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Royal Never Give Up put Newbee to the sword 3-1 at the ESL One Los Angeles Online 2020 event, winning the Dota 2 competition without dropping a single series.
RNG and Newbee previously met in the group stage of the event, with RNG also coming out on top in a clean 2-0.
The first game saw RNG picking up one of their most favored carries in the patch, a Dragon Knight for Monet. Along with a hot start from Gao “Setsu” Zhengxiong’s Storm Spirit, RNG took every teamfight handily. It didn’t take too long for Newbee to lose their first set of the barracks, and they conceded in the face of RNG’s growing death ball.
Game two was a more even affair. RNG started with an early game lead, but Newbee’s Lycan and Storm Spirit lineup began to run rampant in the mid-game. RNG’s cores continued to farm away, however, Monet’s Faceless Void and Setsu’s Puck eventually became too much to handle.
On the ropes, Newbee decided to pick up the tempo with an Alchemist mid and Dazzle safe lane carry in the third game. Newbee placed an enormous amount of emphasis on their mid laner, opting for a Battlefury instead of a Radiance likely because of the opposing Nyx Assassin’s Spike Carapace. Newbee’s captain Faith played excellently on his position five Clockwerk, constantly locking down the opposing Snapfire and preventing RNG from pulling off a good teamfight. The brisk pace worked in their favor, allowing Newbee to stave off elimination for one more game.
Newbee continued a more experimental draft in game four, with bolstered confidence from their recent win. The team sent Centaur Warruner to the mid lane, picked up Nature’s Prophet as a carry, and a Clockwerk hard support in a bid to counter out RNG’s lanes.
RNG quickly adapted to the drafts, picking up hardier carries in Lifestealer and Templar Assassin. Setsu’s Templar grew quickly out of control, and Newbee found themselves capable of only running from RNG. It didn’t take too long for RNG to hunt their opponents down, securing themselves as the victor of the ESL One LA Online 2020 tournament.
The team was originally slated to appear in their first Major of the season after qualifying for the ESL One LA Major, but the event has since been canceled. With so many Chinese titans underperforming as of late, RNG are looking to be a dark horse contender in the region.
