End of Week Five of
LPL Split 3 this Sunday, August 17, sees
Top Esports leading the standings, closely followed by
Bilibili Gaming, who dropped two matches.
Ninjas in Pyjamas secures three wins in the Nirvana Group and takes the top spot in their standings. Several teams went winless this week, including
LGD Gaming,
FunPlus Phoenix,
ThunderTalk, and
EDward Gaming.
Anyone’s Legend are in top form with a 3-0, defeating BLG,
Invictus, and
Weibo Gaming.
The first day of the week featured a matchup between
JD Gaming and FPX, two reshuffled teams. JDG changed their support, replacing Zhang "
Wink" Rui with Wang "
Zhuo" Xu-Zhuo, who arrived from
LNG Esports. FPX also switched junglers, bringing back Ma "
iyy" Chen-Shuo in place of
Cai "milkyway" Zi-Jun, who was suspended due to match-fixing allegations dating back to the 2024 Demacia Cup; the case is still before the courts. In Zhuo’s debut, JDG secured the victory.
TES and BLG at the Top of the Pack
On the second day, Weibo returned to winning ways against Team WE, snapping a three-match losing streak and keeping themselves in the Top 4 contention. Wednesday featured two BOs in the Ascend Group, with TES entering the fray on a strong split thanks to their new support, Fu "Hang" Minghang. AL and BLG also faced off, with the Split 2 champions taking the series in a reverse sweep, including an unpredictable game 5 lasting over 50 minutes. They then followed up on Friday against IG.
As usual, the LPL delivered chaotic matches with action everywhere and kills piling up. TES surprisingly lost to IG, thanks to an exceptional performance from Song "
Rookie" Eui-jin, who continues to shine at 28. IG has been in strong form since Yan "
Wei" Yang-Wei joined as their jungler,
they also announced the departure of Zhao "Jiejie" Li-Jie.
Closing out the week, AL secured a third win against Weibo, improving their record to 6-4 and bouncing back from a shaky start to the split. TES then crushed BLG, highlighted by a great performance from Korean jungler Seo "
Kanavi" Jin-hyeok on Zed in game 2 (15/5/13), in a tense 47+ minute match that cemented TES at the top of the standings at 9-2. BLG, however, still have a
rescheduled series against IG at the end of the split, keeping their record at 8-2.
Over sixty BOs played, about twenty more to go
The LPL action continues, with games already scheduled for Monday, August 18. First up is Weibo Gaming against FunPlus Phoenix, who appear to be continuing the season with iyy. Later, IG will face BLG in a BO that could have a major impact on the race for the top of the LPL. Big matchups are planned throughout the week, including AL vs TES on Tuesday, JDG vs BLG on Thursday, and JDG vs AL next Sunday. Only a week and a half remains in the LPL, and so far only TES are guaranteed a spot in the Bracket Stage, while NIP, EDG, and WE are locked into the Play-In phase.
Header Photo Credit: LPL/Riot Games
