LPL Week 2 Review

 

The LPL is well underway and has already been full of scintillating contests, with each group having a clear leader at the top.

 

We cited the potential of the Qiao Gu Reapers side in our LPL preview a few weeks ago and since then, they have added a world-class Korean Mid Laner in the shape of Dade (who has yet to start) and dominated Group A of the LPL.

 

Meanwhile, the extensive and exciting roster of Royal Never Give Up has shown up big in Group B.

 

Let’s take a look at each group:

 

Group A

			Pts
1.	Qiao Gu Reapers	4W – 0L	4
2.	Team WE	2W – 1L	2
2.	Team Snake	2W – 1L	2
4.	Master3	1W – 2L	1
5.	Energy Pacemaker.All	1W – 3L	1
6.	LGD Gaming	0W – 3L	0

 

When highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the Qiao Gu Reapers line-up prior to the beginning of this season, it was their new signing – AD Carry Uzi – who was predicted for greatness. Conventional wisdom suggested if they were to succeed, he would be the key.

 

However, Uzi has yet to start a game for the Reapers, with Peco starting instead. With a K/D/A of 12.25, it’s not hard to see why. It’s been very much a case of ‘start as you mean to go on’ for QG after they completely dismantled LGD Gaming in their first match. Across the two games, QG’s players died a total of 5 times, while picking up 40 kills. They’ve since added the scalps of Energy Pacemaker.all, Team WE and Master3 to their collection.

 

LGD Gaming were China’s second seed to last year’s World Championship and while their performance there was poor, the addition of SKT’s MaRin was supposed to galvanise this squad. This is a team that has two former world champions in their line-up and yet they sit at the bottom of Group A without a win to their name. MaRin himself has been particularly poor, with a K/D/A of just 1.06 and 33 deaths across 7 games. LGD need to fix their issues quickly or risk their expensively assembled squad’s humiliation.

 

Group B

			Pts
1.	Royal Never Give Up	4W – 0L	4
2.	OMG	2W – 2L	2
3.	Invictus Gaming	1W – 1L	1
3.	Edward Gaming	1W – 1L	1
5.	Vici Gaming	1W – 2L	1
6.	Hyper Youth Gaming	0W – 3L	0

 

The first thing you may notice when looking at the above table is that Edward Gaming and Invictus Gaming have played fewer games than the rest. Unfortunately, technical issues marred their match-up causing a postponement, with the game now to be played on 21 February.

 

While fewer conclusions can be drawn from the table than Group A, this doesn’t diminish the achievement of Royal Never Give Up. Royal’s victories against OMG, Hyper Youth Gaming, Vici Gaming and Edward Gaming leave them in a very strong position already. Despite an extensive roster including well-known names such as NaMei and inSec, Royal have stuck with the same line-up for every game so far. Jungler mlxg has taken full advantage of Graves’ rework, playing the ADC in the Jungle in 5 games, with a K/D/A of 11.17 on the champion. Meanwhile, Mid Laner Xiaohu’s 4 games as LeBlanc have helped him net 20 of his 40 kills so far, boosting his overall KDA to 6.72.

 

Week Three’s games to look out for are Qiao Gu v Team Snake and Royal v Invictus. If both teams can maintain their perfect records, they should be in the driver’s seat moving forwards. For Qiao Gu in particular this represents an excellent opportunity for them to beat one of their closest rivals in the standings. With the underperformance of LGD, Group A is there for the taking.

 

In Group B, until we see more from both Invictus and Edward Gaming, we can’t quite say the same for Royal, but if they can win again, it will put a lot of pressure on both of those teams.

To place a bet on this event you can visit Dafabet.