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The grand finals of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer will see a rematch of the LPL Spring decider when JD Gaming and Top Esports face off again this Thursday.
After reaching the LPL 2020 Spring grand finals and winning the Mid-Season Cup, Top Esports entered the summer split looking better than ever. On the wings of ADC Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo and mid laner Zhuo “knight” Ding, they went on a tear and ended Week 6 as the only team with a perfect 8-0 record.
While Top Esports slumped a bit in the following two weeks with three wins and three losses, knight and co. bounced back and defeated eStar (2-1) and Team WE (2-1) in the final week to secure first place. While there were some concerns about Top given how unconvincing their results were in the latter stages of the split, those worries turned to dust as soon they returned to action in the playoffs.
Seeded directly into the semi-finals, Top Esports produced what can only be described as a complete annihilation of Suning. They won the series 3-0 with an aggregate gold lead of +26.2k as knight starred with an impressive 10/4/31 (10.3 KDA) record.
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Whereas Top Esports started strong and slowed down a bit in the latter stages of the split, JD Gaming’s journey through LPL 2020 Summer was the polar opposite. Sitting in ninth place with a poor 3-2 record after four weeks of play, they shifted into a higher gear and went on a near-perfect 10-1 run to end the season tied for first place with a 13-3 record and +17 game differential.
Even though JD Gaming had to settle for a runner-up finish due to the head-to-head record, their resurgence made it clear that Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok and his team would take some beating in the playoffs.
Most of JD Gaming’s success since July has come down to the output of jungler Kanavi and ADC Lee “LokeN” Dong-wook, who produced some of the highest marks in the league. LokeN is also the current KDA (10.8) leader in the playoffs, while Kanavi boasts by far the highest XPD @15 (+1218).
JD Gaming’s only fixture in the playoffs saw them clash with the experienced roster of LGD Gaming, who took down Team WE (3-1) in round one and completely smashed 2018 LoL world champions Invictus Gaming (3-0) in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately for LGD, Kanavi and his crew proved they’re head and shoulders above them with a convincing 3-1 win on Sunday.
If JD Gaming come out ahead this Thursday, they would join EDward Gaming and Royal Never Give Up as one of the only three teams that have won the LPL more than once. For Top Esports, a win will give them their first LPL trophy in their three-year history.
Both sides are stacked with elite talent, making this game very hard to predict. Knight has been by far the best mid laner in the league, while Kanavi has been a class above all other junglers. That should give Top Esports an edge, but it’s hard to set the teams apart in the other lanes.
JackeyLove and LokeN have both been phenomenal this split, which makes the bottom lane a 50/50 matchup. The same can be said for the top lane clash between Bai “369” Jia-Hao and Zhang “Zoom” Xing-Ran.
Top Esports are priced as the favourites based on their superior stats, but JD Gaming have shown they have a lot more unexplored potential. Expect a close match that goes the distance.
Top Esports will look to bounce back from a rare loss this Thursday when they clash with Suning, who enter the second-to-last week of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) Summer 2020 regular season as one of the hottest teams in the division.
Top Esports looked unstoppable throughout the opening six weeks of the split but seemingly run out of steam in Week 7, when they lost their first series against the rejuvenated Victory Five (1-2). While Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan and his crew regained some confidence with two sweeps against ViCi Gaming and Dominus Esports, they ended up dropping another fixture on Sunday when they were outmatched by Invictus Gaming (2-0).
Despite their two hiccups, Top Esports remain one of the favourites to claim the LPL Summer crown and can still finish top two to secure a spot on the semi-finals. However, anything less than a 4-0 run through the final two weeks could put them at risk of missing out on the top four.
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Suning enter this match as one of the biggest surprises in the LPL this season. Given they finished in 11th place last split, Xiang “Angel” Tao and his team have gone well above anyone’s expectations.
Since their three losses to JD Gaming (0-2), Invictus Gaming (0-2) and EDward Gaming (1-2) in the early weeks of the split, Suning have won eight consecutive matches to climb into the top three at 10-3. They hold the fifth-highest game win rate at 21-13 as well as the fourth-lowest average death count per game (11.3), fifth-highest gold differential per minute (+86 GDM) and fifth-highest gold per minute (1789 GPM).
Mid laner Angel (4.4 KDA, 26.4% damage share) and ADC Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng (4.6 KDA, 30.3% damage share) are the main carries in this team, while top laner Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin is averaging 2.9 KDA and 22.8% damage share. Le? “SofM” Quang Duy’s numbers for the split are less impressive, yet he is still one of the most impactful jungers in the LPL and has lifted his KDA to 4.36 in the past three weeks, which is 12% higher than his season average of 3.9.
Despite their excellent form, Suning are still highly underestimated by both the LoL community and esports bookmakers. Even so, it is hard to understand how they are priced as such huge underdogs for this bout after eight consecutive wins.
Suning’s penchant for playing out all three games in a series makes them difficult to back against good opposition. However, it does mean they are every chance to take at least one map in any given contest.
Top Esports have lost two out of their last four matches. While they had no real issues defeating ViCi and Dominus, they do not look nearly as dominant as they did in the early stages of the split.
For that reason, we are not comfortable siding with the favourites in either the head-to-head betting or the handicap market. Suning should take at least one map and cover the line, while there is also some value in backing them to spring the upset.
Rogue Warriors and eStar will meet this Wednesday in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer, which will mark their first clash of the split and their second of the year.
Rogue Warriors started their LPL Summer campaign with losses against Top Esports (0-2), Invictus Gaming (0-2), Suning (0-2), Team WE (0-2), JD Gaming (1-2), Oh My God (1-2), EDward Gaming (0-2) and ViCi Gaming (1-2), which saw them tumble down to the bottom of the standings with a 0-8 record and 3-16 map differential.
Nothing seemed to be working for Kim “HooN” Nam-hoon’s crew in the early stages of the split. While Rogue Warriors were still regarded as a dangerous and aggressive team, they somehow always found a way to let wins slip between their fingers.
However, things have started to look up for Rogue Warriors of late. They picked up their first win of the season last Saturday against Dominus Esports (2-1), to which they added two seriously impressive triumphs against LGD Gaming (2-0) and FunPlus Phoenix (2-0).
Rogue Warriors enter Week 8 looking like a brad new team, but they have found their form a tad too late. In order to secure a playoffs ticket, they will need to win all of their remaining five matches. While that would make for a great Cinderella story, we must accept the chances of it happening are very slim.
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Nevertheless, Rogue Warriors can be proud of their performance against FunPlus Phoenix. While game one was relatively close, the outsiders stomped the reigning world champions in game two with a +10k gold lead, +18 kill differential and 10 towers to four.
Top laner “Holder” Jae-cheol had a phenomenal game with a 9/7/13 record across the series, which is especially impressive when facing Kim “Khan” Dong-ha (2/10/9). The same goes for mid laner Wang “Wuming” Xin (6/0/15), who outperformed arguably the best mid laner in the world in Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang (5/6/4).
Despite their resurgence, Rogue Warriors are billed as underdogs for their clash with eStar this week. While Zhang “Wink” Rui have shown greater consistency over the course of the split, their overall form is middling at best.
Like Rogue Warriors, eStar sit 3-8 and look almost certain to miss playoffs. Across the last two weeks, they lost to Suning (1-2) and Invictus Gaming (1-2) but managed to edge out a 2-1 win against Oh My God on Wednesday, which was also their only victory in almost a month.
So far eStar have defeated only LNG Esports, Dominus and OMG, which is not something to write home about since all three are among the weakest teams in the LPL.
It’s difficult to find any arguments to justify eStar’s shorter odds for this match. They hold a 40% win rate across the last 10 maps and are 1-4 in their last five series, whereas Rogue Warriors have a 70% win rate across their last 10 maps and a 3-2 series record against significantly stronger opponents.
The betting odds should be the other way around, but we won’t complain about esports bookmakers getting it wrong. Take advantage and back the in-form Rogue Warriors for the win at a great price.
Royal Never Give Up will look to snap Suning’s five-game winning streak this Thursday when they meet during the seventh week of League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer.
Even though Victory Five hold the unofficial title of most improved team in the league, Suning have turned many heads with their improvement this split. After finishing LPL Spring in 11th place with a 7-9 record, they have already matched that number of wins only 10 games into the second split of the season.
Suning enter this match with a 7-3 record and an equally impressive 15-10 map differential, which sets them up for not only a playoffs ticket but possibly even a quarter-final seeding. With matches against Victory Five, Top Esports, Oh My God, ViCi Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix in the remaining four weeks, Thursday’s bout is crucial for Xiang “Angel” Tao and co.
Overall, Suning have been performing well above expectations. Even though their +428 gold differential and +19.5 CS differential at 15 minutes are not exactly spectacular, it is always a good sign when you positive numbers in the early game in such a strong league.
Additionally, Suning don’t seem to have any obvious weaknesses. All five of their players are performing well with an average KDA of 3.94 between them. Even though top laner Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin has only a 2.8 KDA average, his deep pool of nine champions more than compensates for his relative lack of kills.
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Standing on the other side of the rift will be Royal Never Give Up, who are 5-4 this split. They have defeated Oh My God (2-0), ViCi Gaming (2-0), JD Gaming (2-1), eStar (2-1) and EDward Gaming (2-0) but lost to LNG Esports (0-2), Victory Five (0-2), Team WE (1-2) and FunPlus Phoenix (1-2).
That record is not too inspiring, especially when compared to their next opponents’ tally. However, with the exception of their fluke loss to LNG in Week 2, RNG’s defeats have come against some of the strongest teams in the league.
Like Suning, RNG hold respectable gold (+256) and CS (+14.1) differentials at 15 minutes. Another thing the two teams have in common is their lack of obvious weaknesses besides the top lane, where Tian “New” Zhi-Peng holds a 2.9 KDA but, like Bin for Suning, boasts a deep champion pool.
The biggest surprise at RNG is ADC Chen “GALA” Wei, who joined the team last month. In his four fixtures since, GALA has averaged an impressive 6.2 KDA, 81.1% KPAR and an outstanding 32.8% damage share with only 25.3% gold share.
Mid laner Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao also deserves some praise as one of the most consistent players on the team. Throughout 18 games, the 22-year-old Chinese LoL pro is averaging a 4.7 KDA, 70.5 KPAR and 26.4% damage share.
Suning have shown more throughout this split, but we can’t agree with the surprisingly high odds on Royal Never Give Up. Even though RNG have looked a bit iffy at times, there is not a lot to separate these teams.
Both sides have solid vision and objective control, and also show a similar level of aggression. Suning might be more efficient in farming, but the difference is marginal and should not be taken as the main factor in this match.
Royal Never Give Up bring good form into this clash. They crushed EDward Gaming last weekend and before that put up a solid fight against FunPlus Phoenix, winning the first map with a +12.8k gold lead, +9 kill differential and +8 tower differential.
We have high expectations for RNG, who should at least steal one map from the high-flying Suning. Given the marginal difference between the outright price on the underdogs and the odds for the map line, the over 2.5 is the way to go.
After a shaky start to the season, LNG Esports will look to bounce back this Tuesday when they face Team WE during the seventh week of League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer.
Team WE enter Week 7 with a 6-3 record next to their name. Jiang “beishang” Zhi-Peng and his crew won against EDward Gaming (2-1), Invictus Gaming (2-0), ViCi Gaming (2-0), Rogue Warriors (2-0), Royal Never Give Up (2-1) and Dominus Esports (2-1), while they saw far less success against Suning (1-2), FunPlus Phoenix (1-2) and JD Gaming (1-2).
Team WE have looked good this split and sit only two wins shy of the league leaders, Top Esports. We can write off their loss to Suning, since it took place on the opening day of the split, while they deserve some praise taking the reigning LPL champions and the reigning world champions to three maps.
Currently fifth in the LPL Summer 2020 standings, Team WE are only two wins short of guaranteeing a playoffs berth. While they can hardly compare to the undefeated Top Esports, beishang and co. have every right to look towards the League of Legends World Championship. The first part of that task is making the playoffs, so this week’s game is crucial.
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LNG Esports, meanwhile, are no chance of reaching the postseason. Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun and co. enter Week 7 of the LPL 2020 Summer on a six-game losing streak and hold a rather humiliating 2-7 record.
LNG’s only two wins of the split came during the second week, when they upset Royal Never Give Up (2-0) and FunPlus Phoenix (2-1) in two of the biggest shocks of the season. Since then, however, they’ve shown their true colours with losses to eStar (0-2), Oh My God (0-2), ViCi (1-2), Bilibili Gaming (0-2), Top Esports (0-2) and Victory Five (0-2).
It’s hard to find any positives for LNG, who have won only one map out of the last 13 played. ADC Wang “Light” Guang-Yu is the best-performing player on this roster with 3.3 KDA, 74.1% KPAR and 29% damage share, which is not encouraging by any means. Mid laner Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang has also shown some promise with 2.6 KDA, 66.2% KPAR and 27.2% damage share, although he hardly stacks up with other LPL mid laners.
LNG Esports are in a terrible spot. Based on their recent performances, it’s hard to imagine they will stand a chance against the surging Team WE.
LNG lack early-game strength and their macro play is way off the mark. They hold a -1.4k gold differential at 15 minutes, -23.9 CS differential at 15 minutes and have lost their turret before the 15-minute mark in one-third of their games.
Even though Team WE are not a strong early-game team (-285 gold differential at 15 minutes), they boast a +0.27 tower differential at 15 min, which suggests they are likely to claim the first tower in this match and snowball from there.
The esports betting odds are right on the money, as it’s hard to imagine LNG Esports will win a single game, let alone the series. Light might hold his own against Zhao “Jiumeng” Jia-Hao, but even that is a major ‘if’, whereas the remaining positions show a huge quality gap in favour of Team WE.
This should be a straightforward win for the favourites, who will look to make up for their unconvincing win against Dominus and lock in their fourth perfect game of the split.
After suffering a humiliating defeat against JD Gaming in Week 5 of League of Legends Pro League (LPL) Summer 2020, Invictus Gaming will look to get back on the horse this Wednesday when they lock horns with Bilibili Gaming for the first time since April.
Invictus enter Week 6 ranked sixth with a 5-3 record next to their name. So far they have defeated Suning (2-0), Rogue Warriors (2-0), EDward Gaming (2-1), FunPlus Phoenix (2-1) and Dominus (2-1) but lost to Team WE (0-2), LGD Gaming (1-2) and JD Gaming (0-2).
IG’s results are all over the place, which is a big concern. While we can praise the team for their win against FunPlus Phoenix, that achievement is overshadowed by their iffy performance against Dominus and their loss over the weekend.
Song “Rookie” Eui-jin and co. humiliated themselves against JD Gaming. Throughout the series, IG managed to pick up only 19 kills, eight turrets and five drakes, whereas their opponents secured 40 kills, 18 turrets, four drakes and two barons.
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Even though IG’s drake control is solid, they have failed to show any serious coherency. This has been a problem since the team parted ways with ADC Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo, who is now starring for Top Esports.
Another big issue for Invictus is the subpar performances of Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok, who is sitting at only 1.8 KDA this split with 55.4% KPAR. While he is still dealing the largest share of the team’s damage (30.7%), The Shy needs to find a way to make a bigger impact in a meta that prioritises strong bottom lanes and roaming mid laners instead of carry top laners.
Bilibili Gaming enter this bout as massive underdogs, and for good reason. So far they have managed a 2-4 record, defeating eStar (2-1) and LNG Esports (2-0) while losing to ViCi Gaming (0-2), FunPlus Phoenix (0-2), Victory Five (1-2) and Top Esports (0-2). Those losses came against some of the strongest teams in the league, so there is still hope Bilibili can make it to the postseason.
In a way, it seems like Zeng “Meteor” Guo-Hao and co. are on the same path as they were last split, where they started slow but picked up the pace in the second half and nearly made it to the playoffs. The road to the postseason is still long, but the performance against LNG was very promising.
Even though Invictus Gaming have some of the best players in the league at their disposal, they seem like a hit-or-miss team most of the time. While they are rightfully priced as the favourites here, we don’t believe they will look as dominant as they perhaps should.
Bilibili Gaming decided to bring Meteor back into the jungle for the clash with LNG, and he delivered with a 12.5 KDA and a phenomenal 94.1% KPAR. It remains to be seen whether he will manage to have the same impact against IG, but the form suggests he can compete with Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning, who has yet to prove his worth.
Betting on Bilibili to win would be optimistic in the extreme, but the $2.10 for the underdogs to cover the +1.5 map handicap is well worth a look given IG’s shaky displays this split.
Rogue Warriors will look to claim their first win of the split this Tuesday when they clash with ViCi Gaming during the sixth week of League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer.
Rogue Warriors’ situation ahead of this bout is as bad as it gets, as they have managed to win only two games out of 16 played. So far, they have lost against Top Esports (0-2), Invictus Gaming (0-2), Suning (0-2), Team WE (0-2), JD Gaming (1-2), Oh My God (1-2) and EDward Gaming (0-2).
With a 0-7 record, Rogue Warriors are more or less guaranteed to miss out on the playoffs, considering eight losses is the maximum any team can have in order to still make it to the postseason.
With all due respect, there are not a lot of positives to take from Rogue Warriors’ performances this split. Not only do they lack quality and experience, but as a team they look lost on the Rift.
Mid laner Lee “Ruby” Sol-min is the best-performing player for Rogue Warriors with a 2.6 KDA, 76.9% KPAR and 30.6% damage share, but even those are some of the worst marks out of all LPL mid laners.
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After a tough start to the split, ViCi Gaming found their rhythm and picked up two crucial wins against LNG Esports (2-1) and eStar (2-1). Even though those wins were not exactly clean, it’s a start and it at least puts ViCi back on the right track.
ViCi have won three out of six games played, taking down Bilibili (2-0), LNG and eStar but losing to Royal Never Give Up (0-2), Team WE (0-2), and Victory Five (0-2). Those three defeats all came against strong teams, so there is no need to raise the alarm.
Looking back at ViCi’s most recent bout against eStar, they narrowly lost the opening game of the series but bounced back with commanding triumphs in game two and three, which they won with +11.7k and +13.2k gold leads respectively.
Top laner Da “Cube” Yi had a phenomenal performance that day and ended the series with 13/4/27 and 10 KDA, while ADC Hu “iBoy” Xian-Zhao also impressed with his 18/5/28 record and 9.1 KDA. All five members played well against eStar and if ViCi can continue playing at this pace, playoffs are a realistic goal.
Although ViCi Gaming still need to prove their Week 5 performance was not a fluke, they look far better than Rogue Warriors and are rightfully priced as massive favourites ahead of this match.
ViCi have better players in all five roles and boast far better objective control and vision control, while they also tend to be more efficient in farming. The two teams have shown a similar level of aggression this split, which suggests we are in for a match with plenty of small skirmishes across the map.
ViCi dropped a game against LNG Esports at the end of Week 4, which might imply they will lose at least one here, but after their performance against eStar, we find it hard to believe that will be the case. A 2-0 win for ViCi seems like the most likely outcome, so back them to cover the -1.5 handicap at decent odds.
Royal Never Give Up and Team WE will meet for the first time in over three months this Tuesday during the fifth week of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer Split.
Royal Never Give Up produced a mixed bag of results throughout the opening four weeks. After picking up two commanding wins against Oh My God (2-0) and ViCi Gaming (2-0), they stumbled against LNG Esports (0-2) and then bounced back by defeating reigning LPL champions JD Gaming. In Week 4, RNG downed eStar Gaming (2-1) on Monday but then lost to Victory Five (0-2) on Thursday.
Although Royal Never Give Up officially parted ways with their star ADC, Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao, at the end of May, that should not make a huge difference considering Lu “Betty” Yu-Hung filled the role throughout the last split. Betty has made a strong start to the LPL Summer, but he needs some help from his teammates.
RNG’s inconsistency is likely due to a lack of roster stability. Having a nine-man squad can often be an advantage, but that does not appear to be the case here. RNG have already used seven members of their active roster and it seems like they’re still working to find the right combinations. That affects their synergy, especially in the upper part of the map, where RNG field two new top laners.
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Team WE also enter this bout with a 4-2 record from the opening four weeks of LPL Summer 2020. They lost to Suning (1-2) and FunPlus Phoenix (1-2) but managed to take down Invictus Gaming (2-0), EDward Gaming (2-1), ViCi Gaming (2-0) and most recently Rogue Warriors (2-0).
Although they hold the same numerical record at RNG, Team WE’s overall performances have looked far more stable. The loss to Suning does not look good on paper, but Kung “Domo” Yu-Te’s charges deserve some slack since they defeated Invictus Gaming and put up a solid fight against the reigning League of Legends world champions, FPX.
All five members of the Team WE roster have made a solid start to the split. While ADC Zhao “Jiumeng” Jia-Hao is doing a lot of the work (33.6% damage share), mid laner Jiang “Teacherma” Chen (22.6%), jungler Jiang “beishang” Zhi-Peng (17.4%) and top laner Park “Morgan” Gi-tae (17.2%) are all putting in their fair share.
We expected to see a bit more from beishang in the opening weeks, but he proved his worth with a 15.0 KDA in Team WE’s clash with Rogue Warriors. He outperformed both Teacherma (6.4 KDA) and Jiumeng (4.7 KDA) and if he can continue playing at this level, we find it hard to believe Li “XLB” Xiao-Long will manage to keep pace with his compatriot in the jungle.
Esports bookmakers have Royal Never Give Up priced as massive favourites for this match, which does not seem right. Although there are arguments to be made that RNG have higher-quality players, their performances this split do not reflect that.
While it is true that Royal Never Give Up have not lost to Team WE since the LPL 2017 Spring finals, we cannot ignore how much better WE have looked this split. While we won’t expect them to roll over RNG and win with a clean sweep, a 2-1 win should be within reach for the underdogs.
Week 4 of League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer will serve us with a clash between two Chinese LoL titans in FunPlus Phoenix and Invictus Gaming, who’ll meet on the Rift this Thursday for the first time since FPX swept IG in the LPL Spring Playoffs third-place decider match in April.
Despite their shaky display in the latter stages of the LPL Spring regular season and a somewhat disappointing performance in the playoffs, FunPlus Phoenix entered the LPL Summer as one of the favourites for the title. However, Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang and his team have not looked like potential champions in the opening three weeks of the split.
FunPlus Phoenix started their LPL Summer campaign with a humiliating 1-2 loss against LNG Esports during Week 2. Although they bounced back with a 2-0 win against Bilibili Gaming three days later and a 2-1 win against Team WE last Friday, FPX’s overall performances have left a lot to be desired.
We can cut FunPlus Phoenix some slack for their loss against LNG, since it was their first fixture of the split, and we also should give them some praise for their stomping of Bilibili Gaming, but it’s hard to be overly optimistic about the narrow win against Team WE.
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That is not to say WE are a bad team, but FunPlus Phoenix’s showings in the first two games were a bit iffy. Nevertheless, FPX dominated the third and final game, which they ended with +15 kills as well as seven turrets, four drakes and one baron, while Team WE managed only three kills and one turret. Overall, FPX gave up 37 deaths, 12 turrets, six drakes and two barons, while they managed to pick up 44 kills, 21 turrets, nine drakes and two barons.
ADC Lin “Lwx” Wei-Xiang, top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha and mid laner Doinb were phenomenal in the final game, where they combined for a 14/0/23 record and drove FPX to victory.
While we are not too excited with what FPX have shown in the opening three weeks of LPL Summer, Invictus Gaming deserve far more criticism for their performances. IG began their journey with a 0-2 loss against Team WE and although they won the next three games against Suning (2-0), Rogue Warriors (2-0) and EDward Gaming (2-1), those are not exactly top-tier teams.
Although most of Invictus Gaming’s roster have played well so far, Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok is not performing at the level expected of him. The Korean top laner was starting to struggle towards the end of the last split and it appears that form has carried over to LPL Summer 2020. Ahead of Week 4, he is averaging a very poor 1.5 KDA and has yet to win a single game on Aatrox.
On a more positive note, TheShy has no issues winning lanes and establishing his lane kingdom, considering he is averaging +13.7 CS and +106 gold lead at 15 minutes, but he is also prone to giving up first blood. So far this split, he has been a first-blood victim in 44.4% of the games played, which likely is due to his aggressive playstyle.
Invictus Gaming are far more efficient in farming and even have better objective control than FunPlus Phoenix, but the 2019 LoL world champions have better map vision and tend to be just as aggressive as IG.
Both teams field some of the best individual talents in the league, but FPX play more like a team than IG, who tend to rely on individual efforts rather than a unified strategy.
FPX are rightfully the favourites here, but they can still lose this match if they underestimate the quality of Invictus Gaming’s players. IG might not be as solid as they were in 2018, but considering they have three win conditions in TheShy, Song “Rookie” Eui-jin and Ding “Puff” Wang, it’s very difficult to bet against them with any certainty.
Both teams will be hungry for a win and since there is not a lot to set them apart quality-wise, over 2.5 maps looks the best bet here.
Oh My God and LNG Esports will meet on the Rift this Wednesday for the first time since March, when OMG edged out a 2-1 win in the second week of League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Spring.
LNG Esports enjoyed a fairly impressive start to the split. Although they lost their opening match against Suning (0-2), Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang and co. bounced back with a shock 2-1 win against the reigning League of Legends world champions, FunPlus Phoenix, to which they added a 2-0 upset victory against Royal Never Give Up three days later.
Despite their success in Week 2 of LPL Summer 2020, LNG returned to their old ways in Week 3 with a 0-2 to eStar. The match was very one-sided, as eStar ended the series with an aggregate kill margin of 34-9 in addition to a 25.8k gold lead.
ADC Wang “Light” Guang-Yu and support Duan “Duan” De-Liang struggled to keep pace with eStar’s bottom-lane tandem of Zhang “Wink” Rui and Liu “ShiauC” Chia-Hao, while jungler Xiong “Xx” Yu-Long was just not up to par with eStar’s Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei. Mid laner Maple and top laner Zhou “chenlun17” Peng-Yuan were solid and although they produced worse KDA stats than their counterparts, Huang “Fenfen” Chen and Yang “Xiobai” Zhong-He, chenlun17 (443) had a far higher DPM than Xiobai (334) and Maple (478) was not far worse than Fenfen’s 493.
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Overall, LNG showed a lot of quality despite their loss. While they’re still far from being regarded as one of the top LPL teams, Maple and his crew look much better than they did in LPL Spring 2020, which they ended in 16th place with a 5-11 record.
Oh My God enter this bout with only one win from their five fixtures thus far. They started their journey with a 0-2 loss to Royal Never Give Up and suffered two more defeats in Week 2, when they failed to show up against Victory 5 (1-2) and EDward Gaming (0-2). Things started to look up in Week 3, when Xie “icon” Tian-Yu and his team took Top Esports to three maps (1-2) and then claimed their first win of the split against Dominus Esports (2-0).
OMG walked away from that victory with a +18 aggregate kill difference, combined 25.6k gold lead, and much better objective control, which saw them claim nine drakes and 21 turrets compared to Dominus’ one drake and three turrets. Having said that, OMG gave up 20 deaths, which is not all too inspiring when playing one of the weakest teams in the league.
Nevertheless, icon looked very solid in the mid lane with a 16/3/7 score across the series, followed by ADC Han “Smlz” Jin with 6/3/12 and top laner Chen “Curse” Chen with 11/4/11. Jungler Yang “H4cker” Zhi-Hao was the worst-performing player for OMG that day with a 3/5/12 record across both games and only 140 DPM, while support Liu “cold” Shi-Yu was not much better with 2/5/23 and 152 DPM.
Overall, Oh My God have not impressed this split. While their jungler H4cker failed to show up against Dominus, a lot of OMG’s struggles are down to their bottom lane. Smlz and cold are two of the worst-performing players in their respective roles and need to step up in order for OMG to remain competitive with the rest of the league.
While we are not impressed with OMG, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the LNG Esports camp either. They have been all over the place this split, copping heavy losses to beatable teams like Suning and eStar while taking down heavyweights such as RNG and FPX. That kind of volatility makes LNG very hard to figure out.
In terms of stats, these two sides match up nicely. Both have solid objective control and neither are overly aggressive. LNG boast a much better bottom lane, however, as Light is one of the best-performing ADCs in the league at the moment. As long as LNG can play around him, they should defeat OMG without dropping a game.