What should have been an easy victory for Invictus Gaming turned out to be a disaster against underdogs Rogue Warriors.
The team sitting at the bottom of the standings managed to take down IG, who looked unstoppable after taking down FPX last week. All odds were against RW, and while they did give up the first game, they managed to maintain their morale and picked up two consecutive wins to reverse sweep their opponents.
The MVP votes for RW were picked up by AD carry Betty and top laner Zhu “Zdz” De-Zhang. While both players looked average during the first match, they quickly turned it around with great performances. Betty picked up the first MVP vote for his team after helping them equalize the series with Varus, whose long-range poke combined with decisive engages was crucial in securing the first win. The top laner played Sett after his team first picked it in the last game, had a great laning phase and well-executed ultimates during teamfights.
The first game of the series opened up with passive play from both teams. Once IG got their core items, they started grouping and rolling over their opponents. They were very dominant, killing their opponents left and right with their dive-heavy composition. IG was able to win in 23 minutes.
In the second match, RW adjusted their draft phase to counter IG’s tactics from the first win. RW looked quite in control for most of the match and was close to closing out the game early on, but IG pushed them back and tried to finish the series. RW had a couple of teamfights after almost throwing the match that helped them equalize the series.
In their third match, both teams went for the exact same composition, a runback of the second match. While IG was in control for the most part of the match, an overaggressive play set them far behind. RW capitalized on that mistake to turn the game around and secure the series 2-1.
Related: Here are the 2021 LPL Summer Split standings
RW (2-6) will be back on the Rift later this week with a match against Bilibili Gaming (3-4). While the odds continue to be against RW, this win should give them a fair shot at another upset.
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