League of Legends: The LPL started last night, what does it mean for season 9? Recap; Thoughts
The new season has officially started for the top 5 regions, with China’s LPL playing its first couple matches last night. This is the first time a major region has been seen playing on the most recent patch, so many of this year’s early metas are likely to be defined here. Of course, with the LPL laying claim to 2018’s MSI and Worlds Champions, these teams have proven that they’re both a force to be reckoned with and worth emulating…to a certain extent.
Invictus Gaming (IG) vs Topsports Gaming (Top)
IG waisted no time going back to what worked during worlds: putting midlaner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin on Lissandra. Thanks to her new passive ability and consistently strong engage, Rookie reminded everyone why you should always ban Lissandra against him. In the jungle, Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning wasted no time pulling a Griffin and picked Kayn. Kayn was played a grand total one time during the entire of the 2018 LPL season: summer playoffs, by — you guessed it — Ning. His opposite number, Topsports’ Xiong “Xx” Yu-Long, picked another Griffin-esque (although somewhat less so since the buffs) pick in the Sejuani. Ning showed why Kayn may still be a good pick, securing a blisteringly fast first blood just after three minutes.
IG’s midgame proved to be a bit rough around the edges, after Topsports’ bruisers and tanks were ready to fight a bit earlier and they pressed their advantage taking aggressive fights and punishing IG for some bad positioning. However, Rookie’s Lissandra once again served to carry IG through two important fights post-20 that won them Baron, and later the game.
Game 2 was a similar story. Although Topsports secured first blood, IG remained strong in the early game, until a fight broke out at the drake pit at 15 minutes that put Top squarely at the wheel of the game. IG were patient, and turned Top’s own tactics against them when a pick on Zhou “Knight” Ding almost allowed them Baron at 22 minutes. It wasn’t until IG killed Xx that they felt comfortable taking Baron a couple minutes later, immediately turning to punish Top for trying to fight without their jungler. It didn’t take much longer for IG to bring the game to a decisive end at 31:11.
FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) vs Rogue Warriors (RW)
You’re not gonna like what I’m about to say: there was a Yasuo in game 1. Kim “DoinB” Tae-sang played it; he got first blood.
Both teams went with similarly-styled compositions: strong front lines with two true tanks and a bruiser (Gragas for RW, Urgot for FPX), melee carries (Irelia for RW, Yasuo for FPX) and burst-damage AD Carries. As with the IG vs Top series, the team with first blood lost the early midgame after being content to sit on their one kill and continue farming. The fight around Rift Herald at 15 minutes turned the game around for FPX, giving them the kill-lead, rift herald, and two towers in the midlane. Fifteen minutes later FPX crashed through the top lane into Rogue Warrior’s base, killing the inhibitor turret, immediately prompting a fight from RW. The fight was scrappy and drawn out, health bars dropping on both sides. FunPlus seemed like they wanted to leave the base with their kill on the enemy adc as RW’s Irelia stormed in to finish them off. But DoinB came back to save his tanks, and Irelia disappeared under the focus. At that point the game was over, and FPX ended the game on the back of strong performances from DoinB and Lwx.
Game two was much more back and forth. The teams traded fights throughout. Objectives were split fairly evenly, and chances for kills went wanting for both sides until the 14th minute, where the first full team fight granted FPX four kills, first tower, and a drake. Rogue Warriors would not be outdone, however. They aced FPX three minutes later thanks to the timely arrival of Tian “HuaTian” Mai’s Irelia, and evened up the tower score. Another fight went RW’s way in the 20th minute, but FPX responded with a pick on the RW support and an immediate Baron play. While Baron went the way of FPX, Rogue Warriors managed kill 4 FPX members in the ensuing fight, leaving DionB his team’s sole survivor and buff carrier. Fights in this game were bloody and often, as FPX won another in the 23rd minute on Lwx’s quadra kill ace. Rogue Warriors managed to get two kills of their own in the fight, evening the kill score at 14.
The penultimate fight came with the second Baron in the 29th minute. The fight started well for RW as they killed of the FPX support, but fell apart after they failed to secure the kill on Lwx and lost HuaTian in the process. FunPlus comfortably took the baron. The next fight would finally spell the end of the series for Rogue Warriors as FPX’s bruiser-focused comp proved to have both the needed damage and sustain to survive, this time carried by Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang’s Gragas quadra kill before he fell. DoinB and toplaner GimGoon marched down mid and killed RW’s nexus at an exhausting conclusion to a combined 40 kill bloodbath.
What Does it All Mean?
League of Fighters is still very much alive and well. The meta at Worlds was all about fighting and aggression. Teams that chose to play too many true tanks or too slowly ultimately couldn’t keep up. The same can be said for the meta at the KeSPA cup, and here on the first day of the LPL. Teams that chose solid engage, and maximized their tank efficiency were the winners at the end. Invictus put Rookie on the ultimate comfort, and while he may have looked a bit rusty, having not played a professional match in almost two months, but regardless, his presence in team fights and around objectives made sure IG walked away the victor. We should not, of course, discount Top’s efforts during the series. They were able to correctly identify and punish moments of weakness from IG, but perhaps lacked the experience necessary to maintain their advantages. Knight managed to go toe-to-toe with Rookie in lane during both games, highlighting his skill and lack of fear, something to be praised for certain.
Rogue Warriors and FunPlus Phoenix played a very even two games, despite the series scoreline favoring FPX 2–0. DoinB led the charge against his former team on two very unconventional picks for the pro level (game 1 Yasuo and game 2 Kled). If perhaps one more fight had gone RW’s way in game 2, the series may have told a different story, but it wasn’t to be. We even saw Rogue Warriors draft Thresh and Kalista, a duo that terrorized the world’s top regions for weeks this time last year, but proved to not be as powerful, and ultimately defeatable, thanks to key changes to Kalista in patch 9.1.
The LCS, LEC, LCK, and LMS all start their spring splits later this week, and it will be interesting to see if they follow the LPL’s lead as far as which champions are favored, or if they will experiment with new picks and strategies.
