JD Gaming obliterates Bilibili Gaming once more to lift its first-ever MSI trophy.
The grand final of the Mid-Season Invitational is over as JD Gaming has defeated Bilibili Gaming 3-1 to lift its first-ever MSI trophy. With both teams making their first-ever appearance at MSI, it was destined that a debutant would be lifting the trophy. To make the win even sweeter, this was also the MSI debut for all five members of the JDG squad.
And with the reigning champions missing from the tournament, JDG's win makes it three MSI titles in a row for the LPL. China's dominance over the two international tournaments shows just how far the region has come. This also points to the fact that the MSI grand final was essentially a rematch of the LPL Spring Split final, which JDG also ended up comfortably winning.
Game one saw both teams start off on the front foot, exchanging kills from the get-go. However, as the early game progressed, one could sense that JDG's team comp was able to outscale BLG in the long run. This was evident as JDG held BLG to just four kills total in the first game with the last coming in the 13th minute.
From there on out, it was JDG's game as they turned every pick-off into an objective, whether it be claiming a turret, a drake, or a rift herald. While BLG did try a hail-mary play by trying to catch Zhuo "Knight" Ding off-guard, it was unsuccessful and they would pay with their lives. Both Knight and Park "Ruler" Jae-Hyuk also ended game one with zero deaths to their names.
The second game would start very similarly to the first with both teams clash from very early on, trading kills from the get-go. But as the game progressed, JDG would once again pull ahead of BLG, even going as far as diving into the blue side's top outer turret to take out four. However, BLG's ability to get objectives like drakes and rift heralds gave them a small advantage in terms of gold and EXP.
And it all came to a head in the 28th minute when JDG attempted to disrupt BLG's fourth drake attempt. With one misstep, Chen "bin" Ze-bin was able to eliminate Ruler almost instantly, causing the rest of JDG to retreat. Alas, it was to no avail as BLG would eventually take out three more, leaving JDG's Nexus exposed and for the taking. And one last teamfight in the toplane was all it took for BLG to team wipe JDG and take the second match.
Sadly, BLG's comeback attempt was cut short in game three with JDG taking a commanding lead from early on. The constant catch that JDG had in its comp allowed the team to seamlessly push and gank with ease, leaving what's left of BLG behind. For context, JDG ended the game with four times the number of kills BLG had, which was only three. And of those three kills BLG had, it was all on Lou "Missing" Yun-Feng while the rest of JDG had zero deaths.
To make matters worse, JDG would go on to humiliate BLG in the fourth and final game, ending the game in just 22 minutes, the fastest in the best-of-five series. But it's not about how long JDG took to clinch their first MSI title, it's the manner in which they ended game four. JDG would dominate proceedings from the start of the match, taking out BLG at will while also claiming objectives with ease. JDG would end the match with 11 kills to BLG's one with Knight being the only one to fall while still putting up impressive numbers.
With both teams having met four times over this year alone, it has been JDG who had come out on top on previous occasions and they did it once more on the grand final stage. Knight will deservedly walk away with the MVP of the tournament award, having been near flawless throughout the grand final series as well as BLG's bracket stage run.
This also goes to show the LPL's dominance over the international scene, having won the last three MSI trophies in a row as well as two world championships. It remains to be seen if the LPL can lift a third Summoner's Cup but given how things are going this season, it wouldn't be all that surprising.
