Invictus Gaming turned heads as it upset OMG to claim a 2-1 series victory on Saturday to kick off Week 7, Day 3 of the League of Legends Pro League in Shanghai.
Moving into the series, it would seem as though OMG (8-3, 17-9 match record) would easily take a swift victory as it sat among the top of the standings, up against a seemingly lesser opponent in Invictus Gaming (6-5, 14-14 match record). Despite seeming like an easy matchup, as the teams entered the rift, the victory seemed like it would take substantial work if OMG could ever arrive there.
Invictus Gaming found itself a swift gold lead in Game 1, pushing all the way to the enemy Nexus towers just 30 minutes into the game as OMG struggled to find a way to get anything going. OMG managed to claw its way back into the game thanks to Han "Smlz" Jin's late game Kog'maw, resulting in a Game 1 victory. IG was not dissuaded, storming into Game 2 to find yet another massive lead, allowing the team to snowball and take a convincing 30-minute victory. Game 3 saw a report of the Game 2 performance, largely thanks to top laner Kang "TheShy" Seung Lok's Rumble, getting ahead early and paving the way for a quick victory.
Arguably the most impressive player of the series was the jungler of Invictus Gaming, Gao "Ning" Zhen Ning. Ning quickly picked up kills for his team in each of the games, swiftly finding not only a large lead for himself, but also spoonfeeding his carries convincing leads that allowed them to dictate the pace of the games. After his Lee Sin performance fell just short of a victory in Game 1, he brought out the newest champion in the league, Kayn, to reap his enemies and exhibit the champions true strength. Picking up Olaf in Game 3, he once again stuck to his style of running the enemy team down and killing them at any chance possible. Unsurprisingly, with the massive leads he accrued, this worked out perfectly resulting in a reverse sweep to upset OMG.
Invictus Gaming will attempt to use its momentum from this victory as it battles Snake Esports at 5:00 a.m. ET next Thursday, while OMG's next match will be against Newbee at 8:00 a.m. ET next Saturday.