Former League of Legends world champions FunPlus Phoenix have triumphed today over the LPL Spring Split winners JD Gaming in the Mid Season Cup. The series saw each match drag regularly over 30 minutes, but FPX pulled through with a score of 3 to 1.
FPX will have the opportunity to reclaim their glory after losing the LPL Spring Split playoffs, while JDG will be sent home to recover after this loss and prepare for the LPL’s Summer Split.
The series started with an explosive match in the blind pick format with each team picking comfort picks such as Doinb’s Kassadin and Kanavi’s Nidalee. JD won due to how much pressure Kanavi had, which forced FPX to ban Nidalee in the next games.
The second game was the Khan show. He brought the Hecarim top pick, which proved to be a good counter to JDG’s Wukong. Without Nidalee, Kanavi failed to do much on the map with Tian constantly invading his jungle, causing his team to fall behind without jungle pressure.
After the dominant game in FPX’s favor, the third game was even more lopsided with FPX completely dominating the LPL Spring Split champions. Lwx took over the driver’s seat with his signature Aphelios pick and, with Doinb’s support behind him, he became the front line for his team while wiping the enemy health bars away.
The fourth game was much closer with JDG having decisive picks which kept them in the game and their hopes for a fifth game alive. After a Baron play they got countered by Lwx’s superior positioning, who cleaned up the fight quite easily.
The game stabilized for some time. But after a mistake by JDG’s ADC and jungler, FPX had enough time to finish the game and secure the first spot in Mid Season Cup’s finals.
FPX were undefeated in LPL’s Spring Split split with GimGoon, yet they decided to start with Khan. He has been performing well and has been holding up—if not winning—most match-ups. He will be a good match for either Rascal or 369 from either second final team.
FPX will face the winner of Top Esports and Gen.G tomorrow at 4am CT. Tune in on the Riot official stream to see who will win the first Mid Season Cup tomorrow.
