The LPL Regional qualifiers started out on Thursday and concluded on Sunday. Suning, LGD, FunPlus Phoenix and Invictus Gaming all partook in a final qualifier for Worlds. For anyone who doesn’t understand how the Regional Qualifiers work, this article explains it in better detail.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
Despite falling to TOP Esports in the semifinal, Suning had one final shot at making it directly to the main stage of Worlds. Since TOP and LGD would finish the year with more championship points than either IG or FPX, they would meet in the first match of the Regional Finals, where the winner would receive the final spot. Just like in their previous encounter for the third-place spot, Suning took the match 3-0.
The most incredible part of Suning making it to Worlds was their summer campaign. Coming into the Summer Split, Suning had zero championship points. After missing playoffs in spring, the same roster returned for summer, with Bin taking full-time control of the top lane, instead of sharing it with Biubiu. So the same roster that missed playoffs in spring went 12-4 in summer. After that, they went to playoffs to remove Victory Five from the race for Worlds, as well as to establish themselves as the third-best team in China.
Image Courtesy of Leaguepedia
The team that was competing with Suning for the final spot at the Worlds main stage was LGD. Sadly for them, they failed to defeat them in any of the six games they played in the last week. However, forced to reface IG for the final spot at Worlds, LGD once again had their playoff performance, knocking IG out of Worlds and booked their ticket to Worlds Play-In.
LGD, a lot like Suning, failed to make playoffs in Spring. However, unlike Suning, they changed 3 of their players. They brought LangX from RNG and Xiye and Mark from Dominus. Teaming up with Peanut and Kramer, the two returning players, LGD became branded as the team of veteran misfits. While the team seemed vastly improved from spring, they still seemed shaky and had the tendency to play passively and throw games.
Coming into summer playoffs, they took down Team WE and then had to face IG, a team that was performing better than they were. However, they managed to upset IG and move onto the semifinals. While the team did lose to JD Gaming and then Suning, they managed to bounce back and take down IG once again. With that, LGD will return to the Worlds stage for the first time since 2015, where they will look to atone for previous mistakes.
And so, TOP Esports, JD Gaming, Suning and LGD will represent the LPL at Worlds 2020. TOP, JDG and Suning all have a bye directly to the main event, while LGD will have to fight their way through the play-ins.
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