The end of Week 1, Day 1 of the League of Legends Pro League might be too early to make grandiose predictions, but LGD Gaming certainly impressed with its new roster with a clean 2-0 sweep of JD Gaming on Wednesday in Shanghai.
The tone for the series was established early in Game 1 with a 1-for-1 trade at just three minutes between both teams' junglers. JD Gaming (0-1, 0-2 match record) took an early lead after securing the Rift Herald at 14 minutes, but LGD Gaming did well to keep JD Gaming's lead to only 1,000 gold. LGD tried to take control with a 23-minute Baron kill, but it cost LGD dearly as JD cleaned up the ensuing fight 4-for-2. One active Baron buff was apparently all LGD needed to take control, though, going up by 2,000 gold at the 28-minute mark. Constant fighting meant that LGD's late game composition featuring AD carry Gu "Imp" Seung-bin's Kalista and newly acquired mid laner Yu "Cool" Jia-Jun's Orianna ripped JD Gaming to shreds in late game teamfights, taking a final 5-for-0 teamfight to close out a bloody, 35 kill win in 33 minutes.
JD Gaming hoped that swapping out its duo lane and jungler would help it in Game 2, but LGD Gaming (1-0, 2-0 match record) was firing on all cylinders. Despite giving up first blood in a 2-for-1 skirmish in the bottom-side river at six minutes, LGD out-fought JDG a few minutes later, picking up a 4-for-1 teamfight win to start an unstoppable snowball. Support Chen "Pyl" Bo had a breathtaking performance as Thresh, landing Death Sentence after Death Sentence to give LGD a strong lead throughout several scrappy midgame fights. JDG's lack of waveclear meant that LGD's strong teamfighting composition could bully JDG around the map, especially after picking up an extended 5-for-1 ace at 13 minutes. The man of the match was Cool's Cassiopeia, finishing with a 5/1/11 KDA for 76 percent kill participation. With a 10,000-gold lead at 20 minutes, LGD took a free Baron kill and stormed into JDG's base, using an Imp triple kill to lock up the 27-minute Game 2 win.
LGD Gaming will hope to maintain its momentum heading into a Saturday showdown against Royal Never Give Up at 8 a.m ET, while JD Gaming look to bounce back against OMG at 5 a.m ET on Saturday.