The LPL teams have entered the last week of the 2021 LPL Summer regular split and many teams are still fighting for the best seeding possible going into the playoffs.
Two of those teams are EDward Gaming and LNG Esports, who have both secured spots in the playoffs but have yet to lock in their final seeds. This means a very important match between the two skilled squads, with EDG going into this match while fighting for a first-place finish. LNG is fighting to break into the top four and could end up playing spoiler for EDG.
Both teams have had a very good split so far, but LNG especially has taken the league by storm. In the spring, LNG only managed to secure ninth place after losing to Suning in the playoffs. This performance was clearly not good enough for the young squad that has now improved its play in pretty much every aspect of the map, and it’s paying off.
LNG will enter the match against EDG knowing that it will be the underdog. But that’s no problem as LNG has succeeded in the underdog position for the majority of this split, winning against teams like FunPlus Phoenix and JD Gaming. LNG looked best in the first weeks of the split and has since shown more inconsistency. With that said, the team still has very skilled players and doesn’t fear the aggressive LPL play style.
For EDG, this makes the game against LNG tougher than expected. LNG is only one win behind in the standings, so EDG’s first-place spot is still very much in danger. So far, EDG has looked like the most consistent team of the LPL split with only three losses so far. These losses have mainly been other teams catching EDG on an off day, which is what LNG will be looking for.
If that doesn’t happen, EDG is an amazing team with skilled players in every position. Bot laner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon and support Tian “Meiko” Ye have look especially scary and currently are one of the best bot lanes in the league. If these two get rolling without being punished, LNG will have a very hard game.
To beat EDG, it’s important for LNG to punish the solo lanes and try to get leads early on. This is where jungler Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong will be instrumental, as he is the one to set up plays early, something he has been capable of all split. If LNG doesn’t succeed in that, then it’s likely that EDG will play its comfortable style and simply outplay LNG.
EDward Gaming vs. LNG Esports rosters:
EDward Gaming roster:
- Top – Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun
- Jungle – Zhao “Jiejie” Li-Jie
- Mid – Lee “Scout” Ye-chan
- Bot – Park “Viper” Do-hyeon
- Support – Tian “Meiko” Ye
LNG Esports roster:
- Top – Hu “Ale” Jia-Le
- Jungle – Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong
- Mid – Xie “icon” Tian-Yu
- Bot – Wang “Light” Guang-Yu
- Support – Liao “Iwandy” Ding-Yang
EDG big favorites to hold onto first place against LNG
While it will be a very hard task for LNG to beat EDG, it’s by no means impossible. EDG will be the big favorite according to fans and bookmakers, which allows LNG to play the underdog role and try to make an upset when no one expects it. For that to happen, the team must play well together in all positions and bring its absolute best game. If that happens, then this could be a much closer match than the odds would indicate. The safe choice will still be going with EDG as the winner, but there’s a fair shot that this will go all the way to three games.
As the top team that EDG is, the team won’t give better than odds of 1.31 for a win, while LNG will give much higher odds of 3.15 if it takes the win. Anything can happen in the LPL, but beating EDG out in a best-of-three isn’t something that many have been capable of in this split.
The LPL match between EDG and LNG takes place on Thursday, August 5.
