Image credit: LoL Esports
Bilibili Gaming survived an onslaught against PSG Talon at the Mid-Season Invitational.
The LPL Spring Split champions, Bilibili Gaming have managed to defeat PSG Talon in the Mid-Season Invitational Bracket Stage, the first best-of-five series in the tournament to go to Silver Scrapes. After back-to-back sweeps in the last two days, the third match-up of the MSI Bracket Stage between BLG and PSG proved to be an electric and exciting series that saw great comebacks from the PCS champions.
While they may have been defeated, PSG are still not out of the competition. Its loss against BLG meant it will drop to the lower bracket where they will await the loser between tomorrow's series between G2 Esports and T1. As for BLG, they are now in the upper bracket semifinals where they will await the winner of tomorrow's best-of-five.
And it was BLG who took the first game of the series in convincing fashion as Zhao “Elk” Jia-Hao looked to be in clinical form as his Kalista had nine kills and four assists with only two deaths. His showing on the AD carry role was further exemplified by Luo “ON” Wen-Jun's Renata Glasc, who came away from the first game with 11 assists, one kill, and three deaths. Only Peng “XUN” Li-Xun had the highest assists numbers with 14 as his Jarvan IV proved to be too much to handle alongside his three kills and zero deaths.
Many had already predicted it to be another 3-0 sweep by a second LPL team but PSG respectfully declined and came back in a big way in the second match. While BLG looked to be in cruise control for much of the early game, PSG was able to claw themselves back after some great team fights. And at the heart of PSG winning multiple skirmishes against BLG was Yi-Tang “Maple” Huang, whose Aurelion Sol proved to be a decisive factor in the team to tie the series at 1-1.
He was the team's main damage dealer in most fights and it showed as Maple had six kills, a singular death, and seven assists. Hung-Yu “Woody” Lin also had a great second game with Nami as his contributions to PSG winning multiple team fights cannot be understated. The same can also be said about Chun-chia “Junjia” Yu and his Maokai as both players managed to earn double-digit assists to give PSG the win.
PSG would go on to start the third match with great spirit as they rallied to a strong lead in the early game. Unfortunately, a series of macro mistakes would prove costly to the undisputed PCS champions as BLG were able to mount a comeback themselves during the mid-game. Chen “Bin” Ze-Bin showed just why K'Sante has been a popular pick in the toplane with three kills, six assists, and zero deaths. The same can also be said for Zhuo “Knight” Ding and his Taliyah, who managed nine assists to go with three kills as well as zero deaths.
But despite being on match-point in the series, the start of the fourth game still left something to be desired for BLG as they once again let an early-game lead slip through their grasps. And this time, it was Yu-Hung “Betty” Lu that was one of the difference makers on Ezreal as he was the team's main source of large damage output during team fights. And by his side was Woody and Betty, both of whom managed double-digit assists once again with 11 apiece.
Maple would also have another great game with this being his turn on Taliyah and he showed that he can step onto the Rift with the best of them. He managed to get seven kills with three assists and only one death, a great return against a team that many consider to be the best in the LPL right now. With the series tied at 2-2, it was time for Silver Scrapes and sadly, after some great comebacks from PSG, they would falter and wilt at the very end.
Despite being able to stand toe-to-toe against BLG, PSG's small macro errors proved to be costly once again in the fifth and final game. The team's lane-swapping will have to be improved dramatically as it showed to be the team's downfall as BLG ran riot in the fifth match, only allowing PSG two kills in just under 24 minutes. On the other hand, XUN was a terror to PSG once more as his Kindred pick turned out to be a shrewd choice that worked out better than expected.
