After defeating Royal Never Give Up to reach the quarterfinals of the LPL Summer Playoffs 2021, LNG Esports this season gave many fans a sense of a miraculous journey akin to Suning’s in 2020.
However, their climb ultimately came to a halt against the current “final boss” of Chinese League of Legends – FunPlus Phoenix. As we know, even though they were the runners-up of LPL Spring 2021, compared to RNG, FPX in the summer has been the more stable team, with the “monster” Doinb of 2019 making a comeback, and the Phoenix squad consistently proving they can easily crush any opponent.
Entering the matchup against the dark horse LNG, FPX immediately “sent a warning” to their opponent with the mid lane pick Irelia – a champion long out of meta, but that didn’t matter with the versatility of “the clown” Doinb.
FPX seemed to face some difficulties during the mid-game of games 1 and 2, as their bottom duo played somewhat ineffectively and made a few individual mistakes. However, LWX’s errors were corrected by his teammates, as Nuguri and Doinb were more than enough to help FPX establish a dominant position against LNG in late-game team fights.
In the end, FPX easily swept through LNG 3-0 to advance straight into the semifinals. Their opponent will be either EDward Gaming or Team WE. Meanwhile, although their kill streak has ended, LNG’s journey will continue in the losers’ bracket. Their goal will likely be to secure a top 3 finish in the LPL, to at least solidify a spot in the regional qualifiers.