Edward Gaming took a 3-1 win over Rogue Warriors in the League of Legends Pro League Regional Qualifiers on Sunday, taking the third seed and joining Royal Never Give Up and Invictus Gaming as China's representatives at the 2018 World Championship in South Korea.
When it comes to the League of Legends World Championship, there's perhaps no other team in the LPL with the same reputation as EDG. Making an appearance at every Worlds since the team's first foray into League of Legends back in 2014, EDG came into Sunday's series with intensity and purpose. After all, who would want to be a part of the team that broke such an illustrious streak? Across from EDG sat Rogue Warriors, who had only formed a short time before Season 8 began. Stacked with star power, from AD carry Han "Smlz" Jin to mid laner Kim "doinb" Tae-sang, Rogue Warriors looked to cap its inaugural season in the LPL with a trip to Worlds.
The story writes itself from here: the Chinese dynasty vs. the newcomer looking to make a name for itself. Unfortunately, after Rogue Warriors' 40-minute Game 1 win, EDG took the series over in what can be easily described as a stomp. EDG's simple playbook of sending people to the bottom lane early on to try and snowball the game was well scouted by Rogue Warriors but it didn't matter, since nothing could stop EDG once it got rolling. Playmakers like jungler Chen "Haro" Wen-Lin, whose Lee Sin lit up Game 4 after a strong tactical showing in the first three games, and top laner Jeon "Ray" Ji-won, who broke out the rarely seen Maokai to great effect, enabled the rest of EDG to do whatever it wanted. EDG effortlessly stifled RW's attempts at aggression, turning RW's momentum against it and leaving it thoroughly beaten as EDG rattled off three straight wins to earn the LPL's final spot at Worlds.
Poor Rogue Warriors came close to knocking EDG off of its World Championship attendance pedestal, but ultimately ran out of gas after winning a slugfest of a Game 1. Game 1 was an anomaly for several reasons; not only was it Rogue Warriors' first blue side win against a top team in the LPL, but it saw RW expertly read its opponent and shut down its gameplan. After that first game, RW seemed to think it was in complete control and proceeded to brute force plays against EDG which ended up backfiring spectacularly. The stars failed to shine for RW, and when that happens, RW quickly goes quiet. In the end, Rogue Warriors got put in its place on the outside looking into Worlds, proving that raw talent along can't earn you a domestic title, let alone a World Championship berth.
With the conclusion of this series, the 2018 season in the LPL comes to a close. Royal Never Give Up, Invictus Gaming, and EDward Gaming now prepare for the World Championship, which begins in October.