On the first days back since the short hiatus, the final four teams left in the League of Legends Pro League playoffs put on a show. Back-to-back Game 5 series showcased the reasons why the last four teams standing deserved to make it this far. However, now that the dust has settled, it’s time to see who will take the next step toward being crowned the LPL 2022 spring champions. Let’s dive into the LPL 2022 spring playoffs fifth round and make some predictions about who will come out on top.
Top Esports vs Royal Never Give Up
The two teams that made it to the winners finals stage of the LPL 2022 spring playoffs took different routes to get here. The first team to make it this far is a red hot Top Esports squad. They were the pre-season champions for winning the 2021 Demacia Cup, and after a shaky start to their regular season campaign, TES have been nearly unstoppable since hitting their groove. Leading up to the playoffs, TES went on a 9-1 series run to end the regular season.
Once they got into the playoffs, they didn’t skip a beat. In their first two playoff matches, TES walked right past Bilibili Gaming and LNG Esports before facing the top-seeded Victory 5. After falling down 0-2 in their best of five series, TES came roaring back to pull off three wins straight, taking down V5 in a reverse sweep. TES are now 12-1 in their last 13 contests.
The legendary Royal Never Give Up are the team in the other corner. The reigning Mid-Season Invitational champions have been here before, obviously. They won the LPL 2021 spring split and are looking to do it again in back-to-back years.
The team hasn’t been as hot as TES but have played at a high level all split. While questions arose heading into playoffs about RNG’s current level of play, they didn’t look terrible to close out the regular season (though a 6-3 record in their last nine series raised concerns).
Any concerns evaporated in their match against JD Gaming, but that took until Game 3. Like TES, RNG fell down 0-2 in their best of five series before rattling off three straight wins to advance in the playoffs. RNG suddenly look like they are in MSI form.
The battle between TES and RNG will come down to the jungle matchup. While both teams have exceptional mid and bot lanes, both teams live and die by the performance of their junglers. In RNG’s series against JDG, Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei served as the difference-maker in the final three games of the series and took home MVP honors in two of those three games. Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang played a similar role in TES’ win over V5. This was especially true in Game 4, where Tian went 10/0/6 on Lee Sin.
Both teams have very similar strengths, but the edge has to go to RNG due to their consistency in high-stakes matches. Expect another five-game banger, though.
RNG 3-2 TES
Victory 5 vs JD Gaming
In the losers semifinal matchup lies two teams that probably didn’t think they would be there heading into their round four matches. Victory 5 entered playoffs as the undisputed best team in the region as they locked up the first seed by two whole series while also fielding three members of the All-LPL first team. They looked even better in their first two games against TES and were on the brink of sweeping them to lock their spot in the winners finals.
Then disaster struck the squad and they couldn’t stop the bleeding. Top laner Lee “Rich” Jae-won turned out to be the biggest pain point for V5 . Over the course of three games, Rich went from playing like the All-LPL first team top laner to a top laner that wouldn’t be good enough to start in the LPL, period. When the team needed him the most, Rich produced a 5/16/11 KDA in a losing effort. The rest of the team didn’t do too hot either.
As for JDG, their match against RNG played out similarly. After going up 2-0 against RNG, JDG simply looked outmatched. RNG simply outclassed them in the final three games of the series.
JDG didn’t put up much of a fight in those games and looked mentally checked out by the time Game 5 loaded up. Game 5 lasted only 24 minutes as RNG sent JDG down to the losers bracket. There wasn’t one standout sore thumb on JDG’s squad like there was for V5. Instead, the collective just shut down.
The key to this series will be who can step up in clutch time. V5 have the better team on paper with three of the five All-LPL first-team players on their team. But JDG have the All-LPL first-team jungler, Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok. JDG are going to need Kanavi to play at that level throughout the entire series if JDG want to win. He has shown he is capable of doing that, but it’s hard to bet against V5.
V5 3 – 1 JDG
