Invictus Gaming took down the reigning LPL champions FunPlus Phoenix during the 2020 Regional Finals in a close five-game series today. While FPX got the momentum early on in the series, IG turned it around towards the end, securing the fifth game win decisively.
Mid laner Rookie was the most consistent player of the League of Legends series, playing with Neeko three times and Zoe twice. He maintained a good scoreline even in the games IG lost and always looked for plays to come back into the game. Even though he was not successful in each game, his efforts were rewarded by winning the series in the end.
The series was hyped up as two former world champions would collide and only one would be able to have another shot at qualifying for this year’s international stage. No one was sure about which team would come on top following their shaky performances this split.
FPX took the reins in the first game with a dominating performance, securing an early game gold lead and then maintaining it throughout the entire game, reaching more than 12,000 gold.
In the next games, FPX and IG swapped their roles with one team taking the dominant position. After reaching match point after the third game win, FPX failed to maintain their position and lost the following two games.
TheShy popped off in the last game of the series, taking down multiple FPX members every time his ultimate was up. He managed to allow IG to take the edge in the mid-game after the game was a stalemate for over 20 minutes. IG maintained the tempo and finished the series on a high note, showing a lot of promise for their next match.
IG will be facing LGD Gaming tomorrow at 4:30am CT for the last LPL spot for the World Championship. Find out who will win by tuning in on the official LPL channel.
FunPlus Phoenix had a shaky year after their dominating performance in 2019, which culminated with a World Championship win. They finished third in the 2020 Spring Split, but dropped to eighth in the Summer Split, barely on the edge of missing playoffs.
Their poor placement in the regular split sent them to the quarterfinals of the LPL Summer Split playoffs, but they got knocked out early on by Victory Five in a 1-3 series. Their year is over and following this poor performance, it’s unclear whether we’ll see the same roster next year.
