Bilibili Gaming back in the LPL playoffs picture, TOPSports score an important victory over JD Gaming in a fight for the top 3
Consistency hasn’t been Bilibili Gaming’s strongest point this LPL split, but the team finds itself back in a playoff spot following a comeback win against a disappointing Snake Esports. SS now sits at the bottom of the standings, having a single series win to its name. The day’s second best-of-3 featured rising teams TOPSports and JD Gaming. TOP scored a fourth consecutive victory and now holds a 4-1 record, its only loss coming at the season opener against reigning world champions Invictus Gaming.
SS vs BLG
Game 1
First blood went to SS with a three men play in the top lane, following a gank by Lê “SofM” Quang Duy (Lee Sin) and a roam by mid laner Zhang “Andy” Jie (Lissandra). Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun (Viktor) secured the kill on BLG’s Kang “ADD” Geon-mo (Urgot).
Following a dominant laning phase, Bilibili Gaming secured the bonus for the game’s first tower in the bottom lane while also picking up full gold from the five plates. SS reacted quickly by swapping lanes and released the Rift Herald on the top side, taking down the turret with all five plates as well. At 15 minutes the game remained close as the teams were tied in towers, gold and kills.
With the Baron up, BLG picked off Andy and support Hu “Maestro” Jian-Xin (Thresh) in the top lane to create room for the objective. The team took the lead during the powerplay, leaving Snake’s base down to the three inhibitor turrets. As the second Baron came into play, it was Snake’s turn to find a pick on ADD and secure the buff. The team however took too long to do so, which allowed BLG enough time to start a fight and secure three kills, rendering the powerplay useless.
Following a solid teamfight, BLG opened the mid lane inhibitor and had the other two exposed. As the team looked set to win the game, Snake made a risky call and managed to finish off the Baron while Bilibili pushed for the bottom lane inhibitor. Snake found a good fight inside the jungle, secured three kills and went for the game. Despite one last effort by their opponents, SS managed to destroy the Nexus to open the series’ score.
Game 2
Snake once again picked up the first kill of the game, working off another gank by SofM. With a three men dive in the bottom lane, the SS jungler took down BLG’s support Xie “Kine” Chao (Tahm Kench). Snake followed up the strong start by adding two Infernal drakes while SofM continued to pick off Bilbili’s players with some very well-aimed Ultimates. BLG meanwhile kept itself in the game by rotating around the map and tying Snake’s tower count.
SS tried to start the Baron 33 minutes into the game in order to break the stalemate, but got forced out of the pit by BLG. The team went for the engage on ADD (Sion) but did not have the damage to take down Bilibili’s front line. BLG turned the fight around and picked up three kills, setting up for Baron. The team only needed to go for a single push through the bottom lane, destroying the inhibitor and following that up with two kills inside Snake’s base. The Nexus went down soon after as Bilibili Gaming forced the tiebreaker.
Game 3
Bilibili got on the board first this time after an extended trade on the river. Lee “Kuro” Seo-haeng (Aurelion Sol) eventually took down Andy (Lissandra). Snake took the lead after that, finding good picks across the map and taking down the mid lane turret to punish Kuro’s constant roaming. As SS tried to pull away, BLG managed to turn around a fight inside its own side of the jungle and picked up three kills following an engage by Snake. Metoer (Olaf) and Kuro chased down Lu “Asura” Qi (Kai’Sa) and SofM (Jarvan) to complete an early ace only 16 minutes into the game. It was the turning point of the match, as the balance tipped heavily towards BLG’s side after that.
Finding pick after pick. BLG continued to grow its lead into the mid game and finally had the chance to go for Baron after securing three kills at the 26 minute mark. SS had no way to contest the call as BLG secured the buff and managed to open up two inhibitors in the bottom and mid lanes during the powerplay. As the buff expired, Bilibili destroyed the final inhibitor and followed it up with three kills before taking down the Nexus to complete the comeback.
TOP vs JDG
Game 1
JDG jungler Sung “Flawless” Yeon-jun (Camille) found himself stuck inside the dragon pit as four TOP players collapsed onto him. Mid laner Zeng “YaGao” Qi (Lissandra) and support Zuo “LvMao” Ming-Hao (Shen) tried to help their teammate, and while Flawless managed to Flash away into safety, YaGao and LvMao went down as TOPSports picked up two kills. JDG responded by taking down the top lane turret with four plates, but TOP’s bottom lane priority led to two Infernal drakes at the 15 minute mark.
With the Baron up, JD had seemingly found a good pick on TOP support Nam “Ben” Dong-hyun (Galio) only to find four TOPSports players nearby. TOP easily turned the fight around and picked up four kills, setting up for an easy and uncontested objective. After finding a good pick on YaGao, TOP managed to take down the mid and bottom lane inhibitors just as the Baron buff expired. As the pressure mounted from two sides, TOP moved onto the last remaining inhibitor and secured four more kills following a failed engage by Flawless. Having cleared the path to the Nexus, TOPSports closed out a dominant first game.
Game 2
JDG went for an early bottom lane gank, but TOP’s duo LokeN (Varus) and Ben (Tahm Kench) successfully escaped and bought enough time for Xiong “Xx” Yu-Long’s (Olaf) counter-gank. TOPSports’ jungler secured the first kill on LvMao (Thresh). JDG tried to respond by committing five players to a play in the bottom lane but failed to take down the tower. TOP committed its five players as well to complete the LPL-special bottom lane fiesta. In the end, TOP came out with the turret , though mid laner Zhuo “Knight” Ding (Zoe) went too far forward and got taken down.
TOPSports found two kills at the 23 minute mark to set up for Baron, and while Knight bought time in the mid lane, the rest of the team secured the buff. The powerplay resulted in two of JD’s inhibitors going down. Knight bursted down JDG’s backline and led the way as TOPSports scored an ace before closing out yet another dominant performance to complete the sweep.
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