The xPeke tradition lives on

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China’s third seeded team for the 2018 League of Legends World Championship, Edward Gaming, was left to fend for themselves in the dreaded Play-In stage of the tournament after securing the Chinese regional finals. Despite their precarious position in the first stage of Worlds 2018, Edward Gaming came out swinging in their first two matches. They now stand as their group’s frontrunner as the Play-In stage progresses, especially after the amazing play they managed to pull off in their final game yesterday.

Edward Gaming faced off against Australia’s Dire Wolves after their successful first game against Costa Rica’s Infinity eSports. EDG locked in the surprise Darius top lane pick for their man in the top lane, Ray. The Darius was their answer for Dire Wolve’s top Ornn pick which soon proved to be the correct decision. Ray made sure his presence was felt across the map as he accounted for 80% Kill Participation after 22 minutes of gameplay. But Ray’s contributions to the game came into the spotlight in the final moments of the intense back-and-forth game.

Fast forward to 32 minutes into the game, Dire Wolves effectively ward around the Baron pit in preparation for an all-out assault on the grandest objective on Summoner’s Rift. They are almost immediately spotted out by Edward Gaming but instead of answering in kind with a 5-man Baron denial squad, EDG runs 4 people towards the pit with Ray creeping closely on DW’s base from the bottom lane.

Dire Wolves take their chances in the lopsided 5v4 match around Baron and even manage to deal out a considerable amount of damage. Suddenly, EDG’s carry iBoy on Kai’sa comes out strong in the team fight and completely negates the numbers disadvantage. EDG not only secure the Baron pick, they nearly wipe out the entirety of Dire Wolves with iBoy locking in a sweet triple kill. DW’s top laner and AD Carry attempt to teleport back but their attempts are in vain as they are mowed down by iBoy.

Ray continued his one-man siege with full trust in his teammates. This strategy paid out in dividends for Ray as he received a baron buff to help empower his game-ending play. Ray closes out the match with a beautiful ultimate execution on DW’s jungler as the minions finish of the blue side nexus.

The matches in the 2018 League of Legends World Championship continue to heat up despite the presence of the better known League teams in the World. The Play-In struggle continues through the weekend where only four teams will be moving on to join the rest of the teams in the main event. It’s safe to say that Edward Gaming’s chances of advancing to the next stage just shot up exponentially.