After Invictus Gaming eliminated EDward Gaming yesterday, today it was FunPlus Phoenix's turn to take down Ninjas in Pyjamas. While yesterday’s BO5 ended in a clean 3-0, this one was far more contested — FPX managed to come out on top after five games, knocking NIP out of Split 2 and securing their spot in the Knockout Stage.

Both teams came from Group C, where NIP had initially finished higher, securing a direct spot in the Ascend Group, while FPX had to fight their way through the Last Chance Qualifier, taking down LGD Gaming and then Ultra Prime. During the regular season, both squads struggled — FPX finished 8th with a 6-12 record, and NIP ended 9th at 4-14. It was in this context that the two teams faced off to determine who would advance to the Split 2 Playoffs.

Game 1 was the fastest of the series — it took less than 28 minutes for Zhao "Shad0w" Zhi-Qiang and Zou "Assum" Wei to tear down the enemy Nexus. Both players were key in setting the pace for FPX. But NIP weren’t about to go down without a fight: they struck back with a scaling draft featuring Smolder for Hu "Leave" Hong-Chao and Viktor for Kim "Doinb" Tae-sang. FPX answered with a midlane Kassadin for Yang "Care" Jie, but the pick didn’t quite pay off.

Game 3 swung back in FPX’s favor, with strong jungle-support synergy between Shad0w and Sun "Jwei" Jun-Wei. The support posted a 0/2/15 scoreline and continues to impress with a solid split. The fourth game was all about NIP again, with Leave claiming another Player of the Game title after a dominant 11/1/4 performance and topping the damage charts to force a fifth game.

In the end, FPX came out on top in this grueling BO5. Jwei locked in Sett, Leave brought out a rare Aphelios in the current meta, and Assum was on Ziggs — finishing with over 80% kill participation and an 8/0/9 scoreline to help seal the win for his team. Tomorrow, for the third BO5 of the Knight's Rivals, Team WE will face off against LGD.