LNG picked up the win in a surprisingly balanced series against TT today in the third week of the 2021 LPL Summer Split.
While TT are yet to grab a victory this summer after ending the Spring Split in 13th place, LNG were still undefeated when they came up against TT with a 5-0 record. For this reason, many League of Legends fans expected to watch a one-sided series ending with a clean 2-0 score. But TT proved them wrong.
After losing the first game due to various gold leads that LNG found both in lane and from the neutral objectives, TT entered the second game with a clear plan of action. Jungler Xiaopeng’s Lee Sin offered an opportunity to TT’s solo laners to snowball with successful ganks that offered him six kills before the nine-minute mark. Although Langx’s Gnar had a weak matchup against Ale’s Lucian in the top lane, he was focused down all game and couldn’t have an impact, being caught out several times by TT’s assassins.
While LNG boast flawless teamfights and skirmishes, as well as strong Baron control and mid-game presence with the second-highest gold lead at 25 minutes, the team’s stats reveal average numbers during the early game. TT played around this weakness to tie the series. They adjusted their strategy in the last game, however, by picking Lulu mid and Braum as support to focus on enabling the first Rek’Sai of the split to dominate. TT abandoned their fast-paced playstyle and went through a slow early game.
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This strategy almost worked out. LNG solely focused on punishing TT’s mistakes and this allowed them to get the lead. The team grabbed first blood by catching Patch’s Braum in the river at over 10 minutes and then secured more objectives than TT to open the way to their Nexus.
Although LNG dominated the mid game, TT came back after 30 minutes and each team grabbed successive leads after bloody teamfights around the Rift. It was balanced until the very last teamfight when LNG’s top laner Ale turned the tide of the game with a risky teleport to flank the team in their base and pick off SamD’s Ezreal. Thanks to this play, LNG grabbed the victory in this series.
LNG (6-0) are looking strong at the start of the Summer Split. They’ve defeated top-tier squads like defending LPL champions RNG and spring playoff team FPX to maintain a perfect record so far.
LNG will have a chance to extend their winning streak to seven when they face off against Invictus Gaming next Sunday, June 27, at 4am CT. TT, on the other hand, will play V5 on June 25 at 4am CT. They’re another winless team, so after that series, one of them will grab their first victory of the split.
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