Action resumes in the LPL this Thursday, September 25, with the
Regional Finals featuring four teams:
Invictus Gaming,
Top Esports,
Weibo Gaming, and
JD Gaming.
Bilibili Gaming and
Anyone’s Legend, having respectively
won Split 3 and finished first in championship points (without BLG), are already
qualified for Worlds. Today saw the upper bracket clash between IG and TES. Seo "
Kanavi" Jin-hyeok and his team ultimately emerged victorious with a 3-1 scoreline, sending IG to the lower bracket to face the winner of the other match.
After finishing first in the regular season, Top Esports fell twice to BLG—first in the upper bracket final, then again in the rematch after climbing back through the lower bracket with a win over AL, both times losing 3-2. They therefore entered as logical favorites against IG in the regional finals, who also had a strong regular season, finishing second, but struggled more in the playoffs with losses to BLG and then AL in a clean sweep.
TES proved it in the first two games against IG, showing they are clearly the best team in these Regional Finals. Game 1 ended 17-2 with winning lanes across the board, and Kanavi claimed MVP after a huge performance on Pantheon. Game 2 was another stomp—Kanavi earned MVP again, this time on Wukong. While IG managed to hold their own in the early game, TES’ teamfighting was simply too well coordinated, giving them the first match point.
IG finally showed some fight in Game 3, winning a skirmish around Atakhan, with Kang "
TheShy" Seung-lok looking very comfortable on Rek’Sai as they finally managed to take a Nexus in the series. But the fourth and final game brought a surprising pick: Lulu, a champion already rare in the support role, this time played mid by Song "
Rookie" Eui-jin. And while the pick managed to win a few fights, TES’ damage output was just overwhelming. Fu "
Hang" Ming-Hang delivered strong plays on Renata Glasc to secure MVP of the last game. With that, TES qualify for Worlds as the third seed, sending IG to the last-chance match.
