In our previous article we discussed Top Esports’ MVP-caliber players who showed their resolve in climbing towards the final round. While the story of a team who climbed from the lower segments of the tournament is inspiring, we cannot simply disregard their final opponent in the LPL 2020 Spring playoffs.

They’re facing JD Gaming, the team who sat in 2^nd seed next to Invictus Gaming, and the team that wiped FunPlus Phoenix 3-0 in the semifinals. In their first series in this playoffs, they demonstrated why they were seeded so highly in the bracket, and dominated the renowned 2019 World Champions.

Now, Top Esports are destined to duke it out on the Rift this 2^nd of May 2020. What do these teams that upset the entire LPL fanbase by sending off the clear favorites in the finals, have? How did Top Esports and JD Gaming beat Invictus Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix respectively? How explosive could this final series be?

Top Esports’ Top-tier Performance

Across all the series this playoffs, Top Esports consistently won their battles 3-1 against Team WE, the dark horse of the LPL, and Invictus Gaming, the top seed of the tournament. For the latter, having a 14-2 series record certainly puts a target on themselves and instills fear against anyone destined to be placed in the same bracket.

The key to their success was to assure a winning lane in the early game and snowball into the midgame. Tempo and map control is important for a team to win, and with the best professional players fighting each other, one mistake can tip the scales.

There’s also the “Divine Three” composed of Knight, Karsa, and Jackeylove, the mid lane, jungler, and bottom carry respectively. For those who are unfamiliar with his track record, Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo was known for being the marksman in Invictus Gaming’s winning roster in the 2018 World Championship. These playoffs, he garnered two MVP awards as well. Since his time with iG, he has never stopped improving his game, and is well-respected even by European pro players.

Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan is the team’s premier jungler, and is known for maximizing his champion’s potential for aggressiveness. These playoffs, he has played champions like Rek’sai, Lee Sin, Qiyana, and Olaf. These four champions are highly effective gankers with powerful crowd control, damage, and mobility in one bundle, showing what kind of playstyle Karsa embodies to get his teammates ahead.

Last but not least, Zhuo “Knight” Ding has been stellar in his gameplay in the playoffs. We’ve elaborated the numbers on our previous article about Top Esports’ MVPs, but here’s the gist: he has a staggering 8.9 KDA with 48 kills, 11 deaths, and 50 assists, coupled with dealing 33.5% of the team’s damage against champions. His powerful numbers brought him the MVP award three times this split. Besides being known for his Ekko, he mostly played Syndra and a single game of Corki this game. The Syndra pick worked so well, it could have been the sole reason for his insane statistics. If JD Gaming have taken note of this, we may see a development this upcoming finals.

JD Gaming’s First Impressions

JD Gaming took the 2^nd seed into the semifinals with a 12-4 series score after the Spring Season. Naturally, they only get to play two series this playoffs because of this privilege. First impressions always last, and JD Gaming asserted why they had this privilege by making quick work of FunPlus Phoenix with a 3-0 clean sweep.

JD Gaming is known for their moshpit style teamfighting; they are ready to fight anywhere and anytime. The team’s highlights involve the top-mid duo of Zoom and Yagao, and Kanavi in the jungle, who is regarded as the LPL 2020 Spring Split MVP.

Zhang “Zoom” Xing-Ran has an undefeated 16 winstreak in the regular season after his return at around April 4 due to the ongoing pandemic. With a 6.6 KDA out of 47 kills, 26 deaths, and 125 assists in the regular season, it shows that he is primarily a team player that gains leads by himself then transition to help the other lanes push further. In JDG’s first series in the playoffs, he picked champions that have good AoE damage such as Sett, Gangplank, and Mordekaiser.

Next up is Zeng “Yagao” Qi, the team’s premier mid laner. In the series against FPX, he brought champions that can threaten from a long range such as Corki, Syndra, and his famous LeBlanc. Besides those, he is also known for his superb Zoe and Azir. When a teamfight-loving team, Yagao is enabled to make picks on the enemy’s backline and even caught Doinb at a surprise pick in his own jungle in Game 3.

Lastly, Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok is JD Gaming’s main jungler for this playoffs, and for good reason. If a team looks to pack a punch in any and all teamfights, jungle control certainly gives the controlling team much more area to work with. Kanavi was the perfect jungler with his quick and proactive jungle pathing. His optimal rotations and map coverage granted him a strong lead against FPX Tian during the semifinals. Once he invades the opposing jungle, he never fails to maximize his time and movement and makes out like a phantom thief.

Playoffs Statistics

Now, let’s talk team numbers. Do note that given the short span of the playoffs can not entirely predict trends that may show in the finals, but is handy to keep in mind regardless.

Top Esports loves to have their objective win conditions, sporting a 58% dragon control rate and 64% Baron control rate in their 8 playoff games. JD Gaming on the other hand had 63% dragon control rate and 83% Baron control rate out of 3 games (which were all against FunPlus Phoenix).

In terms of jungle control, JD Gaming beats Top Esports by a large margin with 57.7%, a 5.4% difference from the latter’s 52.3% jungle control.

JD Gaming and Top Esports have almost equal vision game, with the former having 3.40 wards placed per minute and the latter having 3.39 wards placed per minute. Regarding control wards, the difference was insignificant with JDG having 1.47 control wards purchased per minute as opposed to TES having 1.33 control wards purchased per minute.

Concluding Thoughts

This LPL Finals is one of the most hyped finals, and I am speechless for what’s to come. Seeing fresh new teams with a chance to certainly reinvigorates and ignites the competition of the tournament, showing that these big-name teams don’t have everything under their belt just yet. The improvements all of the teams displayed are commendable, but Top Esports and JD Gaming’s improvement shine the brightest of them all.

Tune in for our LPL 2020 Spring Finals coverage soon!

Statistics utilized in this piece is from Oracle’s Elixir, with data as of May 1, 2020.