After a tumultuous week 8 in the LPL Spring 2022 group stage with two consecutive losses to Top Esports and Rare Atom, the strength of Weibo Gaming has never been doubted as much. Including the previous matches against Royal Never Give Up and LGD Gaming, WBG has lost 3 out of their last 4 games. Even when they won against LGD, it was not a convincing victory.
Therefore, SofM and his teammates entered the match against Invictus Gaming with the goal of winning. This is also a meeting between TheShy and his former team. Although the golden generation of IG has all departed, this is still a significant match for “Top God”. Currently, IG has officially been eliminated from the playoffs. However, before the match, many were still concerned that IG’s young players could surprise the WBG team, who were under considerable psychological pressure.
In reality, the match went quite similarly to what League of Legends fans had predicted. IG truly put WBG players in a lot of difficulties right from game 1. Both teams played cautiously and the number of kills was extremely low. It wasn’t until the 30th minute, after a disastrous fight at the Infernal Dragon, that WBG surged forward and swept through the IG members. Although IG resisted extremely strongly, WBG still managed to win in a hard-fought battle after over 32 minutes of play.
Moving into game 2, the match continued to be balanced between the two teams. WBG led in kills but there wasn’t much economic difference. Moreover, WBG continued their habit of “abandoning Dragons” by allowing IG to secure 3 consecutive Dragon buffs. However, on a day when “Coach Huan” performed at his peak, even though SofM didn’t control objectives well, WBG still found a way to win. Huanfeng and Angel performed exceptionally well, especially WBG’s AD carry who did not die at all in game 2. SofM and his teammates won the match 2-0 after nearly 30 minutes of game 2.
With this victory, SofM and his teammates temporarily rose to 2nd place above RNG but have played one more match. More importantly, this win helped the WBG players and their fans regain their confidence. Although SofM and his teammates still have a tough match against JD Gaming coming up, and the victory against IG was incredibly hard-fought, at this moment, the atmosphere is definitely more relaxed compared to the “hell week” just passed. It can be said that currently, the WBG players have enough confidence to finish the group stage in the best way possible.
