This post contains spoilers for JDG vs T1 worlds Semi finals 2023.

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!I see a lot of JDG players getting flak for losing to t1, some of which is earned, and I rightfully see a lot of T1 players getting praised for winning so decisively, all of which was earned. !<

!Oner absolutely made up for his weak performance in the LCK, and is proving that he is a world class player, some of the best engage instincts I have seen on a JG in a while. Zeus has manhandled two of the best tops in LPL with insane ease, turning 369, who’s entire career is built off being an unerodable rock, into a stone dropped into water. Gumayushi had some of the cleanest performances of ADCs I’ve personally ever seen, on picks that to be honest should not have worked. Jhin was not a good pick, and he made it work. Keria completely upended the entire meta, turning picks like Alistar that were considered S tier FPs into a zero presence champ. !<

!And I think Fakers resurgence does not need any comment, it speaks for itself. !<

!On the other hand, Kanavi was definitely a brother this series. The only time that 369 actually performed well was when he dropped the ego and went tank, K9 failed to make as big an impact as he should have, and his inability to play the Azir side of the Ori Azir match up was a big draft difference. Missing… !<

!I’m going to be honest, I think Missing played great with the champs he had. !<

!But the person I want to talk about, is Ruler. Who for some reason I do not understand has gone borderline uncommented on.!<

!To cut to the chase, I think Ruler outright lost JDG the series, and not even in an understandable way. !<

!https://youtu.be/wpd90LUZPUE?t=13935 !<

!This play has been rightfully attributed to Faker as an insane game read, finding an almost impossible angle. But the only reason why this angle is possible is because Ruler has paid zero attention to what is happening on screen. !<

!Lets set the scene. Your Taliyah has just used her E to pre-emptively prevent an engage from rell, and thrown her W out. She is practically for the next 10 seconds, out of CDs. Your Renekton is on the botside of the map, pushing for the tier two without any contest. Your Ashe’s arrow was used recently, and she is walking into the JG to pressure from the side. You do not know where the enemy Aatrox is, and you see the enemy Azir coming up from bot JG, while the only effective peel you have is a Wukong Ult. !<

!You then finally see the Aatrox open on Taliyah, and now your only peel is walking towards Aatrox to very likely, use that peel. !<

!So what do you do? Do you A, play safe, walk back and open on Aatrox to stay near your peel? B, walk down to your Ashe to mark the Azir that’s on vision? Or C, walk down the lane charging Q, away from any other member of your team, and miss your skillshot. !<

!Ruler, obviously, picks C. Leaving him completely open with no peel to Fakers Azir, he then loses the flash game, the mind game and the game. Now everyone has some int plays sometimes, the problem, is this is a clear red side win for JDG. They have baron, they have a ton of standing gold on the map, even just pushing down the outers is probably going end up being a 6k gold baron. They have good options into T1’s team, and a winning situation on elder in 5 minutes even if they can’t close on this baron. !<

!If they win here, they are 2-1, up a redside game, meaning that they have two blueside games to close out the series, and while T1 played extremely well, asking any team to beat a relatively competitive team on blueside twice in a row, is a big ask. !<

!But no one seems to be talking about this, at least from what I’ve seen. No one seems to be talking about the fact that Ruler had a free game 1 where he was basically playing an enemy team who forgot to draft an ADC, and he couldn’t make an impact. Worse he was actively baiting his team into worse positions, Kanavi taking that bard portal under tower was bad yes, but people forget that Ruler did it first, and arguably in a worse way game 1 (https://youtu.be/wpd90LUZPUE?t=7100). No one seems to be talking about the fact that Missing’s Senna was way more useful than Ruler on what was meant to be his strongest pick in this meta, often out autoing the Kalista despite her animation lock ups on R. No one is talking about the fact that as insane as Guma played the 2v1 in game 4, it was Ruler who choked it as the 3-0 Zeri, missing all those Q’s. Or the fact that he let himself get hit by a bard ult, as an ulted Zeri with Ghost active, and flash up on the first Ocean drag fight of game 4 (https://youtu.be/wpd90LUZPUE?t=16542) running out his Ult, giving time for Oner’s CD’s to come back up, and losing him potentially three kills, turning the entire fight into a complete wash for JDG. !<

!I’m going to be honest, I’m a pretty certified Ruler hater, I thought he was a bad pick up at the start of the year. I thought he didn’t really do anything that Hope wasn’t already doing in LPL, and I thought that most of his success came from the fact that Missing and 369 are so insanely good at making space for carriers. They made Hope look good vs 2022 JKL, and 2022 summer playoffs JKL was almost unquestionably the best ADC in the world, and Hope is at best a mid table LPL ADC, but that’s to talk about on another day. !<

!But so many people, and analysists I respect kept telling me, Ruler is the best player ITW. Ruler is the cornerstone of JDG, and I just did not see it. I thought that I was not good enough to see it or something. !<

!And here at the end of the year, I think that people just bought into the hype of Ruler, and when the chips were down, Ruler did not have anything to back that hype up. I think all the foibles of Ruler, that everyone seemed to ignore as insignificant was the ultimate downfall of JDG.!<

!But maybe I’m wrong, and if someone could figure out how to make a peabrain like me see what everyone else saw, I’d appreciate it.!<