The third week of the LPL Spring 2020 group stage witnessed a real shock, as Vici Gaming – the team sitting at the bottom of the standings, unexpectedly crushed Royal Never Give Up with a score of 2-0.
Notably, RNG has been in very high form despite the absence of Uzi from their lineup; before the match against VG, they secured 3 victories and only lost 1 match. Meanwhile, coach kkOma’s team has had a dismal start to the season, losing 5 matches and only winning 1.
However, the match unfolded beyond experts’ predictions, as Vici Gaming displayed an extremely smooth and cohesive game plan, easily suffocating Royal Never Give Up after just 2 games.
Sharing the secret to their victory against the championship contender RNG in a post-match interview, team captain iBoy revealed that coach kkOma made a pivotal change in Vici Gaming’s lineup for this match, opting to use the Chinese jungle-mid duo: Aix – Forge instead of the Korean pair Chieftain and Zek.
Aix and Forge had only practiced 2 games together with the team, but the absence of any language barrier made Vici Gaming’s strategic execution much smoother, which was the reason they were able to take down the giant RNG.
The match between RNG and VG also featured an interesting reunion between kkOma – coach of VG and Mata – coach of RNG. Just last season, they were teacher-student under the SKT banner, but after just one transfer window, they became colleagues as coaches, competing in the LPL tournament.
Coach kkOma is still facing many challenges in making Vici Gaming a force in the LPL, having endured 5 losses after the first 6 rounds. However, upon facing his former student, this coach quickly deployed his trump card (the mid duo Aix and Forge) to make Mata taste defeat.
As the LPL currently adopts an online format, many gamers expressed regret at not being able to witness the two coaches shake hands as colleagues. According to them, this would have been a very interesting sight.
VG’s victory over RNG will bring many positive signals for kkOma and his students, while for Mata, RNG still has many issues to improve upon. However, the loss to his former teacher is not a disaster, and this former player still has plenty of opportunities to rectify his team’s problems.