EDG have defeated FPX 3:1 to become the Summer Split champions. They have returned to the top of the LPL after years of falling to the wayside. EDG has also denied FPX from joining them and RNG as the only LPL teams to win multiple splits. Here’s how they did it.
EDG Round-Robin Supremacy
From the very start of the year, EDG have looked like a top team. Even during the off-season, when they picked up Flandre and Viper, many were saying that this team could be a contender. They remained undefeated until week 6, losing only to Invictus Gaming. Even then, they remained in second place of the remainder of Spring. They finished in third in the playoffs, after two best of fives going the way of both FPX and RNG.
Summer wasn’t a different story. From the start of the round-robin, EDG took a hold of first place. First, they fought with LNG for it, and then they fought with FPX. Only in the final week of the regular season did FPX overtake EDG, defeating them in a 1v1 in the last game of the season. EDG once again finished in second.
The comeback in playoffs
Having finished in second, EDG, alongside FPX, skipped to the double-elimination bracket of playoffs. Unlike FPX, EDG lost to their team, as Team WE used their momentum from the previous 3 series to take down EDG in a close, 3:2 series. Being forced to play against LNG in the losers bracket, EDG would manage to take them down, winning 3 of the 4 matches played and securing a rematch against WE to see who would face FPX in the Grand Finals.
In their rematch against Team World Elite, EDG had a better draft. With Beishang still unable to properly navigate AP junglers, Shanks was left out to dry in the mid lane. Scout absolutely ran away with the games and eventually the series. EDG would lock in the spot at the Grand Finals to face FPX for all the marbles.
EDG’s return to glory
Despite EDG coming into the Grand Finals viewed as the underdogs, they smashed FPX. The biggest and most important part of their victory was Scout showing up to the series. Every single game in the series, he not only fought back against Doinb, he straight up smashed the Summer Split MVP.
In game one of the series, it was Jiejie who had a pop-off game on Lee Sin. With the jungle being permanently ahead on tempo, the rest of EDG were accelerated, allowing them to take the lead in the series. In the second game, however, was where the Scout show would begin. On his signature Ryze pick, he stomped all over FPX, allowing them to smash ahead and take the second win in the series.
In the third game, Scout got Ryze again, and once again he was off to the races. But it was LWX for the side of FPX who managed to win the game. With EDG stacking magic resistance against the likes of a Kennen and a Galio, LWX got a lot of value out of his lethality items.
In the final game of the series, FPX had a massive lead. Nuguri was taking everything as Gangplank, Lwx was winning in the bot lane as Ziggs, and EDG lost their mid inhibitor in less than 20 minutes. However, Viper came up massively for the side of EDG, putting on his hard carry shoes. Fight after fight, Viper as Aphelios kept getting stronger and stronger, until it finally got to the point that EDG managed to win the game. EDG are going to Worlds as the number one seed from the LPL.
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