This article is part of our LoL Bios series.
7:42:00 AM, PST.
I knew I was likely watching the final moments of World Elite's rematch against Royal, as after overextending to clear a ward, mlxg takes an Enchanted Crystal Arrow from the enemy ADC, Mystic. For a moment, my heart stops. World Elite and Royal are my two favorite teams in the LPL, and I had never considered which I had truly wanted to win, only who I thought would win. World Elite fails to kill mlxg off for good, but they do take his Guardian Angel and force Uzi to use On The Hunt to give him the speed to escape. Royal, feeling the series dangling on the edge on a knife, turn their attention from the dragon pit they had been fighting over and instead toward the open inhibitor that World Elite have left undefended in the middle lane. My heartbeat calms. The game is safe, for the moment.
7:42:30 AM, PST.
World Elite have turned from the dragon pit, and rallied to defend their inhibitor. Condi fearlessly barrels into Royal, giving both teams pause and bringing the series to it's deciding moment. Time slows as my mind races quickly over what may happen, and my brain seems to register what's happening in slow motion. For a second, both teams seem unsure about how to proceed, then all at once the action intensifies. Mata begins to cast Cosmic Radiance, eager to defend his team from the aggression of World Elite, aggression that both myself and the captain of Royal knows could well end the game with his team in their weakened state. "Back off," I whisper quietly to myself and Royal back up as if on my cue. For a moment it looks like nothing will happen; that the combination of Cosmic Radiance and a string of Ricochet crits from Uzi has forced World Elite to wait for a better opening.
7:43:00 AM, PST.
An aggressive howl from my headphones roars in time with a startled yelp from my own throat, as 957's Gnar flashes forward and throws all of Royal, save Uzi, into the adjoining wall, surprising every player on the Rift. Condi, taking the cue from 957, looks to get into the Royal back-line and chase Uzi out of the fight. As a unit, Royal back up as much as they can, sensing the moment's nascent danger. Xiaohu, however, is split off from the team, and I grimace as a couple autos from Mystic sends him packing to the respawn point. Desperate to salvage a hopeless fight, Mata starts to fire off one more Dazzle. I watch, riveted to my chair, as the skill charges up. Then the ire of Mystic falls upon Mata the way a man swats a gnat, and he falls just before the crucial stun can land and give Uzi the time to clean up the fight. Uzi, the last hope for Royal to win the series, tries desperately to Ricochet all through World Elite, hoping for the string of miracle crits. But Mystic's arrows find him as well, and closes the series in favor of World Elite, as they have ample time to destroy Royal's Nexus unopposed.
Stunned, I shake my iPad, unsure if what I saw were true or not. The woman across from me on the train looks up quizzically. Her confusion is echoed on my own face, so unsure am I as to whether I should cheer or cry. Finally, I pump the air quietly: while this was a tragic chapter in one team's story, it was potentially the beginning of an entirely new one for the other.
One thing was certain: World Elite had done what no one thought they could. They had dismantled Royal, the reigning LPL champions, in a fashion that echoed the victory that Edward Gaming claimed against them earlier in the split. With this victory, the landscape of the LPL irrevocably changed – at least until the playoffs give a clearer picture of where the teams stood.
The Sleeping Tigers
For Royal, this loss was a troubling one. Ever since they returned from the Demacia Cup the team has struggled; though the roots of those struggles were planted far sooner. Their play this split can best be compared to a playground bully. The overwhelming amount of individual talent that Royal brings to bear is enough to usually defeat enemy teams outright. As a result, their macro play has, if anything, gotten worse since their trip to MSI; the event that ensured the international community would be scrutinizing their play throughout Summer.
When Royal faced off against EDG, it should have served as a wake up call. In Spring the greatest asset of Royal was their explosive nature. From game to game their carries would vary in a fashion that calls to mind teams like Cloud9 or even SKT T1, as every member of the team often would find a lead and the rest of the team would ruthlessly capitalize on it. With Uzi on the roster, though, things have taken a dark turn for the organization, one that both Edward Gaming and now World Elite have both taken note of and capitalized on. Their style is increasingly reliant on Uzi winning games for them, and while he is no doubt a talented player, when push came to shove it was Edward's Deft that took the series, not Uzi.
Mystic, was another matter entirely, though. Long known as a role-player and Ezreal specialist, no one would argue that Mystic against Uzi was a mismatch before this series, but Mystic had a key advantage that Uzi lacked: he didn't have to carry his team. For better or worse, Royal have become increasingly reliant on Uzi to carry them through their later fights, where previously that role lay with Mata and Looper's ability to initiate and split a team and the rest of the team's willingness to follow them both into hell itself. Knowing that Uzi would always look to win the lane made him predictable, and World Elite's focus on neutralizing that lane should have been a tactic Royal were prepared for.
Clearly, that was far from the case. Even in the first game, where Xiaohu found himself quite fed, his team seemed completely incapable of playing around him the way they would have six months ago. With Wuxx, Royal had an ADC who would – usually – take care of himself and who didn't require babysitting. Uzi provides neither of those qualities in exchange for a few admittedly impressive highlight reel plays. When Xiaohu found a flank on World Elite as a nearly itemed-out Viktor in Game 1, the Royal of Spring would have dove in headlong to give him the chance to kill every last member of World Elite. The Royal of Summer instead grouped around their ADC and left Xiaohu out to dry, watching as he was forced to waste most of his damage on Zero's Braum.
While it's definitely too sure to be talking about doomsday scenarios for Royal – the team does star enough talent to effectively represent China at Worlds by default, after all – the fact remains that the team that, on paper, should have been one of the strongest in LPL history just convincingly fell to a team that a year ago sat in last place. If Royal merely want to defend their LPL title they need to reevaluate their identity, and fast.
A few months ago, however Mata said that the bar for Royal wasn't merely to be the Chinese representative to Worlds, they wanted to be the greatest threat in the event. When Royal went to MSI, we saw just how possible that reality might be as they drew blood from SKT T1, a team thought to be invulnerable. The team that took the Rift against World Elite was not that team, though, and with their current domestic struggles it's hard to imagine them living up to Mata's dream. While Royal might be able to coast to a World's invite regardless of what they do depending on seeding, if they honestly intend to challenge an increasingly terrifying Korean scene that likely hosts all three of the world's best teams, they need to start soul searching.
What the answers are to Royal's ills are surely more complex than the simplification provided above, but they'll never even begin to fix their issues if they don't first admit that something is amiss. In the wake of their loss to Edward Gaming, that didn't seem to happen. Now, as many analysts are considering dropping them beneath World Elite in the overall rankings, they are in what may be the most critical juncture this new squad has yet faced. Whether Royal takes this defeat to heart and find a new, more dynamic approach to the game may be the most important storyline of the LPL Summer Split, if not the entire global season.
No one questions that this roster has the potential to reach the World Finals. Chinese fans have always rabidly believed that their teams have the potential to be the best. But after a series of broken promises and wasted talent, it's becoming increasingly hard for those same fans to remain optimistic. Whether Royal will soar and find a deep run like they did in 2013 or whether they'll retire to the same ignominy that LGD did following their performance in 2015 remains to be seen, but the fans of the LPL have by now learned better than to believe in them unconditionally. If Royal truly wishes for it's fans to never give up hope, they must first show that they themselves will never give up, even if it means confronting uncomfortable truths about the quality of their play.
Another Chinese Star
All split it had been taken for granted that Royal and Edward were once again destined to meet in the finals. While World Elite were themselves a fine team, they were a noticeable tier beneath the two titans; strong but still mortal. Their embarrassing loss to Game Talents earlier in the season had made their mortality clear, but longtime fans of the organization still held out hope. Even in their defeats there was a glimmer of plucky defiance backed by such admirable late game teamfighting that they were hard not to love. If nothing else, their games were always entertaining.
Against a team like Royal, though, conventional logic would state that hoping for late game as World Elite are known to do would be about as effective as praying for rain in the Mojave Desert. The early game and skirmish potential of Royal is nearly legendary, and it was those very same traits that let them be the first team to take down SK Telecom at the Mid-season Invitational. In theory, adding Uzi should have magnified those strengths, as his laning prowess is nearly legendary and his pixel perfect positioning is the stuff highlight reels are made of.
That very strength was what gave World Elite the tools to earn their most important victory of the split. In Spring, Royal could come from any angle with attacks from either their top, mid, or bottom lanes backed by the efficient aggression that mlxg brought to the table. Summer has seen an entirely different team emerge, one that seems fixated on it's bottom lane. Gone are the days of Looper's Trundle being widely feared in China. Gone are the days of Xiaohu's Azir completely taking over games. Gone is the mlxg whose Nidalee could win the game before his team even need get involved.
All of this played to World Elite's favor in their fateful contest, but that's not to undercut their own strengths. In a world of tank picks, 957 and his ilk are among the best in the league. Xiye was never Xiaohu's lesser, but his champion pool and, more importantly, the way his team plays around his picks has left Xiaohu standing in the dust. The move towards support ADC's favors a role-player like Mystic, not an All-Star like Uzi.
As a result, the triumph of World Elite was a triumph of planning, discipline, and superior execution. They knew where Royal would try to hit them and they were ready for it. Mystic and Zero played safe unless they were absolutely sure they were ready to take a full teamfight, and that discipline was what got World Elite into the mid and late game relatively unscathed, if not ahead. Once there it was barely close. Royal might have five individually superior players, but World Elite looked to be the far better team. Their target selection was pinpoint perfect, and they both entered and exited combat together as a unit, all while seeming to communicate each others plays and intentions like a well-oiled machine. For a team that barely looked like they spoke a word to each other in game a year ago, the change has been a both welcome and unexpected one.
The only questions left for World Elite is what their ceiling is, and whether this will prove to be a fluke or a success. Many are inclined to think that this is the beginning of a new age for the venerable organization. Their performance throughout the split has been among the most consistent of the league: they lose when they should and win when they should, rarely playing out of character or having exceptionally bad games. If the team has matured enough to be able to confidently dismantle a top team in this fashion, the burden of proof falls upon Royal to prove this series a fluke during playoffs, assuming the two teams again meet.
