The latest season of Chinese League of Legends (LPL) is up and running, with some significant changes to the rules and the team compositions. Still considered the second-best region in the world behind Korea, China has slipped a little in international play of late, with the Europeans and North Americans starting to close the gap.
New season changes the game
Season 7 has arrived and the biggest change Riot has implemented between last season and this is the increase in bans from six to 10. This has completely and fundamentally changed the landscape of champion select.
The pick and ban phase operates as it did before until both teams have banned and selected three champions each. From there, two more champions per side are banned and then picked in a snake draft format. As such, four champions are removed after some have been selected. This allows for an incredible amount of flexibility in the draft and many teams are still trying to discover the best strategy in this new era of League of Legends.
The LPL has always been a league about skirmishes and this season is no different, with teams primarily prioritizing early game champions with the ability to snowball. Champions such as LeBlanc, Rengar, Lee Sin, Maokai, Tahm Kench and the newest addition to League of Legends, Camille, all have seen incredible amounts of play.
One champion the LPL has prioritized more than other regions so far this season is Caitlyn, whom many have selected when the likes of Ashe and Jhin are available. The reasoning for the rise of Caitlyn’s popularity appears to be linked to the Chinese aggressive play style as Caitlyn provides arguably the best early game of any AD Carry in the current meta.
Four undefeated after Week 1
In Group A, IMay sit atop the standings with a 2-0 opening week, while right behind them are Snake eSports, who won their only best-of-three series, leaving them with a 1-0 match score.
It’s unsurprising that IMay performed so well in the first week given their participation at Worlds last year. With four returning members to the starting roster, their international experience seemed to be the difference against both Royal Never Give Up and LGD.
The biggest surprise for IMay was their unwillingness to ban Camille against LGD for the first two games. With Camille left through, LGD picked her immediately, allowing IMay to select the rarely seen Darius as a counter pick. Each game in this series was an incredibly one-sided affair as IMay picked up Game One, lost Game Two after selecting Poppy against Camille instead, and subsequently returned to winning ways in Game Three to secure the series.
EDG standing tall early
To no-one’s surprise EDG sit atop Group B with a 2-0 record, while QG Reapers are also unbeaten with a 1-0 slate after the first week of play.
Even with a substitute Jungler playing for ClearLove, and a converted midlaner as an AD Carry in Zet (formerly known as Cry) replacing superstar Deft, EDG still dominated the competition in the opening week.
First up for EDward Gaming were the new look Vici Gaming with Bengi, a three-time winner of Worlds and formerly of SK Telecom T1, roaming the Jungle for VG. With little difficulty, EDG routed VG in both games.
Next came Team WE, against whom EDG continued their winning ways, picking a surprise Vi for the Jungle role in Game Two. In both games EDG capitalized on WE’s mistakes, one at baron and one over-stay in EDG’s base, to give themselves the same overall record as IMay; 2-0.
The 2017 LPL Spring Season 7 already shapes up as a fascinating one and worth tracking. After a number of years of importing high-priced Koreans into the league, the Chinese have invested in their local talent and it will be interesting to see how this plays out first locally and then at international level.
