In the LPL Summer Finals on September 2, 2021 (Vietnam time), EDward Gaming secured a convincing victory with a score of 3-1. Not only did they win the LPL Summer 2021 championship and a direct ticket to the 2021 World Championship in Europe, but for EDG, this was their highest domestic achievement since their glory four years ago. At the same time, Marksman Viper delivered a performance that left all League of Legends fans in general, and LPL fans as well as EDG supporters in particular, in awe.
Specifically, at the 29th minute of the match, EDG was trailing with a kill score of 3-11 with all three kills belonging to Viper, while FPX led by about 7k gold. In the river area near the Dragon pit, FPX initiated a rather clumsy fight. Although they managed to take down jiejie, Meiko, and Flandre, they allowed Lwx to be taken down by Flandre. However, what stood out was that the three strong and agile names from FPX – Nuguri (Gangplank), Tian (Lee Sin), and Crisp (Leona) – were taken down one by one by Aphelios. Even more remarkably, Aphelios did not perform any “kite” moves but stood toe-to-toe with all three at the same time and took them down one by one.
Witnessing the “godly” play of Aphelios in Viper’s hands, many people, from experts, players, streamers, and League of Legends gamers, were in awe. However, praising Viper for his calmness, mechanics, and good positioning is one thing. The majority of opinions also “mock” or criticize how the “200 years of experience” champion from Riot was so “broken”.
Indeed, in the match between FPX and EDG, especially in the decisive game 4, the “broken” nature of the champion Aphelios was one of the indirect reasons that led to FPX’s defeat despite having a significant lead. Doinb and his teammates allowed Aphelios in Viper’s hands to not only farm but also secure 3 kills, with 0 deaths leading up to the fight near the Dragon pit. And after that fight, Viper became even stronger with a KDA of 6/0/1.
Riot has begun preparations for the 2021 World Championship, from the competition venue to the strength of the champions. And what Riot urgently needs to do is to reduce the “broken” nature of champions like Aphelios, Gwen, Viego… if they don’t want to witness frustrating losses indirectly due to their own “200 years of experience” champions.