It’s unfortunate that the two teams playing the best League of Legends in China will be meeting in the Spring Split Semifinals instead of the Finals taking place next week. That’s just what’s happening when Invictus Gaming takes on Royal Never Give Up on Saturday. The winner is sure to be favored to win the 2018 LPL Spring Split and represent China at the Mid-Season Invitational.
LPL China 2018 Spring Split Semifinals Betting Odds (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Invictus Gaming -303
Royal Never Give Up +224
Invictus were the best team in China throughout the regular season. They dominated the Spring Split, finishing 18-1 and only dropped five games. Rookie was fantastic in the mid lane, earning First Team All-LPL honors for his work. Top laner TheShy and jungler Ning joined Rookie on the First Team, and the bottom lane duo of JackeyLove and Baolan were named to the Second Team.
With that much talent on the roster, you might be wondering why IG aren’t a -400 or favorite or more to advance to the Finals. The main reason behind that is an injury to top laner TheShy.
Invictus Gaming's form without Theshy (out with injury) is a bit worrying. Duke has not looked anywhere as clean. Uzi might have one of his best shot at a title with clearlove7 questionable and IG down a man. pic.twitter.com/SYO61CF19p
— Clement Chu (@ClementKChu) April 20, 2018
Duke was once considered one of the best top laners in the world and won a World Championship as the starting top laner for SK Telecom T1 just two years ago. However, there’s a reason that he was replaced by TheShy shortly after the season got underway. IG’s one loss came against RNG in the season opener, and Duke was not impressive in the series. He didn’t look good when he came on at the end of the season either, getting ganked early against Suning Gaming, leading to another map loss.
Conversely, Royal Never Give Up has really turned it on. They struggled to start the year and were swept by Invictus at the end of Week 8, but since that point they have only dropped two games.
For RNG, the key has been the return of Uzi. The legendary AD carry is arguably the best at his position in the entire world, and this team started to look like the RNG of old once he re-joined the squad after Chinese New Year.
Uzi made history last week in RNG’s victory over Snake Esports in the Quarterfinals. He became the first player to reach 2000 kills in the LPL, cementing his status as one of the all-time greats.
Congrats to Uzi on winning the 2000th kill of his pro career! #LPL pic.twitter.com/D5uQ0KxQDx
— LPL (@lplenglish) April 14, 2018
Having Uzi back in action took the pressure off of the rest of the team, and in particular xiaohu. The mid laner has looked like one of the best in China at times, but it felt like he was being asked to do too much earlier in the year without Uzi. Since the playoffs have started, xiaohu has been a monster though. He has been named the MVP in four of RNG’s five wins.
Prediction
If TheShy was healthy, I would love Invictus at this price. With Duke in the lineup though, there are some major concerns. He may only be able to play tanks at this point in his career, and if he cannot hop on a champion that can carry, that limits RNG’s options. For that reason, I’ll go with Royal Never Give Up to beat Invictus 3-1.
