LPL All-Chinese Team Secures Spot in the Pioneer Tournament

Since performing the "Yone Hand Dance," WBG's Xiaohu has seen his personal label completely shift from "LPL's Top Domestic Honor Mid Laner" to "LPL's Mid Lane Comedian." Even AL's mid laner Xiangkes expressed "disdain" for Xiaohu in an interview, stating he would not become a second Xiaohu and that he aims to learn from Faker. Yet this player, often the butt of jokes, has staged a remarkable comeback in this year's LPL playoffs, successively defeating IG and TES, and ultimately pulling off an upset victory against AL in a key LPL match.

After WBG advanced to the LPL lower bracket finals, the top three teams of the playoffs have been determined: WBG, JDG, and BLG. The winner between WBG and JDG will qualify for the LOL Global Pioneer Tournament. Coincidentally, both WBG and JDG are all-Chinese teams, leading many LPL fans to joke that an all-Chinese team is already guaranteed to advance. Of course, who do you think will win between WBG and JDG? (It seems only mid laner Knight currently gives Xiaohu a hard time in lane, whereas RedQ and Xiangkes are no match for him.)

Xiaohu Reveals Reasons for AL's Crushing Defeat

After AL lost to WBG, they were eliminated from the Global Pioneer Tournament. Post-match, AL's manager Aixiao was mocked by many LPL fans. This is because after the regular season ended, Aixiao had been boasting about winning the LPL championship and mocking former coaches like Tabe. However, after AL's consecutive losses to JDG and WBG in the playoffs, many AL fans noticed that the team's in-game drafts lacked creativity and were even publicly criticized by LPL casters for being inferior to their opponents.

Besides LPL casters pointing out issues with AL's drafts, even WBG's mid laner Xiaohu mentioned in an interview that WBG's victory over AL was due to their superior draft strategy. Xiaohu stated that WBG's coach, Coach Kim (who coached IG during their S8 championship and was at GEN last year), highly trusts the players. He listens to the players' suggestions during matches, such as picks like Xiaohu's mid lane Swain and JIEJIE's jungle Warwick, which were player recommendations. Notably, JIEJIE's Warwick had only been played a few times in ranked, with no practice in WBG's scrims, yet the coach still chose to trust the players.

ELK's Match Statistics Are Astounding

Of course, many AL fans believe the loss to WBG shouldn't be blamed solely on drafts, as even the best draft can't compensate for players "underperforming" during the match. In this BO5, AL's jungler Tarzan and mid laner Xiangkes were in poor form, often making rushed plays that led to unnecessary deaths. Meanwhile, bot laner Hope's laning and teamfight performance left many viewers frustrated. Numerous AL fans rallied on the team's official social media, hoping for an AD change next season, otherwise AL's future prospects look dim.

After reviewing the post-match stats for ELK and Hope, I found ELK's performance in this match was exceptionally dominant. Whether in damage conversion, damage share, or CS at 15 minutes, ELK completely outperformed Hope. Many viewers, upon seeing ELK's stats, believe he is highly likely to be selected for this year's Asian Games roster. After all, GALA isn't very familiar with other BLG players, and JKL is ineligible due to issues in the first split. (Who do you think has a better chance of being selected, ELK or GALA?)