As the de facto best team in Group B at the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational, Royal Never Give Up were sure to win in their Day 3 match against RED Canids. However, RNG bot laner Chen “GALA” Wei styled on each of his opponents by securing the first Pentakill of MSI 2022.
RNG didn’t disrespect RED Canids in draft, picking a standard meta composition. In fact, they locked in one of the most powerful bot lane duos with Nami and Lucian. However, when the game started, RNG didn’t hold back.
As a sign of respect, RNG embarrassed RED Canids. In the 28 minute victory, RNG averaged more than a kill per minute, closing the game with 30 of them. Their kill total easily tops the total kill leaderboards so far at MSI 2022. Still, the real story isn’t the kill total from RNG as a team — it was GALA’s performance on Lucian.
With a mind-blowing 16 kills, GALA showed the world that the MSI 2021 final MVP is back in form. Not only did he finish with a 16/3/5 kill/death/assist scoreline, but GALA almost picked up a second Pentakill before the game was over.
GALA made a name for himself at last year’s MSI. After winning the 2021 League of Legends Pro League spring title over FunPlus Phoenix, RNG’s bot lane of GALA and Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming quickly shot up the rankings as one of the best bot lanes in the world. And at MSI 2021, RNG’s bot lane continued its push for the number one ranking. They dethroned DWG KIA’s world championship-winning bot lane in the MSI 2021 finals, earning GALA his MVP title.
However, after a weak 2022 LPL spring season which saw him miss all three of the LPL’s all-pro teams, GALA proved his death was greatly exaggerated. RNG look in prime form as they aim for an undefeated MSI group stage for the second straight year.
