Week 1, Day 2 of the League of Legends Pro League closed on Friday with Team WE picking up a hard fought 2-1 series win over Invictus Gaming in Shanghai.
Team WE (1-0, 2-1 match record) didn't quite have the hero's welcome it was expecting after a successful playoff run at the Mid-Season Invitational, falling behind early in Game 1 despite jungler Xiang "Condi" Ren-Jie's Gragas picking up two kills before five minutes. Invictus Gaming took firm control of the mid game thanks to strong rotational play, eventually securing a free Baron kill at 31 minutes. Team WE's mid game team fighting composition got outscaled by IG's pick comp, powered by mid laner Song "Rookie" Eui-jin's Syndra, who dealt a whopping 27,100 damage to enemy champions, over 10,000 damage higher than his nearest competition. As a result, Invictus Gaming would parlay a final 5-for-1 fight into a 34-minute win.
In stark contrast to the subdued action in Game 1, Game 2 began with a bloodbath as both teams combined for a kill per minute through the first nine minutes. Throughout the carnage, IG top laner Lee "Duke" Ho-seong's Rumble had a miserable time in the early game, holding a score of 0/4 at 10 minutes. WE came out of a blood-drenched early game with a minor gold lead, putting its late game team fighting composition ahead of schedule, leading to a 21-minute Baron. While it took a couple of attempts, Team WE eventually cracked IG's base open, leading to a 11,000-gold lead at 30 minutes. Invictus Gaming (0-1, 1-2 match record) tried its best to stay alive in the face of WE's objective control, taking a 5-for-1 ace on the back of a triple kill from Rookie's Viktor, but it ultimately didn't matter. On the back of two Infernal Drakes, a Mountain Drake, an Ocean Drake, a charged up Elder Dragon, and two Baron kills, WE's smothering objective control gave it the Game 2 win in 39 minutes.
Team WE's Game 3 composition seemed destined for failure as it lacked any kind of wave clear in its highly mobile pick comp, but it ultimately didn't matter as it still clobbered Invictus Gaming. Invictus briefly took control with first blood at seven minutes, but WE responded with Condi's Rengar securing the Rift Herald while WE's bot lane took first tower gold. After WE summoned the Rift Herald to take down the outer two top lane towers, WE had enough gold to finally start tearing through IG's weakened teamfighting composition, taking a 4-for-1 at the Dragon Pit at 21 minutes that led to a WE Baron kill. Team WE, following a recent international trend, then took its lead and ran it down the mid lane, knocking down two towers before taking a 4-for-1 fight to go up 7,000 gold. A final 5-for-1 teamfight win for WE sealed the deal, as it secured the Game 3 win in under 27 minutes, beginning the task of defending its crown with an entertaining series win.