FunPlus Phoenix keeps its spot at the top of the LPL standings with a win over WE. RNG sweeps rivals EDG, moves up to fourth place.
WE vs FPX, RNG vs EDG 2019 LPL Spring Split Matches Recap
The Lunar New Year break did not slow down FunPlus Phoenix. The LPL leader marked its return to action with a dominant sweep of Team WE. FPX has only dropped two games in five series and remains as the only undefeated team. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be any challengers to their early dominance, as RNG is finally back. Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao is ready to defend his crown, and the reigning LPL champions showed their strength by sweeping longtime rivals EDward Gaming. RNG has won all four sets it’s played since Uzi’s return.
WE vs FunPlus Phoenix
Game 1
WE opened the series with a beautiful play by support Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng (Thresh), which started with a Flash and flay combo before using his lantern to bring jungler Zhou “Magic” Jun-Xuan (Olaf) into the lane. The teams secured two kills, including an important one for AD carry Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun (Vayne). FPX’s star mid laner Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang (Lissandra) made up for it by constantly pressuring the side lane, securing the mid lane priority and giving his team the room to secure two Infernal buffs.
Thanks to Doinb’s pressure, FunPlus Phoenix was able to take down the mid and bottom lane turrets. With the mid laner now having even more space to roam, FunPlus Phoenix quickly grew that lead into five turrets to none on WE’s side, setting up for a Baron call at the half-hour mark. WE tried to contest the execution, but Doinb once again came up big with a triple kill as FunPlus secured the buff.
FunPlus Phoenix pushed in from the mid lane as Doinb found a beautiful engage inside WE’s base and followed it up with a quadra kill as his team completed the ace. After 33 minutes of play, FunPlus Phoenix destroyed the Nexus to close out the first game without dropping a single tower.
Game 2
After the game 1 loss, WE tried to shake things up by moving Mystic to the top lane, repeating his Vayne pick from the previous match. Top laner Kim “Poss” Min-cheol (Viktor) moved to Mystic’s spot in the bottom lane. This time around, FPX stroke first following a questionable attempt by Magic (Jarvan) to steal Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang’s (Aatrox) blue buff. Doinb (Lissandra) roamed from the mid lane to help his jungler pick up the kill.
Doinb’s roaming once again made the difference, as the FPX mid laner showed up to help his team’s side lanes. Soon FunPlus Phoenix had all three outer turrets down on WE’s side at 15 minutes, building up a sizable 9,000 gold lead. Following a pickoff on Poss, the number 1 team in the standings had the room to go for Baron, stopping WE from contesting it. FPX destroyed two inhibitors and followed it up with a clean ace inside their opponent’s base, going for the Nexus after 29 minutes of play to remain the number one team in the LPL.
RNG vs EDG
Game 1
The series between the rivals began with a long trade in the bottom lane. Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming (Alistar) went for the initial engage but EDG’s AD carry Hu “iBoy” Xian-Zhao (Ezreal) dealt enough damage to pick up the first blood before going down to Uzi (Kai’Sa). Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan (Olaf) made it a two for one trade in RNG’s favor with a kill on Tian “Meiko” Ye (Tahm Kench).
The teams traded kills back and forth at an intense pace, reaching almost one death every minute, but failing to turn that into major objectives. EDG managed to build a 3,000 gold lead with two elemental drakes and three turrets past the 20 minute mark. But just as the Baron came into play, Uzi single-handedly won a fight for RNG and his team headed to the Baron pit.
EDward Gaming halted Royal’s powerplay with a good fight in the mid lane as the map reset once again. RNG continued to force its way through the middle of the map and it finally paid off thanks to a great engage by Ming and a follow-up by Uzi. Royal Never Give Up scored a clean ace and went for the Nexus to close out the 31 kills game in 31 minutes.
Game 2
Despite RNG securing the first kill in the top lane, EDG came out of the early game with the lead, consistently finding picks around the map off some good rotations. The team however failed to turn that advantage into any significant objectives across the map, having a single Cloud drake to show off for it as the first turret also went to Royal on the top side.
RNG found two good fights working off EDward Gaming engages. The first one had EDG players wasting a number of Ultimates trying to pick off Xiaohu (Zoe) but failing to secure the kill. Royal fought back and managed to drive EDG back. Lacking the resources for a second fight, EDward Gaming still went for a second engage in the mid lane, but this time around RNG punished their opponent’s aggressiveness with a triple kill by a well-positioned Uzi (Lucian).
Royal Never Give Up managed to secure the Baron buff and turned the map in its favor, leaving EDG’s inhibitor turrets exposed in the bottom and mid lanes. As RNG started the second Baron, EDward Gaming showed up to contest the execution. Royal stopped Haro (Sejuani) from attempting the steal and ultimately ignored the Baron, going for the fight instead. Scoring a clean ace, the reigning LPL champions went straight for the game. Haro and Ray (Sion) spawned in time to defend the Nexus, but couldn’t do much more than watch their rivals end the game and the series.
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