In a series that longterm fans of the League of Legends Pro League scene could enjoy, LGD Gaming survived a sloppy 2-1 series against Suning Gaming on Sunday during Week 3, Day 4 in Shanghai.
Suning Gaming (2-3, 7-8 match record) took a late-game scaling teamfighting composition in Game 1, where it took its sweet time taking down LGD Gaming. While early kills and rotations helped SNG build a 2,000-gold lead around 18 minutes in, LGD stayed alive through its superior tower sieging capabilities, repelling SNG and playing conservatively. LGD tried to get ahead with a Baron attempt at 31 minutes, but it was aced by SNG shortly after securing the buff, effectively neutralizing the advantage. SNG's late game teamfighting was unstoppable as mid laner Dong "fenfen" Wei's Kassadin Rift Walked all over LGD's backline, giving SNG a 40-minute Baron and 42-minute Elder Dragon. With these buffs working in unison, SNG took an easy 5-for-1 ace and closed out Game 1 with a 24-to-9 kill differential in 42 minutes.
LGD Gaming (3-2, 7-6 match record) went with the late game teamfighting composition in Game 2, but found plenty of kills early on to begin a decent snowball. Pulling ahead in the midgame through kills, LGD held a 2,000-gold lead at 19 minutes, which grew once LGD secured a Baron kill at 25 minutes thanks to a pick on SNG's jungler. A majority of LGD's success came from support Chen "Pyl" Bo's Bard, locking SNG members up with Cosmic Bindings and Tempered Fate while giving LGD unparalleled rotations through Magical Journeys. Taking a second Baron and Elder Dragon in the late game, using both buffs to take a 4-for-1 teamfight in LGD's base, Pyl finished up his 2/2/13 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), forcing Game 3 with the 37 minute win.
LGD Gaming threw caution to the wind and gave Kennen to AD carry Gu "Imp" Seung-bin, but Game 3 was all SNG for most of the game. Pulling ahead after a 2-for-0 skirmish at 12 minutes gave SNG an Infernal Drake and first tower in the bottom lane and it seemed to be too far ahead for LGD to do anything, especially with fenfen's Galio providing an extremely strong frontline for AD carry Lee "Fury" Jin-yong's Caitlyn. Despite SNG having massive objective leads by the 26-minute mark, a Baron steal from LGD jungler Xie "Eimy" Dan evaporated SNG's gold lead and put LGD back in contention. While SNG took the next Baron, Eimy stole the Elder Dragon shortly after to set up LGD's comeback. LGD Gaming stood tall in the late game with a 4-for-0 teamfight, finally ending the series in 48 minutes.
LGD Gaming will look to recover against powerhouse Team WE on Friday at 8 a.m. ET, while Suning Gaming will face Invictus Gaming on Saturday at 5 a.m. ET.