Five things we learned from Demacia Cup
When scrims aren't enough of a challenge and LPL standings are too tight, Chinese teams turn to Demacia Cup as a platform for experimentation at the highest level. As a premiere tournament that invites the best that the LPL and LSPL have to offer, Demacia Cup is particularly fun to watch as organizations often trot out their latest guinea pigs to test.
This hardly means that Demacia Cup shouldn't be valued. With a best-of-five tournament bracket that mimics the LPL Playoffs, teams can glean key pieces of information that may help them come LPL postseason.
LGD is One of the Strongest Teams in China
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LGD often draws ire for their sub-par regular season record, causing spectators to lose faith and opponents to gain confidence. Of all the LPL teams in the Demacia Cup Quarterfinals, LGD had the most difficult route to get there, facing second-place Qiao Gu in the Round of 16.
LGD won that explosive series 3-1, even with AD carry Gu "Imp" Seung-bin out for the first two games due to problems with his visa. Throughout these matches -- even the games where mid laner Wei "GODV" Lian took over the ADC role -- LGD showed an understanding of map movement and map pressure currently unmatched by any other Chinese team.
Visa issues continued to plague Imp in the Quarterfinals, and LGD Demacia Cup run ended early at the hands of OMG. While GODV's AD carry play was surprisingly good, removing him from the more impactful position of mid lane to AD carry disrupted LGD enough for a surging OMG squad to take them out. Nonetheless, if Imp returns to the lineup on schedule and LGD continues to field newcomer Lisheng "xiaoxi" Wei in the jungle, LGD should be a serious contender for the 2015 LPL Summer crown as well as one of China's three World Championship berths.
Invictus Gaming is a Bit of a Mess
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Before Demacia Cup, iG top laner Liu "Zzitai" Zhi-hao boasted that he would host a party at his house should Invictus Gaming take the title. They didn't, and Zzitai was presumably left with an empty house as iG shuffled out to lick their wounds and regroup before heading back to the LPL grind.
Invictus Gaming has the talent to go far and contend, but their summer has been fraught with rumors of internal issues along with fan backlash against AD carry Ge "Kid" Yan's recent lackluster performances.
By the grace of Vici Gaming support Cho "Mata" Se-hyoung's appendicitis, iG made it through the Quarterfinals -- but then swiftly fell to Edward Gaming. They did manage to take a game, which marks a better showing than most of their clashes with China's top team, but the series was incredibly sloppy. In fact, all of iG's Demacia Cup matchups were sloppily played, showcasing their tendency to showcase an abundance of skill with little-to-no coordination.
Invictus Gaming had similar issues coming together in 2015 LPL Spring; however, those were a factor of their hybrid roster needing time rather than a lack of motivation or confidence. They started off Summer strong but -- as their Demacia Cup and recent LPL performances indicate -- are nowhere close to stopping the downward trend.
Snake Knows Their Own Weaknesses
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One look at a few of top laner Li "Flandre" Xuan-jun's builds this LPL Summer may give the impression that Snake Esports aren't trying. Flandre may squander gold, and Snake has made many questionable composition and gameplay choices, but Demacia Cup proved that Snake is acutely aware of their own weaknesses.
The current Snake is an excellent late-game 5v5 team fighting team but lacks early game pressure and presence. Their attempts to become more multidimensional in the LPL resulted in misguided poke compositions and jungler Kim "Beast" Joo-hyun's questionable Nidalee fascination. Snake debuted jungler "ZZR" and swapped out AD carry Yang "kRYST4L" Fan for Tan "Martin" Qi in the Demacia Cup, giving the team a much-needed early game boost.
While Chinese teams have experimented heavily with roster substitutions this summer, Snake's roster rotations showed that they were paying attention to their available talent and what meta will allow said talent to shine. ZZR was unimpressive at first, but had the early game aggression that Beast lacks. Martin is a safer bot lane choice if Snake wants to end things by the mid game, and they can always put in kRYST4L if they want to run a scaling hypercarry.
EDG Remains the Best Team in China...For Now
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Speaking of roster substitutions, Edward Gaming's matches have featured revolving doors in the top and mid lanes. In spite of reported injuries along with an expressed desire to give their fresh talent experience at the cost of team synergy, EDG has remained at the top of the LPL standings. They furthered their legacy of dominance by also taking this Demacia Cup.
This hardly means that EDG are infallible. Their aforementioned series against iG was worrisome at best, and their 3-0 finals sweep of OMG was far from flawless. more a result of poor drafting and disorganization from OMG.
EDG has a few more weeks to sort things out before playoffs begin, but with teams like Qiao Gu, LGD, Snake, and now OMG nipping at their heels, they'll need a stronger showing than their Demacia Cup victory.
OMG May Be Better Off Without Uzi
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This is a particularly bitter pill to swallow, for both OMG themselves and their passionate fanbase. Unfortunately, OMG's acquisition of top tier AD carry Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao came in a year where the AD carry meta is completely out of his comfort zone. Uzi and OMG struggled mightily in 2015 LPL Spring, and tears were often shed when Uzi couldn't carry hard enough to secure an OMG victory.
Demacia Cup was OMG Yan "North" Hong's coming out party. In spite of a 3-0 loss to EDG in the finals, North had strong performances in the Semis and Quarters, giving OMG a much-needed boost. For the first time all year, OMG finally played like a unit of five, rather than five individuals.
OMG is now faced with the incredibly difficult task of choosing one of their two carries. Uzi's laning and trading are unparalleled, but his carry potential requires a very specific style of play -- one that has been successful for few teams across all regions. While North lacks the finesse and dominance of Uzi, he may be just what OMG needs right now.
