JD Gaming suffer their second consecutive loss in these Playoffs, resulting in a surprisingly early exit for an organization that had much higher expectations. They fall 3-1 to
Team WE, who now advance to the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals where they’ll face
Top Esports—defeated earlier by
Bilibili Gaming. WE had a rough start to the year during Split 1 and quickly made changes, bringing in Wang "
Monki" Meng-Qi as their new jungler.
The best-of-one phase at the start of Split 2 didn’t go well either for Team WE. Fortunately, they managed to survive during the Last Chance Promotion, securing a spot in the Ascend Group, where they finished 6th with a 7-11 record. Entering through the Play-In stage, they defeated
LGD Gaming 3-1 to reach the Playoffs, only to face a tough opponent in
Anyone's Legend, who clean swept them. Dropping to the Lower Bracket, they bounced back with a brave 3-1 upset over JD Gaming.
In the three games won by WE, Korean midlaner Kim "
Karis" Hong-jo was named MVP each time. First on Azir, where a decisive topside fight ended in a quadrakill chased all the way to the enemy base. JDG took Game 2 and game 3 featured aggressive jungle picks—Viego for Monki, Kindred for Peng "
Xun" Li-Xun—and after a tight 33-minute battle, WE claimed their first match point. They sealed the series with a dominant Akali performance from Karis, who was clearly a class above his counterpart.
Beating an out-of-form JDG is one thing, but taking down TES—even after their tough loss to BLG—is another challenge entirely. Still, on June 8, Team WE will look to recreate the upset by eliminating TES. No matches are scheduled in the LPL on June 6, with action resuming on the 7th as
Weibo Gaming face
Invictus Gaming for a spot in the Lower Bracket Semifinal.
