Top Esports has continued its mid-season tear through the LPL with an upset 2-1 win over EDG. Despite the team’s slow start, TES have managed a steady ascent up the LPL rankings and prolonged a four-game winning streak near the tail end of the season.
As for EDG, the former LPL and World champions have fallen into a two-game losing streak. Though still a heavy favorite for the postseason, EDG have little time left in the regular season to clean up their gameplay.
Game one was a decisive win for TES to lead off the series. While EDG focused on their opponent’s bottom lane in the early game, TES’ Mark and Jackeylove largely withstood the storm to earn their team a marginal gold advantage. The young midlaner Knight, however, was undoubtedly the biggest threat on the map, finding flanking angles on Vex that facilitated most of TES’ biggest plays and pushes.
After an early 22-minute Baron, TES were able to siege the base to close out the game. TES made easy work of the defending champions, wrapping up game one in the second quickest game of the series.
Game two saw another one-sided game, this time in favor of EDG. A five-vs-five at only eight minutes gave EDG a lead which they refused to let go of throughout the course of their 22-minute win. By the end of the early game, EDG had already accumulated a 12-kill lead and 7,000 gold advantage. By the time TES’ Nexus exploded, EDG had ballooned this decisive gold lead to well over 10,000.
Throughout most of game three, it appeared as though EDG had carried its momentum from its previous landslide to take the final game of the series. Despite Knight’s impressive team fighting, once again on Vex, EDG were able to gain the initial lead by mopping up early skirmishes.
After an Aphelios ultimate that seemingly cemented in the game in EDG’s favor, the reigning champions faltered at the final hurdle, the Baron. TES gained early priority over the neutral objective and used the Baron to springboard into a winning team fight, spearheaded by Knight. On the brink of defeat mere moments before, TES reeled the game back in the final minutes to pull the series out from EDG.
TES showed incredible resiliency throughout the series. In the face of Dragon Soul and a significant gold deficit, TES managed to find its win condition through opportune engagements and decisive plays. Now staunchly in the middle-of-the-pack, TES’ next challenge will come from the currently third-place LNG.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
Published: Feb 26, 2022 01:01 pm