Top Three Reasons RNG will,or won’t win Worlds

By s. samek | Oct 11, 2019

BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA - OCTOBER 20: Team Royal Never Giveup play against team G2 during the quaterfinal match of 2018 The League of Legends World Chmpionship at Bexco Auditorium on October 20, 2018 in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Woohae Cho/Getty Images) /

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We continue to break down why each team can, or cannot win the League of Legends 2019 Worlds, now moving onto RNG.

RNG will represent China as the second seed to come out of the LPL for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. RNG has contended many times for the title, but the trophy case remains empty. RNG looks to break through for their first League of Legends Worlds title this year and here are three reasons it could or couldn’t happen.

Why RNG Will win Worlds.

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1. Uzi

Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao is the face of the RNG franchise and the main star player, appearing at Worlds for the sixth time in 2019. Uzi doesn’t just show up to the Worlds stage though, he also gets results. During the 2014 and 2017 World Championship, he was the player that tallied the most kills during those two tournaments.

After proving himself at prior Worlds, he has earned a couple of high ratings on top Worlds player lists, shout casters Jatt and Vedius each named Uzi has their third-best player at Worlds. On our ranking of the ADCs at Worlds Uzi was also named the third best, drawing praise for his high level of mechanical skill specifically his positioning, damage dealing, and gold earning.

Another factor that should help Uzi carry the team is his champion pool. Uzi has success on many of the marksman champions that are currently in the S or A tier of the Worlds meta, such as Kai’sa, Vayne, and Caitlyn. Caitlyn is the one champion I would recommend banning against him, as he achieved a pentakill with her during LPL play in 2018, though you might not want to give him Vayne either, as he has scored three pentakills on her during LPL play.

2. Top Ten Team

RNG is a team that rated highly in our Worlds team ranking list, finishing at number six. This puts them in a prime position to be called a championship contender, even if they aren’t in the S tier of Worlds favorites.

RNG split two 2019 regular-season matchups with Invictus Gaming between Spring and Summer Splits. Yet they finished second in the Summer Split playoffs, while Invictus finished in eighth, which allowed RNG to finish with 100 Championship points to Invictus Gaming’s 90 to take the second seed, while Invictus was relegated to playing in the regional finals. This should give them a chance against Invictus head to head, despite them besting RNG by one spot in out rankings.

RNG also holds a 1-1 regular-season record against FunPlus Phoenix between 2019 LPL Spring and Summer Splits. Unfortunately, with FunPlus defeating RNG in the Summer playoff finals, they received the LPL’s one seed over RNG.

FunPlus is rated ahead of RNG, but I don’t feel like it would be out of the question for RNG to beat them. RNG holds the experience advantage having been to Worlds before, while FunPlus is new to the stage giving RNG something they could leverage if needed.

3. Historical Presence at Worlds

RNG is no stranger to the Worlds stage, as they are making their fourth World Championship tournament. During these prior three appearances, they have never failed to make it out of the group stage. They reached the quarterfinals in 2016 and 2018 and the semi-finals in 2017.

In 2013 under the Royal Club name, they made it all the way to the Grand Finals before falling 3-0 to SKT T1. In 2014 competing as Star Horn Royal Club they once more made it to the Grand Finals before losing 3-1 to Samsung White.

No matter what you call them this organization has had success at the Worlds level, now it’s just about breaking through to win that title that is missing from the trophy case. If RNG is successful in replicating the past they should be in good shape this year.

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