Victory Five grab first win over RNG, climb closer to top of LPL

Victory Five looked decisive once again in the fourth week of the 2020 LPL Summer Split. They swept RNG in a one-hour series earlier today after picking up a 2-0 win over Vici Gaming on June 22.

This was V5’s third win in a row, improving to 5-1 on the split. RNG, on the other hand, fell to fourth place in the LPL at 4-2. This also marked the first time V5 beat RNG since they joined the LPL in 2019, which is a sign of their newfound success in the Summer Split.

Related: Victory Five sweep Vici in LPL Summer Split

RNG elected to use a safe strategy in this series. They took comfort picks and waited for Victory Five to make mistakes, not being overly aggressive in the early phase of the first game.

But V5 showed great mechanics and put relentless pressure on RNG, catching their players instead, which awarded them several objectives in both games.

V5 flawlessly shifted styles, showing early aggression in the first game and a scaling composition in the second that gave RNG space to be the aggressive team.

RNG won the early game but quickly lost their edge by losing objectives over time. Dying in the Baron pit at the 25-minute mark and then in a greedy engage at their base was the nail in the coffin that let V5 take the game and series.

In addition to their display of great individual skills, V5’s synergy looked strong in fights around drakes and Barons. They lost almost no objectives over RNG and took several kills in crucial moments.

RNG jungler XLB and support Ming had the most deaths in the series. Ming got caught out several times as Nautilus in game one, which left the team defenseless. All of RNG’s players looked scattered in the second game, though.

After a shaky performance in the Spring Split in which they barely made it to the playoffs, RNG continue to struggle in the league this summer. V5, though, look more dominant than ever in the Summer Split.

Next week will be a tough test for V5. They have matchups against world champions FunPlus Phoenix on June 29 and the threatening rookies of eStar on July 5.