China looks to defend its MSI crown
China is known as a region to be brimming full of talented players. With a 3-1 victory over Edward Gaming, Royal Never Give Up are your 2016 LPL Spring Season Champions and will represent China in the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational.
Recent international results have shown that the Chinese teams have had flaws in adapting to major patches and their macro game play. Despite these issues, China remains one of the strongest regions in the world. China has been in the Finals of the World Championship twice, and are often seen as the region that's most likely to dethrone Korea. With the current tank meta looking to stay -- and having many similarities to the 2015 MSI patch -- China has a great chance to defend its MSI title and prove to the world that Worlds was just a minor hiccup.
The Dragon Falls
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Recognized as a premier region with a huge pool of talented players, China had arguably their best and their worst moments in 2015. Winning the inaugural Mid-Season Invitational, it seemed as if they had finally cracked the Korean dominance. Prior to the 2015 World Championship, three Chinese teams -- Invictus Gaming, Edward Gaming, and LGD Gaming -- were touted as either being a favourite to win it all, or at the very least, had an outside chance to lift the trophy.
Unfortunately, things did not pan out accordingly, and the Chinese teams crashed out Worlds earlier than expected.
The storyline continued into 2016 as the Chinese teams failed in international competitions again, albeit with different teams. Facing off against a weakened field of international teams at IEM Katowice, China sent their top two teams in Qiao Gu & Royal Never Give Up to clinch the title for their homeland. This time, it can be argued that China performed worse than their showing at Worlds a few months before, with the top two Chinese teams losing a Best of 3 series to a young Fnatic squad who were struggling to get a decent string of results in the EU LCS.
MSI will be a defining test for China as they look to regain their spot on the podium as one of the top two leagues in the world.
China has rarely been able to overthrow the Korean overlords, dropping in the Finals against their Korean rivals for consecutive years back in Seasons 3 and 4. However, there were always glimpses of hope that China might one day be the best region in League of Legends. Starting out with the legendary World Elite team, winning IEM Season VI Global Challenge Guangzhou, beating out Counter Logic Gaming who were considered the best team in the world back in 2011.
After a brief hiatus, the success continued after the Season Two World Championship where they were arguably one of the most dominant teams in the world, winning the IPL 5 title in what was the most stacked tournament in League of Legends history. Most recently, EDG lifted the spirits of all Chinese fans as they edged out SK Telecom T1 in a close 3-2 series at MSI 2015, proving to the world that even gods can bleed.
Return of the dynamic duo
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Royal Never Give Up finished the 2016 LPL Spring Season as the leaders of Group B, and had the best regular season record out of all the teams. Unfortunately, their international showing was rather disappointing, as they crashed out of IEM Katowice to a Fnatic roster who had been struggling back in Europe.
Throughout the split, RNG have shown to be the masters of Teleport usage and team fighting, with crisp shotcalling from Mata -- a man better known as the 2014 World Championship MVP -- and his synergy with former Samsung White teammate Looper.
After joining RNG with Mata, Looper's shown solid performances in the top lane, while having an uncanny sense of using Teleport at the right time. This is no mean feat, as many players struggle to utilize Teleports effectively, especially within teams with language barriers.
Fortunately for RNG, Mata has been able to prevent that with his coordination with Looper and his role as a shotcaller for the team. His understanding of vision control and placing wards has also allowed Looper to excel in both split-pushing and flanking effectively during team fights and skirmishes.
This Spring, RNG also utilized two different AD carries effectively, both having differing strengths. NaMei has proven to be their premier Sivir player and an enabler for his team. Meanwhile, wuxx displays more carry potential and is usually the main carry of the team when he starts for RNG.
During the Playoffs, RNG flaunted their bot lane strength, utilizing stronger lane matchups to out-shove or zone the enemy, thus creating openings to invade the opponent's jungle.
New challenger, Same Mission
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Royal Never Give Up enter MSI as China’s representative after a grueling Playoff series against both World Elite and Edward Gaming. In order for RNG to keep the MSI title in China, Mata will have to be at the top of his gaming, manipulating Looper in the top lane while also synergizing with both his AD carries.
RNG will look to play the early laning phase safely while mlxg looks to farm up a storm in the jungle. By having more gold, mlxg will have higher raw stats and will look for early skirmishes to get an advantage for his middle or bottom lane.
Watch out for Royal to utilize their understanding of minion waves and pressure to pull opponents around the map and execute their favored pick compositions whenever the enemy slips up in the vision coverage.
Redemption on home ground
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The 2015 Season was one of the best and worst for Chinese League of Legends. On one hand, China won the MSI title over Korea's legendary SKT T1. On the other hand, with all three Chinese teams crashing out before the Semifinals of Worlds, both teams and fans alike were distraught and in disbelief. This year, China’s slump at international competition's continued.
Back in the spotlight once more, RNG are ready for redemption and will be looking to win the title in their home country at the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational.
