Royal Never Give Up defeated Team WE today in an intense 2-1 series in week nine of the 2021 LPL Summer Split.
Going into this series, RNG boasted an eight-series win streak while Team WE had won their last six games. In recent games, both League of Legends teams took down their opponents without any issues and had climbed to the top of the standings. RNG’s wins over the past few weeks were more dominant, however, leaving them slightly favored ahead of today’s win.
The MVP votes went to RNG’s carries, Cryin and GALA, two outstanding players who didn’t receive many MVP votes this split. The mid laner picked up his third MVP vote today after a stellar performance on Twisted Fate, roaming around the map and ensuring his team was constantly pressuring his opponents via split push. He was close to dying multiple times, but in the end, finished the match deathless with six kills and eight assists. The AD carry earned his second vote in the last match of the series after a spectacular Varus performance. He dealt a third of his team’s total damage while also maintaining a deathless score with five kills and five assists.
The first game of the series opened up with a surprising upset by Team WE, who went for a number of dives early on to punish RNG’s early to mid-game composition. They built a huge gold lead quickly and picked up the win in 29 minutes. Going into the second match, RNG quickly adjusted their bans after their opponents’ performance in the first match, while also picking a different composition with a heavy focus on split-pushing. They gained a gold lead from the get-go due to superior farming and, after picking up a couple of kills, snowballed out of control before equalizing the series.
The last match was the closest one with both teams picking up their comfort picks. While Team WE were favored from the draft due to having both Viego and Gwen, RNG didn’t falter and went for a surprise counter pick—Malzahar. The champion has been popping off lately in various regions, most notably the LPL due to how good of a counter he is to certain champions. After winning a couple of mid-game fights and picking up the Infernal Dragon Soul, RNG secured their 2-1 victory.
Related: Here are the 2021 LPL Summer Split standings
RNG (10-5) climbed from the bottom of the standings to third place in the span of a couple of weeks. After a lackluster start of the split, going 1-5 in the first couple of weeks, they turned their season around. With each series, they’re looking stronger and their gameplay is much cleaner. They’re most likely the favorites to win this split’s LPL title and could attend to the World Championship as the first seed from the region.
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