The first stage group matches of the LPL are already in their second week. On the previous day, NIP from the Resilience group beat EDG to achieve their first victory of the season. EDG, having lost two straight games, has become the group’s last place team. Their top, mid, jungle, and support roles stayed the same; only the AD carry and coach changed, but EDG’s performance has plummeted. It appears Factory Head really can’t come back to EDG, because when he returns, the players seem half-dead on the field.

EDG’s draft phase isn’t really the issue; the main problem lies in their mid-to-late game execution. After gaining an advantage, they don’t know how to play it out. Factory Head’s coaching and training might have some flaws. Daeny was in decent form last year, but this season he’s been underperforming match by match. If this trend continues, EDG probably won’t even make the playoffs. However, matches in the Resilience group generally don’t attract much attention anyway.

On the same day, another match featured TES versus WBG, a showdown between two all-Chinese rosters. The result was also surprising. TES started the season with two losses, being shut out consecutively by JDG and BLG. Before the match, most thought TES couldn’t beat WBG, but TES not only won, they also set a record for the fastest game in the deciding match at just 23 minutes. Since the season began, very few games have finished within 25 minutes.

WBG lost first to BLG and then to TES, now suffering two straight defeats and dropping out of the top three in the Peak group. At the end of the transfer window, many hailed WBG on Weibo as second only to the big and small kings, but surprisingly, their performance has deteriorated with each game. Meanwhile, JDG has climbed to second place in the Peak group with two wins. The overall strength of LPL teams has declined significantly this year. AL has seen a sharp drop in power on both top and bottom lanes due to their inability to swap lanes.

Besides BLG’s stable big king, the ownership of the small king title remains highly uncertain. Teams ranked 3rd to 6th all have 1-2 records. As Bin said, the current LPL competition intensity is too low, and BLG faces no pressure. If this atmosphere persists, the international competitions this year might be bleak, because without strong rivals in the same region, a team like BLG will struggle to improve.

Currently, BLG is the only team holding the scene steady. After canceling lane swaps and changing the AD carry, this team’s strength is indeed very high. Daeny is also very demanding of his players. In the vlog where BLG defeated TES, Daeny assigned homework to the players: organize your feelings from these three games and what needs to be changed. They had to write post-match reflections and identify their own problems. No wonder BLG is improving so fast.

From what we see now, BLG needs to change their showboating and recklessness. Even after gaining an advantage, BLG often gives chances away by overplaying. Simply put, they need to adjust their mindset—don’t get overconfident when ahead, and don’t panic when behind. However, since the overall LPL strength is weak now and BLG has no real opponents, it’s hard to find other problems. Judging from BLG’s performance in previous seasons, the coach definitely needs to be stricter.

ON seems to be Daeny’s main focus. Whether he needs to submit assignments is something Daeny asked after the match. This kind of self-reflective coaching approach really makes sense. BLG has invested heavily in recent years but never won a championship. Both the club and the region are eager to claim the title this year. Hopefully, under Daeny’s guidance, they can achieve this; otherwise, the LPL’s popularity next year might drop to rock bottom.

Conclusion:

Although AL retains the original lineup, without lane swaps their weaknesses are exposed. Saint’s top lane is frequently dominated, and Hope on the bottom lane can’t hold his own. Last year, AL could drag the game to mid-phase with lane swaps and then leverage team fights to gain an advantage, but this strategy doesn’t work this year. Before mid-game even arrives, their top and bottom lanes have already collapsed. The coach really needs to figure out a solution.

So what do you think, is BLG’s strength truly unmatched?

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