Uzi-less RNG hold on for a victory over EDG

Defending LPL and MSI champions Royal Never Give Up were cruising in the Summer Split when a piece of unexpected news hit: Star ADC Jian “Uzi” Zi-hao is taking a break to recover from a shoulder injury. Even worse, with cross-conference play underway, they would have to face longtime rivals EDG in a rematch of the Spring Final—all without their best player.

Uzi’s absence left a giant void in the series—an opportunity for another player to carry the series. Unfortunately for his team, it was someone on the other side who stepped up first: EDG jungler Chen “Haro” Wen-lin. EDG have juggled between Haro and longtime jungler Ming “Clearlove” Kai for a while, but Haro’s early aggression has given them a different look.

The first game was the Haro show from the very beginning. He took a creative path from his red buff on the top side to the bot side river bush around mid lane and surprised RNG at level two. After blowing his flash, Haro cleared his bot side jungle and came back at level three, this time securing the kill.

Haro got ahead in the second game as well, this time on Nocturne.

But a nice bit of teamfighting from RNG allowed them to punch back and even the series.

In the third game, RNG decided to counter Haro’s aggression by playing both of their junglers: Hung “Karsa” Hua-hsung played a support Braum whose objective was to funnel gold into Liu “mlxg” Shi-yu’s Graves. Their goal was to largely avoid Haro and scale into the game.

RNG accomplished that goal in a way. Playing Sejuani, a weaker early game champion, Haro didn’t have a huge impact on the lane phase. And when the game went late, RNG’s superior teamfighting carried the day once again.

EDG’s multiple carries simply couldn’t stand against RNG’s dogged long distance engage. Overall, they showed greater cohesion in teamfights in the last two games to complete the comeback. EDG’s players have unparalleled mechanics, but getting caught out in bad situations has doomed them for years. Until they show greater cohesion after 20 minutes, it will be tough to see them reach another level.

For RNG, this was a great showing for a team just four days removed from losing their emotional core. They’ll have to continue innovating and keep the rest of their roster involved to win consistently and extend their streak at the top.