In what can only be described as a truly epic reverse sweep, Royal Never Give Up's AD carry Jian "Uzi" Zi Hao continues to chase an LPL domestic title after EDward Gaming became the League of Legends Pro League Champions in Shanghai on Friday.
Things were almost dream-like for Uzi in the first two games of the series as Royal Never Give Up jumped out to an early lead. With decisive shotcalling and aggressive mindsets in the first two games, RNG refused to give EDG an inch, using Uzi's mechanical dominance to keep EDG under heavy fire. From a classically long Game 1, in which the teams combined for several kills pre-20-minutes, to an easy Game 2, which was basically an open invitation for people to come watch the Uzi and midlaner Le "Xiaohu" Yuan Hao show, RNG had basically everything it seemed to need to finally get over the curse and deliver a domestic title to Uzi.
Uzi would never get the chance, though. EDG made a strong comeback starting in Game 3, taking over the series with a stronger emphasis on drafting reliable engage. It helped that RNG, emboldened by its 2-0 lead, started drafting multiple marksmen, repeatedly setting up to try and out-mechanic EDG. In a matchup of co-MVP's, EDG mid laner Lee "Scout" Ye-chan went from meek to mighty in a hurry, carrying EDG with a herculean LeBlanc performance in Game 4 while punishing xiaohu's overconfidence en route to securing MVP for the finals. All of EDG stepped up in a big way, but Scout gave EDG the spark it needed to ignite a spectacular comeback.
All in all, there's not much that RNG could've done to stop EDG by the end of the series. Royal Never Give Up, ever the team to try and brute-force opponents into submission, had finally met its match in EDG, which had solid mechanical performances combined with spectacular teamplay. Uzi was far from perfect as well, but don't come away from today's series thinking this loss is all on Uzi.
Both teams will now gear up for the 2017 World Championship later this month, with EDward Gaming as the #1 seed from the LPL and Royal Never Give Up as the #2 seed.