After a disappointing defeat against Invictus Gaming last week, FunPlus Phoenix beat LPL rookies eStar and rising team Victory Five to start off the fifth week of the LPL Summer Split.
V5 rolled through the first game of the series on the back of a strong performance from jungler WeiWei’s Nidalee. Throughout the game, V5 proved successful in teamfighting opportunities and racked up all objectives in the Rift. The opening win sparked hope that fans would be treated to a second upset today after EDward Gaming were swept by previously-winless Dominus Esports.
Related: IG win the battle of world champions against FPX in LPL Summer Split
But FPX rapidly figured out how to take advantage of their strengths against V5. They heavily focused V5’s botlane of Samd and ppgod in both of the subsequent games, shutting them down early. The bot lane strategy allowed FPX AD carry Lwx to snowball and engage fights with arrows of a surgical precision on Ashe.
They wrapped up the series with their classic strategy of early dives. V5, who seemed so strong in game one, looked lost in the final moments of the series. This is Victory Five’s second loss of the split, but they still stand in second place.
V5 will have nearly a week off until their next match, as they’ll face eStar on July 5. On the same day, FPX will square off with Royal Never Give Up.
