It wasn't clean by any means, but Royal Never Give Up picked up its first win of the split with a 2-1 over LGD Gaming on Saturday to wrap up Week 1, Day 3 of the League of Legends Pro League in Shanghai.
Throughout the early stages of Game 1, Royal Never Give Up (1-1, 2-3 match record) pulled ahead of LGD Gaming on the back of top laner Yan "Letme" Jun-Ze's Jarvan IV who was largely responsible for RNG's 2,500-gold lead at 14 minutes. By the 23-minute mark, RNG's superior teamfighting/siege composition was too far ahead for LGD's initiation-heavy comp to do much of anything. RNG jungler Liu "Mlxg" Shi-Yu was huge on Elise, setting up picks to give RNG free objectives, such as a 31-minute Baron kill and three Mountain Drakes, finishing with a perfect 2/0/13 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 100 percent kill participation. With a 11,100-gold lead at 35 minutes, and an Elder Dragon secured shortly after that, RNG crushed LGD to take Game 1 in 39 minutes.
LGD Gaming (1-1, 3-2 match record) stormed back in Game 2, drafting a "Protect the Kog'Maw" composition revolving around AD carry Gu "Imp" Seung-bin. Putting heavy pressure on the bottom half of the map, LGD gave Imp two kills by seven minutes, beginning his snowball. RNG was stubborn, however, as Letme's Fiora pushed for several towers as the game entered a massive mid-game lull. LGD seemed to gain control in the mid game, but a 32-minute Baron attempt was stolen by RNG mid laner Li "Xiaohu" Yuan-Hao's Syndra. Xiaohu's heroics allowed RNG to take a small gold lead before LGD jumped back on top, thanks in large part to Imp, who was massive on Kog'Maw. Despite Xiaohu playing well in the late game, Imp picked up a triple kill en route to his 13/2/7 KDA for 91 percent kill participation, mercifully finishing Game 2 in 44 minutes.
RNG made a substitution in Game 3 that paid off in the end with jungler Hu "Y1HAN" Zhi-Wei coming in to play Lee Sin. Y1HAN immediately made an impact as he gave first blood over to AD carry Wang "y4" Nong-Mo's Ashe at five minutes, but LGD kept things close heading into the mid game. LGD's global pick composition did well to find occasional kills, but RNG responded in kind with its similar composition of strong roaming playmakers. RNG then botched a 15-minute teamfight, giving LGD a huge gold lead. LGD held a 10-to-2 kill lead by 19 minutes, but RNG found a huge 5-for-2 ace at 20 minutes to claw its way back. Securing a 21-minute Baron, RNG surged into LGD's base, taking a 5-for-2 ace in LGD's base at 26 minutes to wrap up the 2-1 series win.