Doinb overcomes his mental barrier, Jiejie is swiftly eliminated, LPL witnesses a historic moment, and NIP advances to the quarterfinals.

Greetings to all LPL fans and League of Legends summoners, this is Tianxia Game Hub.

The third stage of the LPL professional league today featured its first BO5 clash, pitting old rivals NIP against FPX. The two teams fought intensely over five games, with NIP ultimately winning and advancing to the playoffs.

Following this round, LPL has witnessed for the first time a team that has successfully risen from the promotion group.

Doinb breaks through his mental block, marking a historic moment for the LPL.

Since the introduction of the Peak Group, Phoenix Group, and Knight’s Path concepts in the LPL, no team from the Phoenix Group had ever truly succeeded in defeating a Peak Group team to make the playoffs—until today. Led by Doinb, NIP, ranked first in the Phoenix Group, faced off against the bottom-ranked FPX from the Peak Group and ultimately defeated them to advance.

After passing through the Knight’s Path, NIP will earn a playoff revival shield, giving them a chance to continue even if they lose the next round. It’s clear that Doinb and NIP’s ambitions go beyond merely reaching the playoffs; they aim to achieve even greater results.

However, it must be said that the gap between the Peak Group and the Phoenix Group is still visibly significant. While NIP easily dominated within the Phoenix Group, they struggled fiercely against FPX, the lowest-ranked team in the Peak Group.

Moreover, in the final deciding game, NIP’s situation nearly collapsed but they managed to turn it around through consecutive opportunistic fights. Doinb successfully overcame his mental barrier—this year, he had been repeatedly defeated by FPX, suffering a painful loss in the second stage. Now, having finally beaten his former team, he was visibly elated after the match.

Leave ascends to godlike status again as NIP reverses the final game.

Back to the match, NIP found themselves at a disadvantage trailing 1-2 in the BO5. In this moment, Leave stepped up, picking Charizard and delivering a stellar performance. During this game, jungler Naiyou secured a solo kill on Jiejie, and shortly after, Care made a huge mistake chasing and was punished with a 0-for-2 exchange.

Following this, the game’s momentum shifted dramatically. NIP set the pace, with Leave securing multiple kills, rapidly developing his lead and dominating team fights. The match concluded in just 24 minutes.

In the final deciding game, Leave locked in Jinx, but NIP’s early game collapsed. The level one team fight saw the leopard girl fall, and in the ensuing bottom lane skirmish, Xayah secured a double kill. During the dragon fight, Jiaqi was caught and counterattacked by the enemy, pushing the score to 1-8. Despite this, NIP kept seizing opportunities, with Doinb leading the charge to counterattack Jiejie’s position.

Editor’s note

FPX’s biggest mistake came when their jungle and support were caught invading the jungle. Xayah couldn’t arrive in time, allowing NIP to win a team fight. Later, both sides fought a crucial team battle where FPX’s Rakan ultimate landed first but only secured one kill. Then, Doinb’s Rakan ultimate turned the tide, enabling NIP to counterattack with Jinx scoring a triple kill and taking off.

Jiejie is eliminated at lightning speed, ending his season journey.

In successive team fights, NIP kept winning. FPX made another error when Urgot’s Sheer failed to enter with the Rakan ultimate and died immediately. Subsequent team fights collapsed, allowing FPX to take Baron. During this, their Jinx was caught out by Annie’s flash and died, creating chaos. However, NIP forced a decisive fight after Baron and ended the game with a strong push.

Notably, after joining FPX, Jiejie experienced a “lightning-fast elimination,” ending his season shortly after joining. FPX can now prepare for next year’s S16, if FPX still exists by then.

NIP now has the chance to challenge stronger teams from the Peak Group. Personally, I think this team has configuration issues. Leave is a top-tier player, and NIP can revolve their strategy around him, but the other members lag behind. If future matches rely solely on Leave as the carry, FPX won’t achieve good results.

The key is that other FPX players must step up to share the carry responsibilities. Then it will depend on Doinb’s performance, as well as Naiyou’s, who played well this round by successfully suppressing Jiejie. Whether they can deliver even more spectacular plays remains to be seen.