After a hiatus lasting more than a month, the LPL is back in action with its Summer Split, which will have a big impact on the League of Legends World Championship placement for the region.
Suning locked in first place for the time being after reverse sweeping Team WE. It’s a great start for the Chinese roster that finished 11th in the Spring Split and missed playoffs.
The series started with passive play between both teams—an anomaly for LPL teams who are known for being extremely aggressive and always looking for a fight. After Suning overextended in some lanes, Team WE were ready to respond and punish them accordingly, securing a lead which they maintained over the course of the first game.
After an Ornn ultimate caught Suning’s ADC, Team WE went to close out the game with no pressure from the enemy team.
In the second game, Suning adapted their drafts and built a composition around their mid laner Xiang “Angel” Tao on Kassadin. They forfeited early objectives, but after getting Kassadin online with his two core item powerspike of Rod of Ages and Archangel’s Staff, Suning overpowered Team WE quite easily. Team WE’s secret pick of Aurelion Sol did not work, allowing Suning to tie the series 1-1.
In the third game, Team WE banned Kassadin after being demolished by him in the second game, but Suning adapted their draft by picking Zoe. The early game went in Suning’s favor and they secured early objectives. With Suning being one drake away from the Ocean Dragon Soul, Team WE went all-in in a fight but failed, losing the Ocean Dragon Soul and several teammates.
With the Ocean Dragon Soul under their belt, Suning secured the Baron and went to end the game without issue.
Suning are currently locked in first place in the LPL Summer Split standings, heavily improving compared to the previous split. They went through significant offseason roster shakeups, changing their analyst, manager, and assistant coach alongside some players. While these changes did have a positive impact for the first week, consistency is key. In the next weeks Suning will be tested against other LPL teams.
Suning’s next match will be against LPL’s Spring Split champions, JD Gaming. The pair play on Wednesday, June 10 at 6am CT. Tune in on the official Riot Games Twitch channel to see if Suning can take on bigger fish and prove that they are indeed worthy of holding onto first place.
