2019 LPL Spring Split Primer and Power Rankings

#5 – Edward Gaming

Roster:

🇰🇷 Jeon “Ray” Ji-won (Top)
🇨🇳 Ming “Clearlove” Kai (Jungle)
🇨🇳 Chen “Haro” Wen-Lin (Jungle)
🇰🇷 Lee “Scout” Ye-chan (Middle)
🇨🇳 Hu “iBoy” Xian-Zhao (ADC)
🇨🇳 Wang “Hope” Jie (ADC)
🇨🇳 Tian “Meiko” Ye (Support)

Week 1 Games:
vs SinoDragon Gaming (15th of January) (Shanghai)
vs Snake Esports (18th of January) (Chongqing)

EDG is mostly hated by Chinese fans due to an age-old controversy involving Clearlove and also their inability to perform on the international stage among other things. Besides Clearlove though, this squad doesn’t have much association with the EDG teams of old. They’ve kept their same roster since last season which is going to give them an early synergy advantage over their opponents. They are firmly a playoff team in my opinion but may struggle against certain teams ranked above them.

Their top laner Ray who is famous in the West for being the “sword” of a certain Cloud 9 squad is entering his second season with EDG. Top lane is quite stacked in China but Ray makes a good account of himself among a stacked lineup. He is a good top laner but can spiral downwards while being camped.

Haro can be a flashy player but can also flop when things aren’t going right. He is a growing talent and will continue to improve with EDG, I can see Haro being in the conversation for the best in the world if he keeps this level of improvement for a year or two more. It’s unclear if Clearlove is still with this team as his contract has expired but it’s likely the veteran jungler will stick with his team of over five years if he isn’t retiring.

Scout is a very solid mid laner. We saw at Worlds that the Korean mid can hang with the best in the world and this holds true in China. He is certainly in the top half in his role in the region and it would have been difficult for EDG to replace him with a player that was more skilled enough to justify the drop off in familiarity.

iBoy has immense mechanical talent but is incredibly brazen in the way he plays. He’s as likely to flash in and die for free as he is to pop off and 1v2 his opponents. He seems to be ironing the rash decision making out of his play and if he can eliminate this weakness completely then he may challenge the very best ADCs in China. Hope has been with EDG for over a year but has received very little game time as they prefer iBoy and for good reason.

Meiko has remained with EDG year after year. He is an astonishing support and definitely one of the best in China if not the world. He has shown a lot of loyalty to EDG by sticking with them for so long.

EDG should be able to win both of their games in week one. Snake is weaker opposition and will likely not cause too much trouble for EDG. The new kids SinoDragon Gaming (SDG) will be stiffer opposition but I still see EDG coming out on top.