The League of Legends Pro League had its craziest stretch of the entire 2022 spring split in Week 8. With massive upsets across the board, here are the lessons learned from the games that went down during the LPL 2022 spring split Week 8.
No one is immortal
For a majority of Week 8 in the LPL, things seemed to be just business as usual. Outside the hiccup which was Anyone’s Legend win over reigning Worlds 2021 champions, Edward Gaming, the top teams were beating their competition. But then Sunday, March 13 happened.
Three of the top five teams in the LPL had matches scheduled that day. Weibo Gaming went up against Rare Atom, a game in which WBG were favored to win. Invictus Gaming played Top Esports, with TES slotted as heavy favorites. And finally, Team WE squared off against Royal Never Give Up, an actual afterthought in the minds of fans everywhere. All three of the favorites lost.
Only three of the slated playoff teams in the LPL actually managed to come out of Week 8 with a clean record. Those teams were Victory Five and the two other storylines of the week, Rare Atom and JD Gaming.
Rare Atom are a Dark Horse
Looking back at RA’s 2021 campaign, it’s clear RA had a very successful year. Hovering toward the top of the standings throughout the summer split, RA looked like a team on the brink of greatness heading into 2022.
But then their roster got gutted. Their star mid laner Chu “FoFo” Chun-Lan found a new home at Bilibili Gaming and their support player headed off to FunPlus Phoenix. However, heading into Week 8 of the 2022 spring split, the three other starters from last year’s team reminded the league of their greatness. In specific, top laner Dai “Cube” Yi had a fantastic week. In RA’s four wins, Cube picked up player of the game in three of them, which rocketed him into fourth place in the MVP standings.
RA’s win against WBG was impressive, and heading into the last week of the season they have a chance to show they are legit contenders with matches against EDG and JDG.
JDG are here
Speaking of RA’s next opponents, JDG might turn out to be the harder one, as they are currently on a hot streak. JDG picked up their second straight undefeated week in Week 8. And just like in Week 7, they did it without dropping a game.
Their first match of Week 8 came against current playoff team, LNG Esports, and it wasn’t close at all with both games ending before the 31-minute mark. Top laner Bai “369” Jia-Hao picked up both player of the game honors in that series, which actually only put him in third on his own team. JDG have carry threats across all lanes with 2022 spring MVP Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok leading the charge. But also their mid-laner, Zeng “Yagao” Qi, has also been solid for them as well.
On their current five-series win streak, JDG have taken care of business. But just like RA, they will have a chance at turning more heads in the final week of the regular season. That’s because they go up against RA themselves and then end the week with a match against WBG.
