2019 LPL Spring W8 Recap: RW Sweeps RNG... Doinb Secures 4 MVPs

Yudae "Akiin" Oak

Mar 19, 2019

2019 LPL Spring Standings (set score)

* as of March 17th, 2019

1. Topsports Gaming 10 - 2 (+14)

2. FunPlus Phoenix 10 - 2 (+12)

3. Invictus Gaming 9 - 3 (+14 )

4. Royal Never Give Up 8 - 3 (+7)

5. JD Gaming 8 -3 (+4)

6. Bilibli Gaming 7 - 4 (+6)

7. EDward Gaming 6 - 5 (+3)

8. Team We 6 - 5 (-1)

9. SinoDragon Gaming 5 - 6 (0)

10. Suning 5 - 8 (- 4)

11. Victory Five 4 - 7 (- 4)

12. Snake Esports 4 - 8 (-8)

13. LGD Gaming 3 - 9 (- 8)

14. Rogue Warriors 3 - 9 ( - 12)

15. Vici Gaming 2 - 9 (- 11)

16. Oh My God 2 - 9 ( - 12)

The 8th week of the 2019 LPL Spring has passed and so far, it seems like we're seeing one of the most competitive splits in the history of LPL. With each teams having at least 3-4 matches left, unlike the other major regions, the LPL still do not have a clear-cut 1st place contender. FunPlus' dominant run has been stopped by numerous teams and currently, they've given away their spot to Topsports Gaming. The competition for the playoff seed is quite fierce as well; teams up to 12th place still seem to have a spot at 8th, the cut line for the 2019 LPL Spring Playoffs.

Notable milestonesCongratulations to Flandre, xiye, and Doinb

On the 13th (CST), Snake defeated V5 2:1. During this series, their top laner Li "Flandre" Xuan-jun reached his 400th win milestone. He is the 7th player to secure 400 wins in the LPL. And following Flandre, WE's franchise player, Su "xiye" Han-wei also hit his 400th win on the 16th against V5. Meanwhile, FunPlus Phoenix's star mid laner, Doinb made his 300th game appearance during his match against SDG. His record is placed on 4th place for the all-time highest LPL "Korean import" appearance record.

RW defeats RNGPossibly one of the biggest upset for this Spring

The traditional LPL powerhouse, RNG was one of the better performing teams lately that was maintaining a 4 game winning streak. And, yes most fans and officials did expect another win from them on the 13th since their opponent was RW, a 15th place team as of week 7.

However, the result went quite the opposite; the 15th place team swept RNG 2:0. Not only the set score but the match itself was quite surprising as well. Watching a 20-year old LPL rookie bottom laner, ZWuji dominating the Rift against an LoL superstar, Uzi was indeed astonishing. This young bottom laner, displayed absolute performance on Vayne in game 1. He was even better in game 2 playing on Ezreal. ZWuji was responsible for 40% of the total damage dealt in that game and received the MVP award.

Match of the WeekRNG vs BLG

RNG went against BLG on the last day of week 8. With BLG delivering solid performance lately, this match was expected to become quite a competitive one.

For each series, BLG players performed pretty well in the laning phase; they were actually never that behind in laning compared to the RNG players. In the 1st set, with their jungler, Metoer's Rek'Sai scaling early, BLG managed to successfully snowball and secured the game. In games 2 and 3 as well, the BLG players performed very well, but it wasn't enough to stop RNG's jungler, Karsa. This prominent jungler, went with his signature pick Lee Sin and single-handedly carried game 2. He was also unstoppable on Zac in the last set and eventually led his team to victory.

MVP of the WeekFPX Doinb

FPX's mid laner, Doinb has been one of the best performing players this split. His vast champion pool - mixed up with some pocket 'tank' picks - makes him such a big asset for FPX. That's why a majority of teams try to suppress him starting from the pick/ban phase. He is also a big threat in roaming situations, so opponent junglers play around the mid lane to tie him down. However, despite the opponents' effort, Doinb has still been performing exceptionally.

On the 13th, FPX went against EDG. After losing game 1, Doinb picked Galio and started to dominate the series. He ended game 2 with a perfect 5/0/12 record. Using the Galio-Nocturne comp, FPX secured game 3 as well; Doinb performed solidly in that game also. Eventually, he was named MVP for both games 2 and 3. Also, on the 17th, Doinb received 2 more MVPs... His Kassadin in game 3 was such a big threat for the opponent with dealing 56% of the total damage dealt from FPX.