(courtesy of LoLeventVoDs)
Was EDward Gaming able to return to the top of the LPL or did Mata, Looper, and the young Chinese talent of Royal Never Give Up put a cap onto their great season?
Game 1
Despite having two Tear-stacking champions in their composition, EDG took control of the early game. They began multiple skirmishes allowing them to blow flashes on RNG and pick up multiple kills. Ming "ClearLove" Kai’s pathing on Graves allowed him to heavily out-farm Liu "Mlxg" Shi-yu’s Kindred, but the CS differential between the two was neutralized to some extent by Li "xiaohu" Yuan-hao’s Azir, who was up heavily on Heo "PawN" Won-seok's Ryze. RNG would recuperate and win some skirmishes of their own, evening up the gold and kills by the mid game. Tong "Koro1" Yang had a particularly poor game on Gragas as he was caught overextending and out of position on multiple occasions, giving up some of EDG’s early edge.
In the mid game, the two teams engaged in very close team fights, trading kills back and forth. An attempted engage from Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu’s Ezreal and PawN’s Ryze in the mid lane would go wrong as xiaohu was able to escape, allowing RNG to collapse and kill EDG’s AD carry. Some fantastic AD carry play from Mlxg and Wang "wuxx" Cheng would win RNG the team fight, securing the first Baron and giving RNG a significant gold lead. After securing objectives, RNG was firmly in the lead and the team fights would begin to go more in their favor. A team fight at the next Baron respawn resulted in RNG picking up four kills and running down the mid lane to close out the game.
(courtesy of lol.qq.com)
Game 2
At the start of the game it seemed as though Koro1’s Game 1 woes had followed him, as he was solo killed by Jang "Looper" Hyeong-seok’s Ekko in the top lane, surrendering first blood. RNG ran a poke composition with a mid Varus and jungle Nidalee, and they tried to capitalize on their early advantage to get their poke comp rolling. However, EDG ran double teleport with their team fight comp, which included Twitch and Ryze, and they were able to stifle some of RNG’s proactivity. A double teleport into the top lane resulted in a large team fight which resulted in EDG picking up an ace, as PawN and Koro1 were able to flank RNG and turn the fight.
With the advantage now in EDG’s favor, they would continue to group and fight, taking net positives out of multiple exchanges. Koro1 looked much more comfortable in this game on Poppy and, despite his early death, turned around his performance from Game 1. There would be a few hiccups for EDG in the mid game, with Tian "Meiko" Ye and PawN dying for their careless map movements, but EDG never lost control. Their consistent team fight wins allowed them to snowball and go on to claim Game 2.
Game 3
RNG’s team composition in this game was quite strange. With Looper on Quinn and wuxx on Jhin, RNG had no real way to siege down turrets. Their comp relied on diving towers, winning skirmishes, and split pushing in order to take objectives. Fortunately, RNG was able to do just that using their double teleports. A few early skirmishes and tower dives put Looper and wuxx ahead of their counterparts as RNG moved around the map picking up kills. On his third Graves game in a row, Clearlove again heavily out-farmed Mlxg. The CS differentials along with a couple of kills onto Koro1 helped even out the gold between the teams.
EDG’s shaky decision making continued in this game, as they won a team fight in mid and secured the Baron. Unfortunately, RNG would respawn and collapse using their double teleport and pick up four kills, almost entirely neutralizing EDG’s Baron take. Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong shot calling and RNG’s superior map play allowed them to build a lead through securing objectives, and a fight after an inner bot tower siege would spell the end of the game. On Jhin, wuxx’s positioning in this game was superb. He carried the load in terms of kills for his team, landing his ultimate with a high frequency, and never died. After the final fight, the remaining members of RNG would push in and take the victory.
(courtesy of lol.qq.com)
Game 4
The start of this game would go poorly for EDG as Meiko gave up First Blood to a level one invade from RNG. The kill went over to wuxx’s Twitch, giving the RNG duo the advantage in the bot lane. A fight in the duo lane would result in RNG getting even more kills, increasing their lead. With both teams running double teleport and fights breaking out all across the map, Game 4 turned into quite the bloodbath. The gold lead would swing back and forth with the teams trading team fight wins and objectives everywhere on the map. For EDG, Koro1’s Trundle was menacing in team fights, getting super tanky due to some early kills and his ultimate. On RNG, xiaohu’s LeBlanc was picking up a lot of the kills and deleting Deft’s Lucian before he could make any sort of impact in fights. After racking up 36 kills in 24 minutes and RNG acing EDG at a dragon fight, the game slowed down with RNG maintaining a slight edge in gold.
After winning another disjointed fight in EDG’s jungle, RNG secured the Baron. The Baron power play increased their lead, leading to another successful fight, this time at EDG’s inner bot turret. With all members of RNG alive and only PawN left to defend, they went on to close out the game and win the series, earning them the LPL Spring Championship.
