Image credit: Riot Games
The Mid-Season Invitational grand final will be an all-LPL showcase for the first time in the tournament's history.
Bilibili Gaming will meet JD Gaming at the Mid-Season Invitational grand finals after sending home T1 in a 3-1 scoreline. This will be an exact rematch of the LPL Spring Split grand finals that happened a few months prior, which JDG won 3-1.
BLG's lower bracket run has been nothing short of astounding, having beaten some big names and former winners along the way. This includes 2019 victors G2 Esports as well as the LCK duo of T1 and Gen.G Esports with the former having won back-to-back MSI titles in 2016 and 2017.
It has not been T1's season thus far, having been second-best all of last season as well as the LCK Spring Split finals. This time, they will have to contend for third place after a dominant showing from BLG in the lower bracket finals. It's also looking like Chen "bin" Ze-Bin's prediction is coming true.
The first game started very much in BLG's fashion, fast and aggressive on the opponent's AD carry. But their dive was overextended, which gave Ryu "Keria" Min-seok an easy double kill with help from the bottom outer turret. The early game was very much back-and-forth between both teams before Peng "XUN" Li-Xun sparked to life with a triple kill after T1 took the first drake.
However, T1 would not go down without a fight, being able to ace BLG after a long drawn-out fight that saw Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok fall early on in the fight. But BLG were resolute in their task to stop T1 by being able to maintain a small advantage during the mid-game through some key pick-offs. And it all came to a head when T1 overextended to take BLG's inner middle turret, which saw Zhao "Elk" Jia-Hao get a triple kill. This was enough for BLG to push down T1's middle lane to take the first match.
Game two saw T1 start the match much better than the first but BLG were able to respond in kind, albeit later in the early game portion. The transition to the mid-game saw both teams happy to maintain distance to farm up. But it all sprung to life with BLG contesting T1's baron attempt. Although they only had four initially, it was still more than enough for BLG who managed to eliminate four from T1 with XUN getting a triple kill, even after arriving late to the teamfight no less.
A little while later, Ceng "YaGao" Qi would get a solo kill on Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong, which was the start of T1 losing control of the second game. Soon after, BLG would push through T1's base and take game two and go match-point in the series. And with their backs against the wall, T1 managed to bounce back in the third match with a Xayah and Rakan combo in the bottom lane once again.
T1's in-game management of game four was rock solid, being able to keep BLG at bay for most of the match. And although the LPL second-seed managed to get some key pick-offs, T1 was a step above in game three, being able to team wipe BLG after just 17 minutes. While BLG were down but not out yet after some great skirmishes, T1 had managed to build a good enough lead to push through without many repercussions. And the longer the game wore on, the more it felt like it was T1's game to force a fourth match.
The fourth and final match of the series started with yet another Rakan and Xayah combo for T1 while BLG stuck with Zeri and Lulu for the third time in the bottom lane. And that was mainly where the action was with both teams trading kills from early on. But as the game wore on, BLG was looking like the more effective and formidable team, being able to outplay and outmanoeuvre T1 almost effortlessly. But a needless push soon saw BLG lose their bottom lane duo and suddenly, T1 managed to catch up and even the graphs against BLG.
But BLG was not about to throw the game away thanks to its comp ability to push hard and fast, taking out T1's middle lane inhibitor and turret without much of a response. This forced the Korean titans to try and take the fifth drake but was soon team wiped by BLG, who ended the series soon after.
