In the seventh week of competition, a major surprise occurred for the League of Legends community in China and fans of Riot’s game in general, as jungle legend Clearlove officially returned after 841 days away from professional play. According to information from the LPL Summer 2021 organizers, EDG has listed Clearlove in their official lineup for the match against Team WE.
Facing an opponent considered to be significantly weaker would be a favorable stepping stone for Clearlove to regain his form and get back into the harsh competitive atmosphere of the LPL, especially as they are in the second half of the season. The addition of Clearlove also brings experience and allows Jiejie some time to rest as they still have a long journey ahead.
Appearing in the first game with the champion Sejuani, Clearlove’s role in this match was to act as a fighter and initiate team fights with his Bola combination. However, EDG surprised many by using a late-game composition but continuously engaged in fights during the first 5 minutes of the match. Nevertheless, WE managed to mount more effective counterattacks, causing EDG’s aggressive strategy to backfire and disrupting space for Viper and Flandre to farm. The Nocturne and Sejuani in the hands of the duo Scout – Clearlove repeatedly fell, making it incredibly difficult for EDG to maintain control of the game.
Having lost all 4 Dragon buffs, as well as Baron and 1 Rift Herald, and with Clearlove’s Bola plays proving ineffective due to his teammates being far behind, his debut day did not go as hoped. Additionally, he faced significant difficulties in controlling vision in the jungle and was completely out-farmed by WE’s beishang, which was another reason why EDG’s ganks and team fights were consistently predictable.
In the second game, Clearlove was replaced by JunJia, but EDG could not recover on a day when WE played exceptionally well. For his part, Clearlove needs to quickly regain his form and synchronize early with his teammates if he doesn’t want his long-awaited comeback to turn into a disaster.