LPL is looking to keep the Worlds trophy in China and prove they are the most dominant region in the world.
In recent years, LPL has looked like the best region in the League ecosystem. They won three of the last four Worlds, and three of the last four MSIs. And while the top Korean team can look like they can challenge the LPL’s best, the region looks like they have more depth as all four representatives they send have some chance to be the ones lifting the trophy. Among those four, we have RNG who is coming out of back-to-back MSI victories, and EDG who is the reigning World Champions.
Royal Never Give Up
- Chen “Breathe” Chen
- Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei
- Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao
- Chen “GALA” Wei
- Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming
If you need any proof that the Play-Ins this year will be more challenging than ever, the presence of the reigning MSI champions being in there should be enough. Despite being one of the most internationally successful Chinese teams ever, the only team to win three MSI titles, Worlds has never been where this organization shined. They are known as the team that wins in Spring but somehow falls apart once the Summer comes. Still, RNG is still a very scary team and even as a fourth seed, they are expected to make a deep run, maybe even their first Worlds Finals.
Let’s start by looking at their top side. After their MSI victory, RNG made a top laner change, bringing in Breathe for Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin. While Bin was a good player in his own right, Breathe is a different beast regarding his champion pool and carry potential. He is the embodiment of the “Chinese Fiora” memes, as he really favors playing strongside carries; his most-played is Gwen. How successful he can be is dependent on his junglers form, as Wei’s performances can range from excellent to almost inting.
RNG bot lane has also been a strong suit for them in the past, even if less so this Summer. During their MSI runs, especially in 2021, GALA/Ming was regarded as one of the best bot lanes in the world, but they fell behind their LPL competition this Summer. This can be mainly attributed to the meta, as GALA is known for his aggressive picks like Kai’Sa which looks like will be viable during Worlds 2022. They were also in excellent form during the Regional Qualifiers, and they will get to chance to warm up during Play-Ins against easier opponents.
When talking about Regionals, we shouldn’t overlook Xiaohu either. The King of Spring had a good Summer and was vital in his team winning a ticket to Worlds. Xiaohu may not be able to match up to more lane-dominant players in this tournament, but as a player who is known for his roaming playstyle, the current mid lane champions are perfect for him to impact the map.
- Players to watch: Breathe, GALA
EDward Gaming
- Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun
- Zhao “Jiejie” Li-Jie
- Lee “Scout” Ye-chan
- Park “Viper” Do-hyeon
- Tian “Meiko” Ye
It speaks to the region’s strength when the last year’s World Champions are the LPL’s only third seed coming into the event. LPL 2022 Summer regular season hasn’t been the best for EDward Gaming, but they showed significant improvements in the Playoffs. Their only series losses came against Top Esports, who were the eventual finalists. One significant advantage for them is that this roster consists of the same five players who lifted the trophy.
Their playstyle also hasn’t changed much since 2021. With Jeijei playing the more supportive meta junglers to facilitate his teammates and Flandre once again relegated to the weakside. Except his champion pool isn’t what you would expect from a weakside player, not many tanks or traditional blind picks maybe except Gnar, but instead, he has multiple games on picks like Kayle, Vladimir and Kennen.
And it is normal for Flandre to be weaksided in a team with both Scout and Viper. While Scout hasn’t been the best mid laner in LPL this split, he was still very instrumental in the EDG wins. He is also very flexible regarding his champion pool, he played a lot of Taliyah/Sylas to impact the map but his best games came when he was on Azir.
The primary carry, on the other hand, has to be Viper, probably the best ADC in LPL even while his team is underperforming. He already showed how scary can they be when both he and his partner Meiko are in form. Viper also is not an ADC that over-relied on the Zeri/Sivir meta, even though he played them, and his champion pool is diverse enough that he will have a big champion pool in any meta.
- Players to watch: Scout, Viper
Top Esports
- Huang “Wayward” Ren-Xing
- Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang
- Zhuo “knight” Ding
- Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo
- Ling “Mark” Xu
Ever since their rebranding to Top Esports, this organization has been one of the best teams in LPL, except for their uncharacteristically down 2021. Still, they came back very strong in 2022, making Finals both in Spring and Summer, but unfortunately losing both series 3-2. This team has a start-studded roster and anything besides winning Worlds will be a failure for them.
This Top Esports roster is a mix of experience and young stars. Both Wayward and Mark are relatively new faces in LPL, but both players have already proved themselves among the very best. Wayward is once again a weakside player, which is somewhat familiar in LPL when we consider the ADCs in the league. He was one of the first players who started playing Sejuani, with his other go-to picks being Gwen and Gnar. Mark on the other hand is as versatile as a support comes. He is proficient in both enchanters and engage supports, and his vision control around the map doesn’t suffer when he is on either. Plus he is undefeated on Senna/Tahm Kench duo with his lane partner JackeyLove.
The backbone of this team is their jungler, Tian, who is having a resurgence after a lousy year, and a worse Worlds, with FPX where he had to deal with multiple wrist and mental health issues. He is not a player who is afraid to be the main engage of the team, and sacrifice for the greater good.
Now, the most significant question marks for Top are on their carry players. Both knight and JackeyLove are players who time and time again showed that they can be not only the best player in their roles but the best players overall in the world. But both of these players had some disappointing times too. Knight hasn’t had his best performances in previous Worlds events, and almost everyone knows that JackeyLove moments when he just decides to throw a game, as we saw in the LPL Grand Finals. If these two players can play the tournament in peak form, Top Esports is a big favorite to win it all.
- Players to watch: knight, JackeyLove
JD Gaming
- Bai “369” Jia-Hao
- Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok
- Zeng “Yagao” Qi
- Wang “Hope” Jie
- Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng
JDG came into 2022 with a nearly revamped roster after they changes three of their five players, keeping only their long-time mid/jungle duo of Kanavi and Yagao. Despite their long history in LPL, they haven’t been a particularly top team. They only won one championship in the Summer of 2020 and they attended only one World Championships, where they lost in the quarters.
Unlike most LPL teams, the star power of JDG mainly lies in their top side. This doesn’t mean though they don’t have a good bot lane duo, as Hope/Missing surprised many fans this split and showed themselves to be among the best. They are also a very aggressive duo, they have more Lucian/Kalista games than Zeri/Sivir ones, which is very good considering the latter two have been nerfed more heavily going into the tournament.
Now to the JDG top side. We can argue that all three of these players have been the best players in their roles in this LPL Split. Maybe Kanavi had more competition from Tian, but the difference in their playstyles makes it hard to compare. Even though they have a similar champion pool, Kanavi is a player who is more focused on farming but has more carry performances. It is also nice to see him play a lot better. Kanavi has been a very hyped prospect since his Griffin days, but his mediocre 2021 made some people doubt his abilities.
The solo laners of JDG dominated their opponents this year, both in the regular season and in the playoffs. While it was somewhat expected from 369 as he is a player who is more highly regarded, more so when doesn’t roll a 3 that day, Yagao came out of nowhere to cement himself as a top mid laner in a league with stiff competition. Both these players are significant carries but in different ways. While 369 loves to pick for lane and dominate, Yagao’s best champions were Taliyah and Ahri, on which he completely took over games.
- Players to watch: 369, Kanavi
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