Spring’s final stages are nearly here, as week 7 of the LPL 2022 Spring Split is just around the corner. There are no more undefeated teams, as LNG fell twice this last week, once to RNG and once to Weibo Gaming. Speaking of, Weibo Gaming now lead the LPL, with Victory Five hot on their heels. While many expected both of these teams to be towards the top, few expected them to be leading the charge during the round-robin. With less than half the teams left for them to face, can both of these squads maintain their charge towards playoffs?
Week 6: Day 6
Match 1: Team World Elite vs Ultra Prime
Saturday’s first match features two teams that are towards the bottom of the standings. Ultra Prime is coming off of a win against OMG, which is always a positive. While neither Ultra Prime nor OMG have been consistent so far this split, UP managed to be the better team that day and took the win. They will need to keep that same level of performance up, if they want to catch up to the playoffs teams. Currently, they are only a game under FPX, but IG and Rare Atom are also making a push for the final playoff spot.
Meanwhile, time is running out for Team World Elite. While they are only three victories behind FPX, they only have seven games left to play. While those numbers seem ease enough, there are plenty of teams between them. For WE to make it, not only do they have to win games, they have to hope that their rivals fail. And what better way to start their climb by beating a team that is directly above them in the standings?
Prediction: Ultra Prime
Match 2: Weibo Gaming vs OMG
Saturday’s second match features the team leading the pack vs the team that is fighting for their playoff spot. Weibo Gaming has take the LPL by storm. After falling to BLG in week one, WBG has only gotten better with time. The team seems to have returned to their Summer 2020 glory form, with everyone on the team contributing to their victories. Anyone on Weibo Gaming has the potential to carry games, and this is shown by their MVP performances. TheShy has 5, Angel and Huanfeng have 4 apiece and Sofm has 3.
Meanwhile, OMG are starting to struggle. While they are currently in ninth, they have played 11 games, two more than the tenth-placed FPX. OMG needs to start putting on consistent performances if they want to keep their playoff spot. As mentioned above, many bottom of the table teams are starting to climb their way up. If this keeps up, OMG could find themselves overwhelmed and missing out on playoffs entirely.
Prediction: Weibo Gaming
Match 3: Top Esports vs EDG
The third match of the day should be an incredible one. EDG are starting to show sings of weakness. After falling to Weibo Gaming, they tripped again over Victory Five. While this is understandable given that both of them are clearly top-tier teams, EDG is the current world champion. For better or for worse, fans hold them to a higher standard. And those standards seem to be slipping as once again, EDG stumbled in a clean, 2:0 series. This match should be a good way to see how strong EDG really are.
Meanwhile, Top Esports are bouncing back from an unstable start. After a rough start to the split, Top Esports is on a three series winning streak, putting an end to JDG’s momentum and catching up to the top-six teams. This will be a true test of their strength, as EDG is one of the stronger teams they still have to face. If Top manage to find a win here, then they will official reenter the race for the Spring Split.
Prediction: EDG
Week 6: Day 7
Match 1: ThunderTalk Gaming vs FunPlus Phoenix
Sunday’s first match features FPX and TT. FPX have to find their footing this split, or they will run the risk of missing out on the playoffs. Sitting at 4 and 5, multiple teams are closing in on them, looking to take their playoff spot. This squad as the talent to be at the top of the table, but they lack the ability to perform consistently. Sadly for them, this could end up costing them their playoff spot if they are not careful. This match against TT should serve as a buffer to separate them from the rapidly rising teams.
Meanwhile, this match could be ThunderTalks best chance to get their split back. If they are to make playoffs, they will need to start winning, and who better to beat than the team that is currently gatekeeping the playoffs for the other teams? Should TT start to climb the leaderboard, it will still be an unhill battle, but it is still possible.
Prediction: FunPlus Phoenix
Match 2: Bilibili Gaming vs JD Gaming
Match two has BLG face off against JDG. BLG have manged to bounce back from their rough week, but they are still showing signs of weakness. Their series against WE was a lot closer than what they would have liked, and with Top Esports right behind them in the standings, BLG can’t afford to mess around anymore. While they still have some time till the end of the split, they still have a rough schedule ahead of them, including a head-to-head match against Top Esports next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, JDG have seemingly fallen back to earth. After going on a four series winning streak, they lost to both Top Esports and Invictus Gaming. While both of these series were close, 2:1 losses, at the end of the day, they still ended up losing. Now the main question is if they can find their footing once more and keep their feet on solid ground. Currently in eight place, if playoffs were to be today, they would make it in. However, they aren’t that far ahead of the teams rapidly climbing the table, having only one extra win over fourteenth placed Anyone’s Legend.
Prediction: Bilibili Gaming
Match 3: LNG vs Victory Five
Sunday’s final match should be an absolute banger. Despite being on a two-series losing streak, LNG are still one of the top teams in the LPL. With players like the ones that they have, they should always be respected as a top team, regardless if they are going through a rough time or not. That said, LNG are now alongside EDG in fourth place, while V5 and Weibo Gaming are tied in first. If they want to get their spot back, there will be few better opportunities than a direct match against one of those teams.
On the other side of summoner’s rift, Victory Five continue with their winning streak. With their only loss so far this split being a close match against Weibo Gaming, Victory Five have a chance to end the split at the very top. After this match against LNG, they only have BLG left out of the top-six teams to face. While that doesn’t mean victory is certain, it means that should they beat out LNG, chances are very high that if they keep up their high level of performance, that they will end the split with a top-two bye for the playoffs.
Prediction: Victory Five
LPL 2022 Spring Split Week 7: Day 1
Match 1: Team World Elite vs Rare Atom
Monday will kick off with a match between two teams that need this win. Rare Atom are on the up and coming, having come off a clean win against RNG. They also have the chance to take down FPX, a series going down shortly after the release of this article, and possibly take their playoff spot momentarily. Rare Atom need to keep this energy up if they want to maintain themselves well in the playoff race. And what a time to come alive aswell. Not a week ago, they were looking like they were out of the race.
However, the same cannot be said about World Elite. While they continue to show signs of life, they still sit at only one win. After nearly making it to Worlds last summer, to go out so early would be nothing short of dissapointing to WE fans. It is understandable given the roster reboot and WE opting to save money, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Perhaps a win against Rare Atom would allow them to breathe in a sigh of relieve, before returning to the playoff race.
Prediction: Rare Atom
Match 2: LGD vs Invictus Gaming
The second match of the day features two of the oldest orgs in the LPL, IG and LGD. LGD are still at the bottom of the table, fighting alongside WE and TT to avoid finishing last. Falling further and further behind the playoff teams, every week feels like a countdown to LGD’s official elimination from the playoff race. To make matters worse, this is the “easiest” match left for LGD, with IG being their only remaining opponent who isn’t currently in the playoffs.
The same can’t be said for IG. After a shaky start to the split, Invictus Gaming has come alive, and are officially in the playoff race. Taking down teams far above them in the standings, it feels like IG can tango with the best that the LPL has to offer. They even brought back a familiar face in Wink, who has already shown up, picking up MVP twice against JDG. IG are one of the most dangerous teams to face in the LPL at the moment, with few expectations and seemingly endless possibilities.
Prediction: Invictus Gaming
LPL 2022 Spring Split Week 7: Day 2
Match 1: Ultra Prime vs JD Gaming
Tuesday will start off with an interesting match. What makes this match so interesting is how both of these teams play fairly similarly. Both teams have carry orientated bot lanes, with Hope and Missing being key to JDG’s success and Elk and ShiauC being the ones that often lead UP to victory. Both mid laners are traditional mage players, with both feeling very at home with the Corki/Viktor meta handshake. And both junglers are the ones that set the tempo that the team will play by.
However, that is were the main difference lies. Kanavi has been having a great split, consistently finding early game advantages for his team, allowing them to take over from their lanes. Meanwhile, H4cker has been very hit or miss so far this split. When he is playing well, Ultra Prime can often snowball games. But when he isn’t, he can seem like an anchor that only hold’s UP back. The result of this match rely on which version of H4cker shows up to play.
Prediction: JD Gaming
Match 2: Bilibili Gaming vs Top Esports
In what should be one of the most important matches played so far this split, BLG will take on Top Esports. And what makes this match so important? The fact that it will likely decided which one of these teams makes it into the top-six, and which will have to start their playoff’s from round one. This is a huge deal, since it would mean skipping out on a best of five and taking more time to rest up and prepare for the grueling gauntlet ahead.
Top Esports is starting to rev up, and while they aren’t looking like a top tier team just yet, they clearly have the potential to grow into one. Bringing in new faces really helped the team to look more like the team that many knew they could be. Meanwhile, BLG is still recovering from their rough time against LNG and IG, and need to prove that they still belong in the top-six.
Prediction: Bilibili Gaming
LPL 2022 Spring Split Week 7: Day 3
Match 1: LGD vs EDG
Wednesday’s first match is another LPL classic between EDG and LGD. As mentioned above, IG are the last none playoff team that LGD have left to face, and their gauntlet begins against the current world champions. Lucky them. To make matters worse, should they lose both series in today’s article, and lose to TT at the time of this articles release, they will be mathematically eliminated from the playoff race. They could either be the first or the second, depending on the results of Team WE’s series.
Meanwhile, EDG will want to take advantage of the easier series to bounce back up and stay right behind Weibo and Victory Five. Both of the teams are at the top of the table, but have notorious habits of slipping up against weaker opponents, namely V5 and their habit of going to three games against everyone. EDG will want to keep up to make sure that they don’t end up having to play an additional round in the playoffs when it could be avoided all together.
Prediction: EDG
Match 2: Weibo Gaming vs RNG
The second match of the day should be one of the best ones in the week. Weibo Gaming has looked amazing recently, taking down both EDG and LNG, officially killing the previous gods to establish themselves at the top of the food chain. While they aren’t perfectly in sync just yet, it feels like they grow better and better with every week that goes by. Weibo Gaming is wanting to pick up were Suning left off, and this time, they won’t stop until they won everything, including the LPL and Worlds that Suning never managed to win.
Meanwhile, RNG have some explaining to do. While all credit to them to be the first team to bring down LNG, the fact remains that they went from beating LNG to getting clean swept by Rare Atom. For a team that want’s to finish at the top of the LPL, this is completely unacceptable. They continue to be plagued by inconsistency, and this could very well be the reason why they miss out on a top-four bye in the playoffs, maybe even a top-six.
Prediction: Weibo Gaming
LPL 2022 Spring Split Week 7: Day 4
Match 1: Victory Five vs JD Gaming
Friday’s first match features V5 and JDG. And yes, day four of week 7 will be on Friday instead of Thursday. Anyway, Victory Five will want to remain tied with Weibo Gaming at the top of the LPL. Sadly for them, they have more game losses, not to mention they loose the direct head-to-head against WBG. That means that they have to make sure that they don’t slip up any more. Victory Five can’t afford to continue to be Victory Three Games if they want to rest easy at the top of the table.
On the other side of the rift, JDG have to get ready for a small gauntlet of their own. While not as bad as say LGD’s, JDG still have to face the likes of LNG, V5 and Weibo Gaming. This could be very problematic for a team that has hopes on making playoffs. They have to make sure to always be playing their best, regardless of their opponents. They have the skills to make playoffs, but they need to prove that they can consistently play at the highest level to lock in their spot.
Prediction: Victory Five
Match 2: ThunderTalk Gaming vs LNG
Speaking of teams that need to be consistent, LNG are another one. Yes, they had a rough group of series to play in a row, but they need to get up, dust themselves off and end the split as best they can. Weibo Gaming and Victory Five are still in their reach, and EDG, who they are yet to face by the way, are still tied with them. They can’t afford to lose hope now, less they end up falling even further down the tables and have to play even more playoff games.
Much like LGD and WE mentioned above, TT are running a serious risk. If they go 1 and 10, it will mean the end of their run. Going 1:10 means that they will only have 5 games left, with 6:11 being their best possible result. IG, Rare Atom, FPX and JDG are all at four wins, with JDG having a series in hand over TT. Going 1 and 10 will mean that even if they were to win all of their series, depending on the results of the teams mentioned above, it still wouldn’t be enough for TT to reach them and make playoffs.
Prediction: LNG
Match 3: FunPlus Phoenix vs Bilbili Gaming
The final match of today’s article features BLG and FPX. BLG will want to make sure, that regardless of their result against Top on Tuesday, they will come into this match with everything they’ve got. Even if they were to loose against Top Esports, they could still hope to take RNG’s spot, or hope that Top slide back down to underperformance. Regardless of those hypotheticals, BLG have to come into this match as if it were to decided their entire split, because it possibly could.
On the other hand, FPX will want to give it everything they’ve got to make sure that they can make playoffs. While it quite the fall from grace compared to their performance last year, this roster has undergone heavy roster changes, meaning that they were expected to drop a bit in performance. However, this wouldn’t excuse them possibly missing out on playoffs all together. And if they were to lose here and continue to drop games against teams below them, they could end up missing it all.
And that concludes the preview of the final two days of week 6, as well as the first five days of week 7. Be sure to come back next time, to read about the last matches of Week 7, as well as the first few matches of Week 8.
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