Disastrous Start for RNG in LPL Summer 2021

Royal Never Give Up ended LPL Spring in 1^st place. The team finished the Group Stage with a record of 14 wins – 2 losses and then defeated Top Esports, EDward Gaming, and FunPlus Phoenix to win the Playoffs, after initially losing to FPX in the Upper Bracket. This great result was quickly followed by an even more spectacular one: 1^st place at Mid Season Invitational 2021, a tournament in which they defeated DAMWON Gaming, the winner of Worlds 2020.

After this string of exceptional victories, it’s hard not to expect the team that achieved them to continue on the same path. After all, what can change in just several weeks? But as it turns out, in League of Legends a month can change everything. In a sense, the game’s professional scene is similar to that of Overwatch, where you can break the losing streak record in one season and then come back to be the strongest team in the league.

LPL Summer 2021 Partial Results

Three weeks have passed since the start of LPL Summer 2021. The tournament started with unbelievably good results for LNG Esports, a team that finished LPL Spring in 10^th place with a record of 8 wins – 8 losses. Now, the same team is leading the pack with 7 wins and 0 losses. And one of the 7 teams they defeated is RNG.

Royal Never Give Up needs a wake-up call. Because its current record of 1 win – 3 losses is abysmal for a team of its caliber. So far, the only opponent they managed to beat is Rogue Warriors, whose current record is 0 wins – 5 losses. Either the meta is evolving too quickly for the former LPL champion or the players lost motivation after the Spring Split results.

The competitors that have maintained their form are EDward Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, Team WE, and Rare Atom. The last of these 4 is arguably playing even better than before. Atom finished LPL Spring 2021 with 10 wins and 6 losses. Now they have 5 wins and just 1 loss in their first 6 matches.

The Current Rankings

Here’s a complete list of the results after the first 3 competitive weeks of LPL Summer 2021:

1^st place: LNG Esports: 7 W – 0 L
2^nd place: EDward Gaming: 6 W – 0 L
3^rd place: FunPlus Phoenix: 5 W – 1 L
4^th place: Rare Atom: 5 W – 1 L
5^th place: Team WE: 3 W – 2 L
6^th place: Oh My God: 3 W – 2 L
7^th place: JD Gaming: 3 W – 3 L
8^th place: LGD Gaming: 3 W – 3 L
9^th place: Top Esports: 2 W – 2 L
10^th place: Bilibili Gaming: 2 W – 3 L
11^th place: Invictus Gaming: 2 W – 3 L
12^th place: Suning: 2 W – 4 L
13^th place: Royal Never Give Up: 1 W – 3 L
14^th place: Ultra Prime: 1 W – 4 L
15^th place: ThunderTalk Gaming: 1 W – 5 L
16^th place: Rogue Warriors: 0 W – 5 L
16^th place: Victory Five: 0 W – 5 L

LPL Summer 2021 Week 4 Predictions

Week 4 will be decisive for RNG. If they want to have at least a remote chance of catching up, they will need to do well against Top Esports and Suning. And unfortunately, both teams are quite strong. Or at least they used to be until a short while ago. Just like in RNG’s case, it’s hard to say anymore because the results are inconsistent.

The other big matches that you might want to watch this week are these:

Rare Atom versus LNG Esports

This match is going to decide the situation at the top of the rankings table. LNG is currently undefeated and I’m sure they want to stay that way. But Rare Atom has had some pretty tough opponents so far (Top Esports, WE, etc.) and they only lost against EDward Gaming.

Overall, I expect a score of 1 – 2 in favor of LNG in this match. After defeating FPX, I don’t see how LNG could lose to Atom.

FPX versus iG

FPX was stronger than iG in LPL Spring 2021 and defeated not only them, but also teams that had defeated them. And unlike other top teams, FPX has maintained the excellent form that allowed it to play in the Grand Final of the Spring Split. Its current record of 5 wins – 1 loss says it all. Therefore, I expect a victory for them in this match.

Top Esports versus EDward Gaming

EDward Gaming had some trouble against Top Esports in the Spring Split’s Group Stage, losing the direct match with a score of 1 – 2. But in the Playoffs they faced them again and won with a score of 3 – 0. Furthermore, EDward Gaming is now a formidable competitor that hasn’t lost a single match so far in the LPL Summer 2021, while Top Esports is struggling to stay afloat. Based on these indicators, I believe that a victory for EDward Gaming is inevitable here.

Photo credit: Riot Games