills and 33 assists across Galio, Orianna and Ahri. Viper was steady too, never dying more than three times in a game.

A rough night for DK's bottom side

On DK's side, the losses were spread around, but Smash's numbers stand out. He died 16 times across the series, seven of them in the deciding game on Aphelios. ShowMaker did his part on Viktor in game three, dealing 33,956 damage, the most of anyone in that game. It wasn't enough against a 25-9 kill count. Game two was the closest of the three at 13 kills to 10, but DK still trailed by six towers and five dragons.

That ends DK's Worlds after a perfect Swiss run, which will seemingly make the exit harder to accept. For BLG, a team that had to grind their way out of Swiss, it is the cleanest result of their tournament so far. They play their semifinal on November 8, against an opponent still to be decided.