As the LPL looks to close out the third week of games, teams are starting to grow apart. While some teams have won most of their games and looked well overall, others seem to be struggling and need to improve quickly. Today’s article will wrap up the last two days of Week 3, and venture into the first five days of Week 4.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Saturday’s first match will feature two teams sitting at the bottom of the table. In fact, neither of these teams have won a series yet in the Summer Split. OMG are the last-placed team, sitting at 0-4, while Dominus are right above them at 0-3. What separates these two teams are the game wins. While OMG lost four matches, they managed to win two games, and some of their losses were winable games.
Dominus, on the other hand, as zero game wins to their name so far this split. While it is important to note that they promoted their academy carry Xubin, and brought Chelizi from Vici’s academy team, it is unlikely these players will have the synergy needed to win just yet.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
On the exact opposite side of the table, LGD and TOP face off. Both teams currently sit at 3-0, and the winner of this series will be the last remaining undefeated team in the LPL. TOP so far defeated JDG, OMG and Rogue Warriors. LGD’s victories were over Victory Five, eStar and Dominus.
This match will serve as a true test of strength to this new LGD roster. While many were hyped for the arrival of LangX and Xiye, many are unsure where to place them in their power rankings. Should LGD manage to win, they will officially be in contention for the title.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Suning and Rogue Warriors will kick off Sunday’s matches. While Rogue Warriors are the only other team that still haven’t won a match, their only matches so far were against TOP and Invictus Gaming, so their 0-2 is understandable. Even in defeat, Rogue Warriors seemed to have a decent performance, with their first game against TOP nearly being a victory.
However, Suning have been struggling in their last few matches. After a convincing start to their split, they fell to JD Gaming, Invictus Gaming and EDG. While these teams may be great names, they are yet to prove themselves in summer, with all three having fairly shaky performances so far. Suning need to find their rhythm once again, or they will fall short of playoffs once again.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Closing out Week 3 will be a clash between two of the oldest names of the LPL. Coming into the Summer Split, both of these teams were expected to do well. However, both stumbled in their opening matches and looked unconvincing in their wins. They both sit at 2-1, leaving them around the middle of the table. Similarly, both teams fell to Team WE and took down Suning.
In a game that can go either way, it will come down to who can shine the brightest. While IG have been struggling, Rookie is looking better than ever and is having a great performance overall. In a similar vein, a massive performance from Hope is EDG’s best shot at winning the match.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Vici and Victory Five will kick off week four. After a rough Spring Split, Victory Five have fully turned around for summer. Currently sitting at 3-1, Victory Five are in the upper echelons of the table. With 4 new players on their roster, Victory Five look rejuvenated and ready for the rest of the split.
Their opponents, Vici, haven’t been looking as great. Sitting at 1-2, their one win is against Bilibili, who are also on struggle street. While their opponents were top tier teams, their losses were fairly one-sided. Vici need to start picking up wins if they want to make it into playoffs. And proving that they can take down Victory Five would be a great start.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
In an interesting match, RNG will face eStar on Monday. What makes this match so interesting is the fact that these rosters are so closely linked. Wink used to play for RNG. Cryin, who probably won’t play, used to play on eStar. And Xiaobai used to play for Royal Club, RNG’s academy team. So in what is likely to be a match between friends, both teams will have extra motivation to win.
After a strong display in spring, eStar are looking less impressive in summer. While they are currently 2-2, they are yet to have a convincing performance. RNG, on the other hand, seem to be back as a top tier team, but they are still prone to hiccups and growing pains.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Speaking of teams prone to hiccups, JD Gaming will want a convincing win against Dominus. The current reigning LPL champions, JD Gaming haven’t impressed in the Summer Split yet. Sitting at 1-2, they could have been 0-3 if Suning hadn’t thrown two winnable games. While they did manage to pick up games against both TOP and RNG, they aren’t looking like the same team that won in spring.
Across them, Dominus is hoping that their poor form is worse than most thought. Should they fall to OMG in Week 3, Dominus will play this match sitting in last place. If Team A’s best chance at winning relies on Team B playing poorly, then more often than not, Team A will lose.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
In another match to prove their power level, LGD will take on Invictus Gaming. As mentioned above, LGD made two major improvements coming into summer, but their power level is still unknown. Should they manage to take down both TOP and IG, then they are looking like a powerhouse worthy of going to Worlds. While the team failed to make playoffs in spring, a good performance in summer should qualify them to play the Regional Finals, in an attempt to make to Worlds.
Speaking of Worlds, Invictus Gaming should have everything to make it. They have top tier talent, and finished spring in fourth. Luckily for them, four LPL team are going to Worlds this year. However, with teams like LGD and WE creeping up on them, they can’t be complacent, if they want to make it.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
OMG and LNG will start off the third day of matches in week four. While OMG could get a win, they could also come into this match at 0:5. Either way, OMG hasn’t impressed this split, and their bot lane in particular needs to step up. While it’s not too late to recover, the LPL is a very competitive split, so they need to recover as soon as possible if they want to make it into playoffs.
On the other side of the rift, LNG seem to be impossible to figure out. They got slaughtered in their first match, but then went on to defeat both RNG and FPX. But then they fell to eStar in a clean 0-2 series. LNG have been all over the place this split, and if they want to make it into playoffs, they need to get it together and start having a stable performance.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
BLG and TOP will close out the third day of games. While BLG managed to pick up a match win against eStar, it wasn’t clean. In a match where the enemy jungler forgot to bring smite, BLG nearly managed to lose, and both junglers had a similar impact in the match. This should be unacceptable by any team that wants to make it into playoffs.
TOP, on the other hand, could come into this match as the only team yet to lose a series in the LPL. Should they take down LGD, they move to 4-0, and could start talking about a perfect split. While many analysts are placing them as the number one team in the world right now, they need to maintain their level of performance, and bring home the win next Wednesday.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Thursday will start off featuring Victory Five versus RNG. Both teams are sitting at 3-1, with room to go either up or down, depending on their performance earlier in the week. Victory Five seem refreshed, as their new talent want to prove to themselves that they can tango with the veteran talent of the LPL. With SamD sitting with 3 MVP’s so far this split, there is no doubt that the bot lane will be action packed.
Against SamD, Betty will have to prove once again that he should be RNG’s next superstar. With Uzi’s retirement, Betty will have at least one more split as the starter for RNG. Should he prove worthy of the role, he might become RNG’s new star and be their carry for many years to come.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
To close out Day 4, FPX and IG will face off. After a shaky start against LNG, FunPlus Phoenix seem to be back online, taking down BLG in a clean 2-0 and winning their match against Team WE. After finishing in third last spring and second in the Mid Season Cup, a tittle should be the next logical step for the team’s 2020.
As mentioned above, IG have quite a lot to prove this split. After finishing last round robin in third, the team fell flat in playoffs and the Mid Season Cup. Starting to recover, IG need to pick up wins to confirm their spot as a top tier team. A victory against FPX should do just that.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Team World Elite and Rogue Warriors will face off next Friday. Team WE have be improving ever since last split, with a good playoff performance and a good start to summer. While they did fall against FPX, the series went the distance. Jiumeng in particular has really evolved into a reliable carry. After being caught out many times in spring, Jiumeng got in together for playoffs, and that strength seems to have carried over to summer.
Their opponents, Rogue Warriors, will be hoping their star carry will outshine the enemy carry. While ZWuji has looked solid in the Summer Split, Rogue Warriors are yet to capitalize on that strength. They will need to pull out all the stops, if they want to take down the freight train that is Team WE.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
In the final match covered in today’s article, EDG will face off against TOP. Trying to improve on their spring performance, EDG needs to level up if they want to confirm their spot at the Regional Finals. And there is no better team to test your mettle than TOP. Sitting as the number one team in the LPL, a good performance against them should bolster your team’s morale, as well as bump the team in fans power-rankings.
However, TOP won’t let this come easily. To maintain their spot as number one, they also have to prove time and time again that they deserve to be called number one. A win against a team like EDG will help the team maintain their position at the top.
And that concludes the preview of the final two days of Week 3, and the first five days of Week 4. Come back next week to read about the last two days of Week 4, and to kick off Week 5.
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