2019 LPL Spring Split Primer and Power Rankings

#1 – Invictus Gaming

Roster:

🇰🇷 Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok (Top)
🇰🇷 Lee “Duke” Ho-seong (Top)
🇨🇳 Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning (Jungle)
🇰🇷 Song “Rookie” Eui-jin (Middle)
🇨🇳 Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo (ADC)
🇨🇳 Chen “West” Long (ADC)
🇨🇳 Wang “Baolan” Liu-Yi (Support)

Week 1 Games:
vs TOPsports Gaming (14th of January) (Shanghai)
vs Oh My God (16th of January) (Chengdu)

Invictus Gaming, our current world champions, show no signs of letting their newly found dominance wane going into the 2019 LPL season. They are fresh off winning another honor thanks to their first-place finish at the 2018 Winter Demacia Cup which shows us that even an unpracticed IG is a force to be reckoned with.

TheShy has cemented himself as the greatest top laner in the world right now. Whether he’s playing a tank or a carry, you will have to fear TheShy as he can take over the game on any one of his champions. Only RNG (and the stove) have managed to tame TheShy in the past so it will be very interesting to see how teams attempt to mute TheShy’s influence on the game while also keeping his teammates suppressed.

Duke is the only player to win two world championships with two different teams. The Korean top laner usually plays second fiddle to TheShy but he is no slouch himself and is a great substitute to have on the roster. With Duke, IG would still likely win most of their games but he isn’t quite on the level of TheShy.

Ning despite a rocky group stage at Worlds has proven himself to be among the best junglers in the world, if not the outright best jungler. Since all of his laners usually win on their own, Ning need only lend them a helping hand while keeping track of his opponent. Though some would say his job is easy, Ning certainly does the most possible with the inherent advantages he is given in-game.

Similarly to the TheShy, Rookie is the best in his role in the world right now. He has even surpassed legendary player Faker in terms of his skill. Rookie is a force to be reckoned with in lane and in team fights he can be even more devastating. With the two best solo laners in the world, how can anyone hope to defeat IG?

Jackeylove is often seen as the wild card on IG. He is the player the opposition looks to exploit because of his rash decision making and tendency to fight no matter what. He still is a top AD Carry but he doesn’t quite have the dominance in his role that his teammates have. In fact, the title of ‘Best ADC’ belongs to his counterpart on IG’s rival team.

West is IG’s substitute ADC who has been on the roster a while but didn’t see any game time until the Demacia Cup. He was picked on quite a bit during his few matches in that tournament which made it clear that Jackeylove is still the better option for Invictus.

Baolan played out of his skin at the world championships. His Alistar play instilled fear in everyone IG faced. He is a very good support and needs to start reigning in Jackeylove if IG wishes to maintain their dominance going into the future.

However, despite IG winning the grandest prize of the 2018 season with this roster, they failed to win either LPL split last year. A semi-final exit at the hands of Rogue Warriors in Spring can almost be written off as TheShy couldn’t play due to a hand injury, leaving them with only Duke who didn’t play his best League of Legends on that day. Yet with their strongest players available they still couldn’t defeat their rivals the Chinese giants Royal Never Give Up in the Summer finals. RNG may continue to be a thorn in the side of IG in the 2019 season.

In terms of their week one matchups, I don’t see OMG posing any threat. Their players are inexperienced and definitely trend towards the bottom half in their roles in the LPL.  TOPsports actually managed to knock IG down to the loser’s bracket in the Demacia Cup, baring in mind that TOP had actually practiced for the tournament. This match will be more competitive but I still don’t see them beating a practiced IG. It should be a comfortable 2-0 week for Invictus to kick off the Spring split.