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The LPL finally returns with the top two teams from the last split facing off against each other right off the bat. Unlike what we traditionally see, all lanes would follow "standard" ettique with no 2v1's occuring and the usual lane assignment. Something to note is neither jungler started with a machete, instead favoring boots on Lin's Nunu and Doran's Ring on Jing's Evelynn.
For several minutes, passivity would ensue between the two teams. While poke would occassionally occur, it would be a very "kill-free" game for the majority of laning phase. 9 minutes in, the first exchange of kills would go down with Cool killing JoJo behind his tower, resulting in the tower going down, and NaMei killing off Polemo in the bottom lane. Still, the lanes were mostly shoved in OMG's favor.
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The game was looking really good for OMG as they continued to be the first to roam, diving turrets and securing objectives off of their solid initiates. While Positive Energy was definitely holding off well initially, OMG was quick to take advantage of their snowball, going 5-1 by the 15 minute mark and nearly taking a 3-0 tower lead before Positive Energy gathered to defend their top outer turret.
Unfortunately for Positive Energy, every lane as well as the jungler were just too far ahead for them to fight back. OMG used baron to plan an ambush, acquiring it first and then picking off several members of Positive Energy which resulted in a free inhibitor and transfered into a blue buff steal. Positive Energy was not able to hold on for much longer after that and struggled even with waveclear.
So far, we are 2/2 for Ahri being picked so while it may be too early to tell now, Ahri is seemingly a popular pick in China from what we can gather. No crazy level 1's would kick off this game but LMQ would swap their AD and support to the top lane for a 2v1 start in the sidelanes; a format we are more familiar with in the LCS. The passive play would be shut down when LMQ were a little too overeager with their dive, resulting in a 2-0 start for Lee Sin.
The fight would also force F1sh on Caitlyn to burn her flash, a very scary position to be in against a now fed Lee Sin. Overall, LMQ did manage to pick up a kill and stay only about 300 gold down, but Lucky on Lee Sin would be made exceptionally strong from this mishap. One interesting thing to note was both junglers choosing to rush Madred's Razer, a very rare alternative nowadays to spirit stone amongst the other regions.
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As the game proceeded, Royal Club would continue to extend their lead that they capitalized on after LMQ were overzealous for kills. Lucky would show some excellent Lee Sin play, being a big asset to his team and showing mechanics even InSec would be proud of. Lucky would not let down and absolutely would control the pace of the game, though impressively LMQ were still up a turret despite the 1-11 kill and 6k gold deficit.
Due to the fantastic split pushing capabilities of Tristana plus the vast amount of pressure Lee Sin could put on the map, Uzi's Tristana averaged more than 10 CS every minute all the way up until the end. They were so far ahead to where any amount of aggression would be rewarded and ultimately, Royal Club's engagements allowed them to close out the game with little difficulty.
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Invictus Gaming's B team was the only secondary team to make it into the LPL and has since renamed themselves to "Young Glory". Their first game of LPL debuts against the all Hong Kong resident team of Energy Pacemaker, who would allow Ahri to be picked in 3 out of 3 games so far today. EP wasted no time doing a hyper aggressive invade on Young Glory's red, warding the entrance to their wraiths early granting them some vision.
The action kicked off a little faster than the previous game with 3 summoners burned in an early duel top lane, but neither players acquiring a kill and able to maintain their lane sustain through several potions. The early game advantage, however, would swing slightly in favor of EP who would acquire 2 kills with the help of Bupings' Nautlius. EP's bottom lane would acquire a kill without the assistance of a jungler with a brilliant thresh hook.
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Later on, some aggressive invading would allow Young Glory to pick up their first kill of the game, but not without suffering a death on their own. The vision control in the jungle they were contesting around red's golem was greatly in favor for EP, which prevented them from ideal gains. Utilizing this vision allowed BuPing to have excellent impact in all areas of the game.
EP would be able to develop an extensive kill lead, but YG was still able to hold their towers pretty well, stay close in gold, and actually maintain a tower lead of their own. Young Glory held strong, stuck together, and actually ended up coming back and developing an overall lead over EP. After establishing very solid positioning and making the most of their sieging composition, they would show an awesome comeback, and even take the game home.
At last, the long awaited rematch would commence between the crowd favorites of Invictus Gaming and World Elite. It would appear that Ahri would have a 100% pick rate after this game had been played. Nothing too crazy would kick off this epic rematch with both teams doing very standard 2v1 setups as well as a passive jungle start in which both Illusion on Udyr and Troll on Lee Sin would both start with Doran's Blades.
World Elite was the first to muster up enough aggressive blood to force both Pdd and Kid back, nearly killing them both and blowing both of Kid's summoners. They were quick to capitalize. and got the top tower down with 3 men in only 5 minutes. Shortly after, an epic fight around dragon would leave 3 dead for World Elite and only one dead for Invictus Gaming. World Elite still held a slight gold lead due to the objective control.
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At around 10 minutes, World Elite would find revenge and bring Weixiao to 3-0 with a double kill and showing he came back this season in top shape. Meanwhile, Kid on Ahri was doing work and showing just how much success you can have in this region with a 3-0-1 entrance into the post laning phase. Every time the two teams fought, an excellent Thresh engage from Fzzf would leave the teamfights extraordinarily close. Both Weixiao and Kid on Ahri were the stars of their team, sporting 7-0-3 and 6-1-3 scores respectively.
While the two teams are normally known for putting on an exceptional show, this game would amplify that times one hundred with both teams struggling to find a lead and the scores always being nail-bitingly close. While IG was slightly ahead, a sneaky baron would allow the team to knock on IG's front door and seige their inhibitor down successfuly. However, the game was unpredictable and quite the spectacle to watch even after World Elite gained that advantage. Make sure to watch to find out who wins, we don't want to spoil this one!
RESULTS
