In a fast-paced opener to Week 3, Day 2 of the League of Legends Pro League, LGD Gaming took a 2-1 series win over Newbee on Friday in Shanghai.
Game 1 was a layup for LGD Gaming (2-2, 5-5 match record) after Newbee jungler Baek "Swift" Da-hoon's Kha'Zix got too aggressive in LGD's jungle, giving first blood over to LGD jungler Xie "Eimy" Dan's Jarvan IV. LGD worked in perfect harmony while Newbee was completely out of sync, allowing LGD to bully its way to a 4-for-1 teamfight at 16 minutes and a huge 8,400-gold lead by the 22-minute mark. Eimy's ability to engage fights for LGD completely negated the splitpushing from Newbee's composition, earning MVP honors with a fantastic 6/0/11 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). After securing a 27-minute Baron, LGD easily crushed through Newbee's defenses to take a 1-0 lead with a Game 1 win in 29 minutes.
Newbee (2-2, 6-6 match record) immediately bounced back in Game 2, picking up first blood at eight minutes and snowballing from there. LGD's teamfighting/siege composition helped it early, demonstrated by of a couple narrow teamfight wins, but Newbee managed to pick up kills for AD carry Lin "Lwx" Wei-Xiang's Kog'Maw in the process. Picking up a triple kill in a 4-for-3 at 15 minutes, the hyper carry Kog'Maw in a big way as the game progressed, picking up a quadra kill at 23 minutes as Newbee punished indecision from LGD with a 4-for-0 and a Baron kill. Lwx was simply a monster in Game 2, dealing a game-high 24,400 damage to enemy champions and posting a 13/3/1 KDA as Newbee struck back with a 30-minute Game 2 win.
With first pick in LGD's possession for Game 3, the squad picked up Zac for Eimy, and he took over the game from the start. In classic LPL fashion, a 4-vs-4 fight in the bottom lane at three minutes gave first blood to Eimy in a 2-for-1 that also saw mid laner Yu "Cool" Jia-Jun's Cassiopeia quickly grow in strength. Picking up three kills before five minutes, Cool shredded Newbee apart, picking up a triple kill in a 5-for-1 LGD ace at 17 minutes. Using a Rift Herald to take all three mid lane towers, LGD could do no wrong as it took a 21-minute Baron to increase its gold lead to 10,000. Desperate to stop LGD, Newbee engaged a final fight in its base and lose a 4-for-0 engagement thanks to Eimy's initiation, contributing to his strong 3/1/12 KDA as LGD closed out a lightning-fast Game 3 win in 25 minutes to lock up the 2-1 series win.
Newbee looks to bounce back against OMG on Sunday at 2 a.m. ET, while LGD Gaming prepares to face SN Gaming at 5 a.m. ET on Sunday.