League of Legends: LPL week 1 results and disaster for FPX

With Week 1 of the League of Legends, LPL 2020 Spring Split done and dusted; the fans were treated to a lot of upsets and nail-biting games over the course of the week.

From FunPLus Phoenix’s shocking start to the split, to the rise of the rookies in the form of eStar, the LPL had a lot in store for us.

So let’s take a look at some of the major highlights that the first week of the split had to offer.

FunPlus’ disastrous start to the split

FPX had a shockingly disappointing start to the split.

The final image that fans had of FunPlus Phoenix before the new season was of them lifting the world’s trophy after decimating G2 in the finals. So, coming into the new split, almost everyone had very high expectations of them, especially after they were able to make Kim “DoinB” Tae-sang return for another year and also sign the Korean top lane star Kim “Khan” Dong-ha from T1.

FPX may have looked unstoppable in 2019, but things completely seemed to turn on its head in the first week of the LPL spring split. In the opening game of the season, Invictus Gaming was able to topple the giants in three games and handed them the second-ever loss since LPL Spring 2019.

IG had revamped their bot lane completely in the pre-season. The duo of Su "Southwind" Zhi-Lin and Kim "Fly" Sang-chul synergized incredibly well with their new jungler Lu “Leyan” Jue who was subbed in for Gao “Ning” Zhen-Ning, who seemed to be struggling a lot from the very first game.

However, the loss to IG was not what concerned fans the most. It was their complete dismantling at the hands of eStar, the newest LPL team that features a roster of newer talent is what became the bigger headline.

FPX looked nothing like themselves against eStar. They were caught in a four-man dive bot lane play, which they had themselves created and perfected in 2019, literally being schooled in their own playstyle by a team making their first-ever LPL appearance.

eStar: There is more to them than meets the eye

eStar may just be the rookies of the split. Sett debuts in Pro play in the LPL

Though most of the world will be looking at FPX’s struggles, not many will notice the sheer amount of raw talent that is eStar.

The team was highly underestimated by both professional players and analysts during the pre-season. But they soon proved the critics wrong during the first week itself.

eStar began their debut by clean sweeping a 2-0 victory over Rogue Warriors who had recently signed former RNG stars Yuan “Crying” Cheng-Wei and Zhang “Wink” Rui.

Though their win against RW was impressive, what was truly spectacular was their 2-1 victory over FPX. As we have mentioned before, FPX got a taste of their own medicine at the hands of eStar.

They were picking diving, counter-picking, and literally dismantling FPX throughout the entire series. For a rag-tag team of newer talents, that was put together late into the off-season, what eStar was able to achieve in week 1 is nothing short of a miracle.

eStar had imported the LMS star Liu “ShiauC” Chia-Hao for the support role, and his aggressive playstyle looked to fit in seamlessly with the rest of the team.

Their incredible performance in Week 1 has gotten fans worked up and excited about the team’s success in the coming weeks.

Sett makes his Professional Debut

The newest League of Legends champion Sett

, makes his very first debut onto the professional stage in the LPL.

He was picked not once but twice in week 1; once by Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun of LNG and the other time by JD Gaming’s Zhang “Zoom” Xin-Ran.

Flandre had blind picked Sett against Top Esports, which allowed him to be counter picked by Bai “369” Jia-Hao with his signature Vladimir pick. Flandre did not have a great time during the laning phase, especially after Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan’s jungle Gragas ganked him at level 4 to secure an early and easy kill on the low-mobility champion.

However, after the laning phase, things got much easier for Flandre, and he was able to pull off an exceptional teleport flank during the 20-minute mark.

After week 1, much of Sett’s weakness came to the limelight. His laning phase is rather weak when up against an unfavorable match-up. He can be countered very easily by ranged champions, and in the match vs. TES, 369’s Vladimir was able to free farm, turning him into a late-game beast which Sett wasn’t able to match in either the side lanes or in team fights.

Zoom, on the other hand though, had a much better game where he finished with a scoreline of 2/1/12, dealing as much damage as the two ADCs combined and even picked up the MVP of the game.

The LPL has a lot more in store for us

Will the LPL win world's third time in a row?

This was just the first week of the LPL spring split, which brought with it a lot of excitement for fans across the globe. And we believe that there’s a whole lot more stored for us in the coming months.