LGD Gaming have advanced to the next round of the 2020 LPL Summer Split playoffs after taking down former League of Legends world champions Invictus Gaming 3-0 today.
Former T1 jungler Peanut played a major role in LGD’s win today. He had two dominating performances on Nidalee, having a combined score of 6/0/19 from the first two games and a phenomenal Graves performance in the last game, with a score of 5/1/6. His KDA for this series is 36.0, an impressively high number in such an important match.
[embed]https://twitter.com/invgaming/status/1294966088602705920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]The first game was the Peanut show. He farmed well, ganked for each of his teammates, and secured neutral objectives. His pressure was constant, something you want from your solo queue jungler. LGD dominated IG over the entire course of the game, reaching a gold lead of more than 12,000 by 24 minutes.
After the poor performance in the first game, IG regrouped for the second game and decided to lose it even faster. Their performance was very poor, especially from top laner TheShy, who ended the game with a 0/3/0 scoreline. Even though Peanut was huge once again, the MVP went to his support after he landed game-deciding Leona ultimates.
Two huge sub-25 minute stomps seemed to affect IG’s morale. Going into the third game, the draft was clearly focused on comfort rather than a winning draft. IG picked up a random solo queue comp with no synergy in hopes of winning the third game and getting another shot of equalizing the series.
With a poor draft, LGD exploited them to the max. Even though Nidalee was banned from Peanut, he picked up the Graves to dismantle and destroy IG. He made former world champion Ning look like a bronze jungler with his plays. He read him like a book and took away objectives, securing the clean 3-0 series win. They have destroyed IG in the regular split with no issues.
LGD went through significant offseason changes, replacing most of their roster. They built around Peanut and Kramer and it seems to come to fruition so far. The team has been looking much better compared to the Spring Split, where they finished 15th out of 17th. If the team can maintain this form going forward, they might have a real shot at grabbing one of the middle-of-the-pack playoff spots. LGD’s next two matches next week will put them to a test.
LGD will be facing the Spring Split champions JD Gaming in the semifinals next.