Invictus Gaming has started the first shock in 2020 by defeating current champions of the League of Legends, FunPlus Phoenix 2-1, in the first series of the 2020 LPL Spring Split.
Despite being scrutinised over changes in its roaster in the 2019 offseason and the departure of AD carry Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo, who was released from its five-man lineup, the Worlds 2019 semifinalists were dominant against the world champions.
IG, which also lost one of the most crucial players on the team, was confident from the get-go. All thanks to newly-signed ADC Ding “Puff” Wang and support Su “Southwind” Zhi-Lin, who used to ply their trade with Vici Gaming.
The duo exacerbated a high level of confidence on the big stage by steamrolling FunPlus Phoenix’s Lin “Lwx” Wei-Xiang in the bot lane and dictated the teamfights to get the win.
The top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok, who looked back in form, was also handy for the opponents apart from the impressive Pff and Southwind.
‘TheShy’ shunned out stellar performances on Aatrox and Ornn, helping IG to come back to winning ways by beating Kim “Khan” Dong-ha in the top lane and engaging for the team.
TheShy and Puff took advantage of their opponent’s overaggressiveness and misplays after losing the first game. They won the game despite FPX having a clear advantage in the first game and could have doubled its lead in the series 2-0 with a little more patience.
The Elder Dragon, through overaggressiveness and misplays, threw away the team’s lead and allowed IG to crawl back into the tie to take the win.
In the second game, the champions bounced back with the help of Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang’s Mordekaiser.
But in the end, the Chinese team fixed their drafting phase and won game three easily as they controlled affairs from all sides of the map, which pushed FPX behind their towers. IG inevitably beat down their Nexus to take the victory.
Recall that IG had recently introduced its 2020 League of Legends roster without Jackey Love, who was instrumental to the team’s success in last year’s LPL spring and summer seasons.
The young Chinese AD carry had carried IG throughout a mid-year slump to advance to Worlds.
With this win against a highly rated opponent, it is believed that criticisms against the tea will reduce for the time being.
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed
