The second stage of the LPL's Knight's Path has officially wrapped up. Following TT and WE's playoff qualification, NIP suffered a surprise defeat when facing EDG. The series went the full five games, and in the decider, EDG put their faith in Leave. His Zeri pushed forward relentlessly to carry the team to victory. It was shocking to see NIP—a team that had previously beaten BLG—lose to a Nirvana squad. Throughout the five matches, EDG consistently held the upper hand in the early to mid game against NIP.

First, TT swept IG, and then EDG toppled NIP. Many thought it was already a miracle for two Nirvana teams to make it into the playoffs. But in the final BO5, Weibo also dropped the ball. Facing LGD, WBG was dominated from the start. LGD took the first two games with overwhelming speed, securing match point. Just when everyone expected a 3-0 sweep, Weibo suddenly stirred.

Weibo clawed back two consecutive games to force a decider. LGD's mid and bottom lanes both pulled out surprise picks: Vayne in the mid and Draven in the bot. Within the first minute, as the first wave of minions met, Draven solo-killed ELK's Kalista to draw first blood. At four minutes, Jiejie ganked bottom, but his ADC was still clearing minions and the support was rotating—he went in alone, giving Draven another kill. Just a minute later, Draven solo-killed Weibo's support again.

Five minutes in, Draven was 3-0, making the bottom lane unplayable. Although Weibo's top, jungle, and mid fought back to tie the kill score and take the gold lead, their strongest champion was only a Malphite. But LGD had Vayne as a tank-killer, rendering Xiaohu's tankiness useless. After losing several key teamfights, Weibo lost the match. Amazingly, of the four Summit Group teams, three suffered upset losses and missed the playoffs, leaving only the bottom-seeded WE to advance.

Even if you had drunk spiked alcohol, it would be hard to believe the Knight's Path ended this way. The three defeated Summit Group teams will all drop to the Nirvana Group for the third stage. Together with LNG, that makes four teams—suddenly, the Nirvana Group matches seem worth watching. Compared to the other two teams, Weibo's loss to LGD is harder for management to swallow, because this season Weibo's investment still ranks among the top three in the LPL.

Only BLG and JDG invested more than Weibo. Those two teams became the "King and Ace" of the second stage, while Weibo is the classic case of spending money to get beaten. Since the LPL's format reform in Season 14, Weibo had never fallen into the Nirvana Group—until this year, rewriting history. When IG missed the playoffs, many viewers used Jiejie to bash Wei. Now, both brothers have gathered in the Nirvana Group.

After Weibo missed the playoffs, their spot at the Esports World Cup (EWC) now depends entirely on AL and JDG. If either of those two teams wins the championship, WBG can still go to the EWC. But if another team wins, they're out. During the EWC qualifiers, WBG's form was decent, and the Knight's Path was also an online event—so why did their performance drop so sharply? Predictably, Weibo's roster will see adjustments in the third stage.

WBG management is probably confused too. Every year, they invest heavily, yet the results keep getting worse. The top, jungle, and bot lanes have changed several times. Now only Xiaohu remains as a veteran of Weibo. If we use process of elimination, maybe even Brother Hu will be cut by Weibo next year. The mid, jungle, and ADC are all among the top-tier players in the LPL—so how do they end up playing so bizarrely when teamed together?

Conclusion:

IG being swept into the Nirvana Group was already surprising, but we didn't expect there to be even more "high-level" failures from the Summit Group. NIP losing to EDG is truly baffling—they were dominated in every game, showing none of the momentum they had when toppling BLG. As for Weibo, they now need to figure out which positions to swap for the third stage.

So, in your opinion, which of the three Summit Group teams is the most embarrassing?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!