After another well-fought series, both of the LPL representatives at the 2023 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational have guaranteed that the trophy will be heading back to China for the third time in a row.
Bilibili Gaming took down T1 in four games to earn themselves a spot in the last series of the event, booking another rematch of the 2023 LPL Spring Finals against JD Gaming. They will be looking to break their streak of losses against the Chinese powerhouse after losing against them in two straight series.
The LPL second seed has continuously ramped up their play over this tournament, finding ways to elevate their play with supreme teamfighting and smart macro decision-making. T1 have looked like one of the best teams in the tournament, but like many other teams before them, they weren’t able to stand toe-to-toe with BLG in the later stages of their games.
For yet another series, BLG’s rising star AD carry Zhao “Elk” Jia-Hao put on a masterclass with 24 kills and 24 assists, while also locking in the Player of the Series award. Throughout the match, he was able to kite around the opposition and avoid harm, while blasting away enemies on champions like Zeri and Jinx. He was also protected perfectly by Luo “ON” Wen-Jun with four straight games of Lulu.
Kindred had been one of the worst-performing junglers at MSI this year, but BLG’s 21-year-old jungler Peng “XUN” Li-Xun showed out on the champion in game two, leading his team with eight kills and a single death as he helped them secure the fastest game time of the day. Ultimately, however, it was a full team effort with each player outplaying their opposition, and the momentum caused T1 to balk on some plays that could have changed the course of the series.
Now, BLG must face off against the final boss of the tournament, with JDG waiting for them in the finals. The LPL’s first seed has not dropped a single series so far, but they did lose two games vs. T1 in their upper-bracket matchup. We could be seeing the BLG’s best form and best chance to win MSI when they take the stage tomorrow at 6am CT.
