It took three hard-fought games, but Team WE eventually overpowered LGD Gaming in a 2-1 series win on Friday in the League of Legends Pro League in Shanghai.
Despite WE having drafted a teamfight-focused composition in Game 1 of this series, it was LGD that took an early lead on the back of multiple kills and overall pressure. Those advantages allowed LGD to pick up a 20-minute Baron and quickly get out to a 6,000-gold lead. WE never threw in the towel, however, finding a window back into the game in the form of four kills at the 28-minute mark that led to a Baron of its own. This Baron allowed WE to start pushing in every lane, giving the team nearly complete of the map in the late game. A final 4-for-0 teamfight near the 40-min-mark sealed the win for WE.
Much like Game 1, LGD again took an advantage in this series from the start. Despite WE drafting a siege composition, LGD controlled the game in such dominating fashion that WE was wholly unable to do much of anything, let alone siege. Starting with the first blood in the bottom lane, LGD kept its foot on the gas to amass a 6,000-gold lead by 21 minutes. By that point, WE had no kills, no towers, or dragons to its name. While WE finally took a tower and a couple kills close to 30 minutes in, LGD had already taken a Baron and gone up by 8,000 gold. LGD simply kept pushing towards WE's base while its late game composition started to completely unlock, with AD carry Imp's Kog'Maw notching a quadra kill to lock up the breezy, but drawn-out 36-minute win.
Needing to be more aggressive to claim a series win, WE opted for a heavy engage and teamfight composition that it utilized from the very beginning. Jungler Xiang "Condi" Ren-Jie utilized his Rengar immediately, roaming around the map to pick up three kills before 10 minutes had ticked off. LGD, sensing the game slipping away, initiated an aggressive fight to nearly walk away with two kills. But WE mid laner Su "xiye" Han-Wei zoomed in with his Galio to flip the fight on its head, turning the nearly catastrophic play into a 5-for-2 ace. Desperate, LGD then decided to try and slow the pace of the game down a notch, but it only allowed WE AD carry Jin "Mystic" Sung-jun's Ashe enough time to fully develop into a late game monster, shredding every subsequent teamfight. LGD simply had no answer for the damage output and fell in 33 short minutes.