A Ruthless EDG: LPL Week 10 Second-Half Recap

The LPL Spring Playoffs are upon us. With Week 10 finished, the ten-team playoff bracket is settled and secure. We’ve chosen two matches from the last couple days of competition that will give our readers a good understanding of a few playoff contestants and what to expect from them.

Photo courtesy of @BLG电子竞技俱乐部 on Weibo

BILIBILI GAMING vs. OH MY GOD (1-2)

GAME 1:

BLG came to play. Their support ON had a clinical performance on Thresh, single-handedly winning the bot lane for BLG as well as the first few objective fights. A skirmish in the mid lane at 22:00 offered OMG a glimmer of hope, but they had yet to meet Yagao’s LeBlanc. He finished the game with 22-stack Mejai’s and a 5/0/7 score line.

GAME 2:

OMG felt pressured enough to ban Yagao’s LeBlanc after his performance in the previous game, leading to less-threatening Ryze pick from the BLG mid laner. But a level one invade would burst open the game, giving an early kill to both mid laners. OMG’s Creme utilized this early gold to take over the game on Sylas and send us to a third.

GAME 3:

OMG continued with their wacky drafts, flexing their Viktor pick top side to match the Kennen from BLG. Allowing Creme to counter-pick Yagao’s Sylas with a Vex pick of his own. This proved useful, as the Vex made team fighting incredibly easy for OMG. But the star of the show was OMG’s jungler Aki who led the way, stealing objectives, and stealing a win here from BLG.

Photo courtesy of @EDG电子竞技俱乐部 on Weibo

THUNDERTALK vs. EDWARD GAMING

GAME 1:

ThunderTalk’s jungler Beichuan had a rough game from start to finish. Despite executing a top side dive onto Ale, ThunderTalk’s game plan fell apart after JieJie’s Elise out paced him around the map. Leading to a Hextech Soul at a rapid 24:00 and a Baron not long after. The early soul allowed for a 30:00 Elder Drake fight. It looked a bit sketchy for EDG but the LPL powerhouse came out on top, claimed the Elder Buff, and sieged TT’s nexus.

GAME 2:

ThunderTalk’s first ten minutes were superb. Beichuan seemed to be everywhere on his Wukong pick, getting an early lead for his top and bot lane. However JieJie would not be silenced that easily. The World Champion jungler had a stranglehold on the objectives this match and a dragon fight at 19:00 gave EDG some momentum. A few minutes later, EDG snuck the Baron without any notice from TT as the game seemed to be falling apart for them. It would be a crime to not mention how well EDG’s bot laner Leave played this game. His Xayah seemed to counter every play that TT tried to execute. EDG botched a Baron fight, granting Beichuan his first steal of the series, but the game would be determined at the Elder Drake spawn. Leave went berserk, JieJie captured the Elder Buff, and EDG ended the series through mid lane. While ThunderTalk played their hearts out, EDG looks terrifying heading into our Spring Playoffs.

Image Sources: Riot Games / LoL Esports