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In a matchup between the top teams in Group B, Royal Never Give Up put together a 2-1 series victory over OMG on Saturday in Shanghai to close out Week 9, Day 3 in the League of Legends Pro League.
After this series concluded, there was little doubt regarding the hierarchy of Group B in the LPL. Royal Never Give Up (10-4, 22-12 match score) has a clear leg up over OMG (9-5, 21-13 match score). When the team drafted correctly, it took decisive victories that have to be demoralizing for an OMG side that looked like the top team in the LPL earlier in the split. The lone OMG victory came in Game 2 on the back of an extremely disrespectful draft by RNG. Not only did RNG consciously draft an Alistar into Rakan at the support position, Juan "Uzi" Zi-Hao selected a Vayne as AD carry into a diving, assassin composition. Despite the inherent disadvantage, RNG managed to turn the game into the most thrilling of the series. The excitement came from the fact OMG spent nearly half the game inside the RNG base, desperately trying to break it. RNG's ability to stall was largely due to Uzi's repeated outplays at critical junctures. However, a gold deficit well over 10,000 was too much to overcome as the OMG AD carry Han "Smlz" Jin quietly carried with Xayah, putting up a ridiculous damage output of 82,300 in the 52-minute contest.
As the face of the squad, and arguably the best player in China, Uzi's performances are always going to be put under the microscope. By putting his full range of abilities to perfect use, he led his team to victory. Playing both a hypercarry (Vayne) and more utility-based champions (Ashe and Varus), Uzi showed that his play knows no bounds.
Overall RNG fans should be extremely optimistic as the playoffs approach. If there is a team that can match LPL leaders EDward Gaming in both macro and teamfighting, it's Royal Never Give Up.
OMG looks to lock JD Gaming out of the playoffs when they square off Friday at 8 a.m. ET. RNG too has a chance to dash playoff hopes, facing LGD Gaming the same day at 5 a.m. ET.