Who gained the weekend: LGD Gaming and G2 VALORANT

A redemptive victory for a team that regarded as if it’d be nothing but inconsistent and a triumph amid tragedy spherical out this week’s edition of Who Received the Weekend.

LGD Gaming (League of Legends, LoL Pro League)

The last time LGD Gaming made the playoffs, it was once spring of 2016 and their roster had aged SK Telecom T1 top laner Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-hwan and aged Samsung bot laner Gu “imp” Seung-bin. They were unique off of a blinding collapse at the 2015 League of Legends World Championship, and this playoff appearance was once the starting up of a downward spiral that might possibly possibly well well perceive LGD within the LPL promotion series twice earlier than franchising came to the LoL Pro League.

LGD haven’t lacked for skill over the years but they’ve by some means didn’t position together a cohesively solid team no matter lineup. When aged ROX Tigers, SKT, and Gen.G jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho joined the roster in spring and later aged Team WE and Dominus Esports mid laner Su “Xiye” Han-wei, many individuals, including myself, cherished this LGD lineup on paper. The difficulty was once that LGD had a history of solid on-paper pickups that hadn’t labored out within the past. Even supposing LGD stayed in the direction of the stop of the standings this summer season, inserting wherever between second and eighth, they were level-headed inconsistent. Even with neatly-organized gold and composition advantages, they would by some means safe ways to give games abet to opponents. There were flashes of brilliance, specifically from each and every Peanut and Xiye, but admire LGD rosters past, the team lacked consistency and brotherly love no matter their glaring skill.

This past week, LGD beat each and every Team WE and Invictus Gaming to scheme it to the summer season playoff semifinals. Where their matchup against WE had been predicted as a abet-and-forth mess – neither team regarded solid or consistent when when put next with the stop teams in their last week of the frequent season – LGD proved that they were definitively the stronger team.

Then they annihilated iG with stronger skirmishing and teamfighting – in general an iG staple.

The iG-LGD series had every little thing an LPL fan loves, no matter it being a 3-0 stomp. Peanut was once in a save to play with no doubt one of his signature jungle picks in Nidalee two of the three games, Xiye persevered to galvanize after a series MVP performance against WE, and the team design up neatly for bot laner Ha “Kramer” Jong-hun to hearth from the backline. Even noteworthy-maligned top laner Xie “Langx” Zhen-Ying regarded critically improved in each and every his individual prowess and flanks to enhance the leisure of LGD.

Going forward, LGD are the team to perceive in LPL playoffs — and they proved why this weekend. — Emily Rand

Runner Up: G2 VALORANT

Usually, this might possibly possibly well well be one other G2 victory lap within the EU VALORANT scene, doubtlessly with some NA jokes thrown in… but the team’s occasion victory on Sunday was once amidst tragedy.

On Wednesday, at some level of G2’s group stage matchup at the Allied Esports Odyssey VALORANT occasion against FunPlus Phoenix (the org made their major occasion VALORANT debut at this occasion, having signed pieces of the aged Celebration Parrots and Fabriken rosters), G2 player David “davidp” Prins had to abandon the match early which implies that of a family emergency. Davidp would later indicate on Twitter that his father had passed away.

Amidst an outpouring of enhance from the VALORANT neighborhood, davidp determined to come abet to the team the next day to compete within the occasion, and G2 honored his establish a query to. G2 would no longer lose a series the leisure of the style, including two victories over FPX, securing the championship. Yes, there safe been “G2 at last beat FPX for a championship” memes floating around, but extra so respect and tributes to davidp and his leisurely father.

“I am so ok with our team. You guys fabricate no longer ticket the balls the fellows showed this week no matter existence hitting them the hardest. Champions. Again.” wrote G2 CEO Carlos “ocelote” Rodriguez. Davidp also took to twitter following the will: “I hope that from where my father is, he’s ok with me and sees how noteworthy I battle. Dad, I commit this victory to you and I also commit it to the entire of us who’re going by sophisticated cases in existence, you are no longer by myself.”

G2 gained their fourth VALORANT occasion in a row and showed no indicators of slowing down because the stop team in Europe — and, one might possibly possibly well well suppose, the realm. While other teams stepped up their standing, admire the runners up FPX and third disclose Team Liquid, G2 extra cemented theirs and correct now it appears to be like to be like as though this might possibly possibly well well merely be a gigantic job to end them. — Arda Ocal