LPL 2022 Spring Finals Preview

The LPL 2022 Spring Finals are finally here. After months of League of Legends, including the regular round-robin and the playoff gauntlet, the final two will play for it all. On one side, RNG, the team that won it all last spring. And on the other side, Top Esports, the team that dominated in 2020. Today’s article will quickly cover how they got here in preparation for the Grand Final.

The Dominating Veterans of RNG

Image Courtesy of @RNG 

When it comes to RNG’s current roster, their best performing players are their two veterans in Xiaohu and Ming. Ming was the only RNG member on the number 1 All-Pro team, while Xiaohu was on the number 2. However, this doesn’t reflect how well they dominated in the round-robin. RNG only lost 4 matches during the regular season. Their biggest problem was their inconsistency against lower-placed teams, tending to underestimate them and pay the price.

However, in playoffs, there are no weaker teams. Their second-placed by allowed them to start in the double-elimination round in playoffs, meaning that they would only face the best teams remaining. Their first match, against JDG, was significantly closer than fans would have liked, with the result being a reverse sweep in favour of RNG. Moving up to the winner’s bracket, they faced Top Esports. Despite Top Esports looking dominant, they make some egregious mistakes, which RNG were able to capitalize upon, moving on to the Grand Finals.

Top Esports return with their mid-split reboot

Image Courtesy of
topesports_official

After a disappointing 2021, Top Esports decided to make big changes for 2022. Brining in Zoom from JDG, Tian from FPX and Xiaopeng from TT, they looked amazing on paper. Sadly, this wasn’t enough and Top Esports looked worse than they did in the previous year. And so they added two more players. Wayward was promoted from their academy team, and Mark, formerly LGD’s support joined as well.

This worked wonders for the team. Ever since adding both of these players, they have only ever lost 2 series. One against Invictus Gaming in week 8, and one to RNG in the winner’s bracket of playoffs. This second one is the more important one, as the happened very recently, and the Grand-Finals is a rematch of that series. However, Top Esports fans shouldn’t lose hope just yet. As mentioned above, Top Esports dominated most of the games in that series. It could have ended in a clean 3:0 sweep for Top Esports. They just need to make sure they don’t give RNG any breathing room.

In Conclusion

With all that said, who will be the one to take it all in the LPL 2022 Spring Finals? Will RNG continue their winning streak and represent China at MSI, a trophy they also lifted last year? Or will it be Top Esports who will lift the trophy, returning to their 2020 form and adding a second LPL trophy to their cabinet? Be sure to tune into the live broadcast on Saturday, the twenty-third of April, at 5:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time.