The initial stage of the LPL qualifiers has ended, with IG quickly sweeping OMG 3-0. Prior to the match, many expected IG to lose due to their fluctuating form, but their top, jungle, and mid lanes combined efforts to completely shut down OMG. This shows the real difference between the peak and rebirth groups. Despite IG being at the bottom of the peak group, when in good shape, they can still dominate weaker teams effortlessly.

However, top laner Soboro was somewhat underwhelming. In the third game playing Renekton, the team had 26 kills total, but he only contributed 1-2-3, with an extremely low participation rate. Not dying was already the biggest help he could give IG. On the same day, another match was LNG versus WE. Many favored LNG in this BO5 because they had not lost a single game from group stage to qualifiers in the first stage.

With a 5-0 group stage and a 3-0 sweep in the second round of the Knight’s path, LNG had won all six matches, only dropping two small games. Before facing WE, many considered LNG the league’s dark horse this year, especially with their new jungler Croco performing excellently this stage. But after this match, one can only say LNG essentially reverted back to rebirth form. WE is not particularly strong, yet LNG couldn’t even finish the BO5 before losing.

Korean jungler Croco was completely outplayed in this BO5. His decision-making in the first game was very questionable. At 30 minutes, during a mid-lane team fight where LNG won big, Croco chased the opposing jungler all the way from his own red buff to their blue buff, then suddenly stopped chasing and went to contest Baron with teammates. By then, Baron was almost finished, so he should have defended the dragon instead.

This wrong decision handed over the dragon soul, and since WE was not at a big disadvantage, they used the dragon soul to turn the game around. The second game was also bizarre. The enemy was about to push their mid inhibitor tower, but Croco didn’t defend. Instead of fighting frontally in team fights, he kept trying to flank. Despite a huge lead, he lost the game through his flanking attempts. The third game was better, with an 11-1-11 score as he led the team to a crushing victory.

In the fourth game, the jungler slipped again. Early and mid-game were okay, though he gave up a few kills but secured the dragon soul for the team. However, in the deciding team fight, when a frontal attack would have won it, Croco flanked again, failed to take down the enemy AD carry, and was instantly killed in return, losing the match in one swing. If you didn’t know the ID, you’d think LNG’s jungler was Kanavi with all these reckless mistakes in the BO5.

Perhaps winning too much in the rebirth group made Croco overconfident in this BO5. He didn’t take the opponent seriously and played like it was a ranked solo queue game. Although WE is a team from the steadfast group, they are far stronger than TT. WE ranked top two in the group stage, while TT was 0-5 without a single win, possibly even weaker than rebirth teams. After beating TT in the last BO5, Li Ning might have mistakenly thought all steadfast group teams are of that level.

After winning an entire stage, LNG ultimately faltered in the crucial qualifiers. It was all just a pipe dream. Watching this match, LNG clearly lacks strong team strength. Their playstyle is flashy but decision-making is poor. If they fix these problems, they might have the strength to be top two in the steadfast group, but they still have a long way to go to reach the peak group. This team resembles last year’s Top Esports: winning when the jungle is ahead, losing when behind.

Conclusion:

When LNG achieved a 6-0 record, many viewers thought this team had peak group potential; some even believed LNG could rank top 5 in the peak group. Now it seems they can’t fake their way into the peak. If they get more matches against strong teams and learn from the beatings, there might still be a chance. But the LPL’s tiered system is strict, and LNG has few opportunities to face top teams.

So, what do you think about Croco’s performance?

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