On the match day yesterday, July 4th, Suning faced off against Royal Never Give Up in the fourth week of the LPL Summer 2021 group stage. Not just a simple clash between two struggling giants, the match between SN and RNG drew particular attention as SofM was registered to play in the support position, instead of his usual jungle role.
This change was believed to address gameplay issues, as SN has been very weak in the early and mid-game stages, causing the team to suffer a series of unfortunate defeats. However, the coaching staff’s experiment quickly turned into a failure, going from just losing to being utterly crushed.
SN’s new lineup with View in the jungle and SofM in support did not yield the expected results. While View struggled to control the jungle area like his predecessor SofM, in the bot lane, Duy Cầu Giấy also showed that he couldn’t adapt to such a distinctly different position.
The coordination between Huanfeng and SofM was quite disjointed, and not only did it fail to solve the lane losing issues, but it also severely limited SofM’s mobility and vision control, as View was unable to cover SN’s jungle properly.
In the next two games, the SN management had to immediately scrap this experimental plan and revert back to the old lineup with SofM in the jungle and ON in support. With Bin’s outstanding performance, SN made a remarkable comeback, defeating RNG with a final score of 2-1.
After the match, the League of Legends community in China had mixed reactions to this relatively “clunky” setup by the team:
– I guess there’s no way SofM is switching to a new position permanently, right?
>>> Getting the forest troll out of the jungle is a crime, and Suning had to pay the price immediately. Fortunately, they managed to turn it around on time.
>>>> No matter the result of game 1, for me, SofM not jungling anymore means SN has lost its excitement.
– That’s enough creativity; I hope Dian doesn’t come up with anything similar again.
– Suning! You frauds! I bet my dorm friends a Szechuan hot pot that SN would flop in this match when I heard SofM was supporting. Yet, those coaches dared to betray and switch SofM back to his old position, that’s just painful.
>>> I might as well fly away with my electric scooter.
– Watching SofM play Thresh and still charging in to trade blows with two opponents almost gave me depression; I told you he’s used to trading damage with them but didn’t listen.
However, the first loss of SN against RNG with SofM playing in the bot lane may not have been entirely in vain. Many opinions suggest that thanks to his shift to the support position, both SofM and his teammates found the answer to SN’s early game struggles, leading to their lineup functioning very smoothly in the subsequent two games.