Royal Never Give Up showed its trademark consistency in a 3-1 semifinal series win in Shanghai vs. EDward Gaming on Saturday, earning a spot in the League of Legends Pro League spring split finals next week.
Game 1 began as a disaster for RNG as jungler Liu "Mlxg" Shi-Yu's Elise got caught trying to invade EDG's top-side jungle twice for two easy kills by the five-minute mark. RNG recovered nicely, however, picking up kills of its own to bring EDG's gold lead in check as the teams were even around 11 minutes. Royal Never Give Up found an opportunity to jump ahead when top laner Yan "Letme" Jun-Ze found a great teleport flank as Fizz, picking up a triple kill in a clean 5-for-0 ace for RNG at just 16 minutes. Securing five more kills alongside a Baron at 28 minutes, RNG was dominant in the later stages of Game 1, preventing EDG from taking a single tower. Letme led RNG into EDG's base, where he initiated a 5-for-0 teamfight win for RNG to add to his game-high 18,300 damage dealt and 5/2/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as RNG took Game 1 in just over 31 minutes.
While most teams would've been sent reeling, EDG regained its composure in Game 2 early on, picking up early kills alongside first tower gold by the 13-minute mark. Dominating the objective game, EDG gave top laner Chen "Mouse" Yu-Hao's Gragas the Rift Herald buff at 18 minutes, maintaining control over both the Dragon and Baron pits. With a 25-minute Baron, two Ocean Drakes, an Infernal Drake and a Mountain Drake, RNG couldn't do more than watch as EDG took a 5-for-0 ace in RNG's base to fire back with a 31-minute win of its own to tie the series at one apiece.
Once again, EDG took an early kill lead in Game 3, and once again, RNG kept finding kills of its own. In the mid game, mid laner Li "Xiaohu" Yuan-Hao's Taliyah was crucial to RNG's success, using his Weaver's Wall to trap EDG in numbers disadvantages, giving RNG a 4,400-gold lead at 25 minutes. Shortly after, a 3-for-1 teamfight and Baron gave RNG the fuel it needed to break open EDG's base, led by Xiaohu's game-high 21,800 damage dealt and 7/1/6 KDA. With a final 3-for-0 fight going comfortably in RNG's favor, RNG had its eyes set on a spot in the finals as it smashed EDG in just under 30 minutes of action.
In what shouldn't come as a surprise at this point, EDG picked up first blood before 10 minutes as jungler Zhao "Fireloli" Zhi-Ming's Rengar secured the kill in a three-man dive at eight minutes. The series showed its repetitive nature as, yet again, Royal Never Give Up found kills in the mid game to stay within striking distance of EDG. Despite Fireloli securing a Rift Herald buff for himself at 19 minutes, he was unable to carry EDG in late-game teamfights as RNG star AD carry Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao reminded everyone why he is always in the conversation for best AD carry in the world. Playing Caitlyn on a world-class level, Uzi dealt a whopping game-high 30,700 damage dealt to go alongside a 7/0/4 KDA for nearly 80 percent kill participation as RNG took a 28-minute Baron buff and never looked back. With a final 5-for-1 ace in EDG's base at 35 minutes, Royal Never Give Up closed out a convincing 3-1 series win over EDward Gaming and put itself in the spring split finals.
EDward Gaming will take on OMG Sunday at 3 a.m ET in the third-place match. Royal Never Give Up has only one match left this season: a finals date with Team WE next Saturday at 4 a.m ET in Nanjing, China.