The LPL representatives Royal Never Give Up claimed first place at this year’s Mid-Season Invitational as six teams battled for a share of a $1million prize pool and the accompanying bragging rights.
RNG expected to do well
RNG entered as one of the top teams in the event, generally viewed behind only the LCK representative Kingzone DragonX as major title contenders.
However, their run to the Finals was not as straightforward as had been predicted, at least not early on in the Group Stage. RNG fell to 2-3 halfway through Day 3, even becoming the first team to lose to the North American representative Team Liquid, who up until that point had been outclassed by most of the other opposition.
RNG roll
This appeared to be a catalyst for the Chinese side, who went on to finish the Group Stage on an absolute tear, pulling off six straight victories including in the first-place tie-breaker against Flash Wolves, who had been the story of the tournament thus far.
This allowed RNG to play against Fnatic – a significantly weaker team than either Flash Wolves or Kingzone – in the semifinals of the Playoffs. Even throughout the Group Stage where RNG struggled at times, they appeared to be a nightmare for Fnatic, with Uzi in the Bottom lane continually outclassing Rekkles.
RNG come from behind
The semifinals were much of the same, with RNG continually pulling off victories even while behind in most of the match.
The second clash in particular stood out, with Fnatic’s star Mid laner Caps selecting his pocket pick of Aurelion Sol, which helped facilitate a solid early game edge for his team. However, they then completely threw away their advantage around the Baron, allowing RNG’s Jungler Karsa to steal the objective and give RNG the inevitable win.
RNG would then proceed to shutout Fnatic in the third game to move on to the Finals against Kingzone.
Uzi most impressive
In Game One RNG drafted a composition solely around Uzi, with no other real damage source outside of the star AD Carry. After a rough early start similar to their previous series against Fnatic, RNG were able to stabilise in the mid game and secure a 4 for 1 in a turret dive that swung the game in their favour, closing the match out shortly after.
While being ahead in the second, RNG made a crucial mistake and overextended into Kingzone’s jungle, with KZ grabbing the 4 for 2, Baron and a come from behind victory.
In Game Three RNG made an adjustment in the pick and ban phase; removing Irelia from Bdd while also having an early priority on Vladimir, who had been continually banned by Kingzone previously. RNG absolutely decimated Kingzone in just 25 minutes with a 15-3 score line in this encounter, giving RNG series and championship point.
Counter picks don’t work for Kingzone
In what would be the final game of MSI, Kingzone opted for a strategy based around counter picks, selecting both Illaoi for the Top lane and Vel’koz for the Mid lane. Kingzone had a dominant mid game, destroying two inhibitors and gathering a six thousand gold lead before RNG found their moment. RNG’s Xiaohu caught out Kingzone’s PraY, with Bdd quickly falling thereafter. RNG then proceeded to push all the way through the Mid lane, catching out Khan on the way through, and gave themselves a 3-1 series victory and the title.
Uzi on fire
Uzi was a clear MVP for RNG as they routinely funnelled as many resources into him as possible, allowing him to carry them through to victory. However, lost in Uzi’s dominance was the quality play from the likes of Letme and Karsa, who were continually set up for success from the excellent pick and ban phases drafted by the RNG coaching staff.
Early priority on the likes of Ornn and Skarner were also key in RNG’s eventual conquest, yet they tended to get lost in all the hype surrounding Uzi.
Conclusion
Attention now turns to the Summer Season in each region along with the 2018 Rift Rivals to be held in July. RNG are clearly the team of the moment and the side that every other competitor will be aiming to defeat after they continued their dominance here.
