After EDG’s 3-1 victory against RNG through sheer skill and composure, it was time for them to up their game as they fought the reigning World Champions, FunPlus Phoenix (FPX). Both teams had their strengths, but this was FPX’s first game in the playoffs. They were not hesitant to demonstrate what they were capable off against the teamfight-heavy playstyle EDG employed in Round 1.
Game 1:
Bans:
[FPX] Sett, Varus, Graves, Blitzcrank, Taric
[EDG] Rumble, Lee Sin, Galio, Kassadin, Sylas
FunPlus Phoenix – Blue Side
Top: GimGoon (Aatrox) Jungle: Tian (Trundle) Mid: Doinb (Twisted Fate) Bot: Lwx (Aphelios) Support: Crisp (Thresh)
Edward Gaming – Red Side
Top: Aodi (Ornn) Jungle: JunJia (Jarvan IV) Mid: Scout (Syndra) Bot: Hope (Kalista) Support: Meiko (Nautilus)
Game 1 was shaken during the drafting phase, where Doinb, famous for his off-meta pocket picks, brought out Twisted Fate in the midlane against Scout’s Syndra. Having this champion in FPX’s side empowered their dive-focused, early game dominant playstyle. Coincidentally the early game showed textbook FunPlus Phoenix gameplay, with Lwx set for early game success as he gained 1.5k gold in 5 minutes.
Edward Gaming slowly closed the gold gap as they took down sidelane turrets during the transition to the midgame. At 23 minutes, EDG was caught off by FPX’s peculiar teamfighting prowess, alongside the GimGoon and Doinb duo flanking threats. These plays led to FPX to further snowball better in the later stages.
In 29 minutes, EDG faced a 3v5 situation behind the Baron pit while FunPlus Phoenix takes Baron. Knowing full well of the numbers advantage, GimGoon moved in to peel for the team while FPX slowed down the Baron buff. To their dismay, Aodi’s Ornn managed to outplay and stole the Baron buff in exchange for their lives. This bump in the road was not bothersome, for FPX immediately took the Infernal drake and sat on a 4k gold lead and potential Infernal soul.
35 minutes in, another Dragon dance ensued between the two teams. GimGoon still continued to flank, while FPX attempted the Infernal drake as fast as possible. It was stolen; however it still was not enough for FPX to fall apart as they made quick work of JunJia and Hope, and chased Meiko down to their base.
After FPX took down Baron after recent Dragon teamfight, doom was spelled for EDG as they desperately defended their entire base from a 1-3-1 siege formation. A final desperate teamfight was forced, much to EDG’s dismay as they fell down one by one. FPX ends the game at 39 minutes for their first win in the series, with a 13k gold advantage, and Lwx as the game’s MVP with a staggering 26.7k damage to champions.
Game 2:
Bans:
[EDG] Rumble, Aphelios, Galio, Kassadin, Corki
[FPX] Ornn, Trundle, Olaf, Taric, Thresh
Edward Gaming – Blue Side
Top: Aodi (Sett) Jungle: Jiejie (Sejuani) Mid: Scout (Azir) Bot: Hope (Kalista) Support: Meiko (Nautilus)
FunPlus Phoenix – Red Side
Top: GimGoon (Aatrox) Jungle: Tian (Lee Sin) Mid: Doinb (Ryze) Bot: Lwx (Varus) Support: Crisp (Tahm Kench)
EDG attempted to change their tempo as JunJia was swapped with Jiejie, who played Sejuani for Game 2 and brought a more aggressive jungler playstyle. They also swapped to the blue side for the priority picks.
Game 2 resembled Game 1 in various aspects. The early game dominance from FunPlus Phoenix, followed by a slow and steady midgame comeback from Edward Gaming through an equalizing teamfight, and FPX responded with disruptive and chaotic flanks against the robust and organized teamfights EDG wanted, which threw EDG off their tempo for the rest of the game.
Edward Gaming at 20 minutes was certainly in better standing than the previous game. However, the lack of sense of urgency crippled their chances of solidifying their midgame status through various bad trades. In 25 minutes, they started to take the Mountain drake, but fell to Tian’s excellent steal execution alongside Doinb, whose constant movement and positioning gave him a bloody pentakill, and the control of the game shifted back to FPX.
Now at a standstill, EDG was forced to take more bad trades against FPX when the latter attempted the Baron to pull the former towards them. While Lwx poked from behind the walls with Varus’ Piercing Arrow, FPX moved EDG towards their own jungle and made them flee in terror of having taken an ultimatum with little agency.
Just like Game 1, FPX sieged the middle and bottom inhibitors and took over the game with FunPlus Phoenix at set point 2-0.
Game 3:
Bans:
[EDG] Rumble, Aphelios, Tahm Kench, Galio, Kassadin
[FPX] Trundle, Ornn, Olaf, Taric, Nautilus
Edward Gaming – Blue Side
Top: Aodi (Renekton) Jungle: Jiejie (Sejuani) Mid: Scout (Sylas) Bot: Hope (Kalista) Support: Meiko (Sett)
FunPlus Phoenix – Red Side
Top: GimGoon (Aatrox) Jungle: Tian (Lee Sin) Mid: Doinb (Ryze) Bot: Lwx (Varus) Support: Crisp (Thresh)
EDG finally employed a dramatic shift in tempo and draft change, mimicking FPX’s early game dominance playstyle through early dives, setups. Scout drafted Sylas while Meiko drafted Sett, and these picks paid dividends for them. This unprecedented take threw everyone off with the irregular adaption that EDG has taken for this game.
EDG pumped up the tempo and pressure against FPX starting in the 1st minute, as they invaded FPX’s blue buff and disrupted Tian’s jungle pathing. This move freed up FPX’s botlane and was capitalized by EDG in an early 4v1 dive in the 3rd minute. EDG took Mountain drake at 6 minutes, and then FPX’s bottom lane outer and inner turret. They came out of the lane with a 2k gold lead.
At 12 minutes, EDG now had a 7/1 kill/death score and two dragons with a 4k gold lead, and the snowball did not stop here. At 17 minutes, they took Infernal drake and immediately sieged FPX’s toplane outer turret and three of FPX’s defenders. They immediately took down Baron at 21 minutes, and sieged towards the nexus without hesitation. FPX had little to no agency this game as they easily wiped in their own base at a group dive in 23 minutes.
With the fastest game end in this series, EDG took down the nexus at 24 minutes with a 10.6k gold lead for their first win.
Game 4:
Bans:
[FPX] Sett, Varus, Graves, Syndra, Ornn
[EDG] Aphelios, Rumble, Jarvan IV, Galio, Mordekaiser
FunPlus Phoenix – Blue Side
Top: GimGoon (Poppy) Jungle: Tian (Trundle) Mid: Doinb (Ryze) Bot: Lwx (Miss Fortune) Support: Crisp (Leona)
Edward Gaming – Red Side
Top: Aodi (Aatrox) Jungle: Jiejie (Lee Sin) Mid: Scout (Kassadin) Bot: Hope (Kalista) Support: Meiko (Taric)
Despite the fact that Doinb had no agency during the third game as Ryze, he stuck to the pick in Game 4 against a Kassadin. Both midlaners sought to scale into the lategame, and it was a race to see who can get that powerspike first.
In the toplane, Aatrox was taken by X which left GimGoon to pick up Poppy as a counter. To much surprise, GimGoon was the MVP out of sheer optimal plays in the midgame, after he snowballed in the toplane.
FPX at 12 minutes took down the toplane outer turret and it pushed them to a 2.5k gold advantage. The gold was not funneled to FPX, unfortunately, but this lead was the start of a snowball EDG could not stop.
At 15 minutes, FPX bolstered their gold lead to 4.5k with two kills and no trades, along with a midlane outer turret taken down. Three minutes later, FPX was more than glad to give their toplane turrets in exchange for EDG’s middle and bottom inner turrets, which widened their map coverage.
At 22 minutes, FPX initiated an ultimatum for EDG at Baron. EDG played sloppily while GimGoon scouted the backlines to disengage any key member with Poppy’s Keeper’s Verdict. EDG was at a horrible 4v5 teamfight for not focusing Lwx, who wiped four of them from the map.
In the final teamfight at 25 minutes, GimGoon once again threw Keeper’s Verdict at EDG and disrupted their formation. FPX presses the attack on EDG who fought their last stand and fails miserably. With this, FunPlux Phoenix closed the series 3-1 and moved onto the Semifinals against JD Gaming.
Concluding Thoughts
If there was one significant takeaway from this series, it should be this: FunPlus Phoenix had honed their skills and reinvented themselves this year, showing why they were the 2019 World Champions.
In particular, FPX displayed supreme macro decision making, coupled with proactive movement and proper use of flanks and splitpushes to create pressure against Edward Gaming. Once they gained a lead, their tempo was solidified. Their gold never went negative, and was always in their favor.
Doinb, the second most-rated MVPs in the Spring split, also demonstrated how crucial midlane priority and roaming is for a team with a powerful marksman. He selflessly devoted his lead towards either the botlane or toplane, knowing full well they can properly use the lead they were given.
Stay tuned for our future coverage on the Semifinals and the eventual Finals for the LPL 2020 Spring split!
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