Entering the 2021 Summer LPL Grand Final, FunPlus Phoenix was heavily favored over EDward Gaming, with one team advancing straight to the final from the winners’ bracket, while the other had to climb up from the losers’ bracket.
However, the match unfolded in a way that surprised all experts, as EDG showcased a completely different side. More accurately, somehow, EDG’s lineup was “upgraded” strategically, and entering a match against a higher-rated opponent, Scout and his teammates displayed an extremely proactive playstyle, directly targeting the strongest positions of their opponents to attack.
EDG quickly took a 2-0 lead by unexpectedly changing their strategy, funneling resources to Flandre to shut down Nuguri. In the mid lane, Scout, Meiko, and JieJie performed excellently in blocking Doinb’s movements.
However, FPX launched a strong counterattack in the next two games, managing to reduce the score in game 3 thanks to a brilliant performance from AD carry LWX, and leading their opponents by nearly 9,000 gold in game 4. Just when it seemed like the LPL Summer Finals would extend to game 5, another star stepped up: Viper, using the 200-year champion from Riot Games – Aphelios, continuously engaged in devastating fights against the opponents, combined with numerous personal mistakes from FPX, the Fire Phoenix suffered a well-deserved defeat in game 4 when they could not maintain their advantage.
With this victory, EDward Gaming officially became the number 1 seed from LPL for the 2021 World Championship, while FunPlus Phoenix had to settle for the number 2 seed overall. Unfortunately, this marked the second consecutive defeat for Doinb and his teammates in an LPL Finals, but they could only blame themselves for being overly complacent and underestimating the significant improvement in EDG’s gameplay.