Top Esports won their second consecutive Demacia Cup by taking down FunPlus Phoenix during the Grand Finals of the Chinese League of Legends tournament today. The Demacia Cup takes place during the offseason and features all 17 LPL teams, along with four amateur teams and three LDL squads.
While the way through the knockout stage was smooth for Top Esports, their opponents in the grand finals proved tougher than the rest, bringing the team to 0-2 after the first two games of the series. FPX were one game away from winning the 2021 Demacia Cup, but Top Esports reverse-swept them and won the tournament, closing the match 3-2 against the 2019 World Champions. The MVP went to Top Esports jungler Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang for his performance against his former team.
The four LPL teams who represented the region at Worlds 2021 received a bye to quarterfinals, as per the rules. Since Top Esports didn’t make it to Worlds this year, they played through the Cup’s group stage, where they won against Team WE for a spot in the playoffs.
In the quarterfinals, they defeated Royal Never Give Up, who fans last saw almost taking down current world champions EDward Gaming during Worlds 2021. Top Esports took RNG down easily with a 3-0 match and moved to the semifinals against 2018 World Champions Invictus Gaming, scoring another 3-0 against them to reach the grand finals..
The Demacia Cup is the last tournament of the year and the first of the new season, so fans usually look at it with the hope of spotting the next Spring Split winners or, at least, the contenders for that title. Even if the tournament features some non-LPL teams, none outside of the region who participated in the Demacia Cup ever won the title.
The first Demacia Cup took place in 2013, but only few organizations brought home the trophy since. Reigning world champions EDG won most of the Chinese-based tournament’s trophies, but Top Esports claimed the crown in the past two years. Even if the team didn’t seem as steady during the last regular season, fans may see some surprises from them heading to the first split of 2022.
