League of Legends news » China’s ups and downs

When Edward Gaming lost their first game against INTZ e-Sports, LPL fans held their breaths. Was China about to witness another collapse of Worlds 2015 proportions? Or was someone out there screwing with The Matrix?

As it turns out, neither. ITZ did their homework and EDG came in unprepared. Revolta has talked on more than a number of occasions about how ITZ try to emulate EDG’s style -- and if imitation is any form of flattery, then maybe EDG could take it as a compliment. For EDG's support Meiko, though, it wasn’t about the result but the ability to bounce back.

“We were depressed after the loss to INTZ,” said Meiko. “We knew we had to be better prepared for our next games to win them. So we talked about our draft and all the mistakes that we made in the game and where we could improve in the future.”

And improve they did. Slowly, incrementally. Against ahq e-Sports club, EDG looked better -- not brilliant but better. China was in limbo. It wasn’t enough to start celebrating, but the region's fans could breathe just a little bit. EDG had a win on the board at Worlds 2016. A team that had gone undefeated in matches domestically now had the first notch under its belt at Worlds.

It wasn’t much. But it was a start. And when the weight of an entire nation is on your shoulders, every little step counts. “I think the Chinese fans expect us to do better than we did last Worlds,” said Meiko. “I think the three LPL teams are very strong this year. Currently we’re all in pretty good standings -- either the number one or number two in the group, so I think we can all get out of the Group Stage.”

EDG’s final challenge to close out Week 1 of the Group Stage was against H2K. Their loss against INTZ looked bad. Their win against AHQ looked unconvincing. If they were going to make a statement at the 2016 World Championship, then this was the their chance to do so.

The game started well. Deft picked up an easy first blood against Vander, but he and Meiko greedily hung around in lane and gave up an easy double kill to the H2K bot lane. Things swung back and forth in the early game, but it was always EDG with the slight gold advantage. That slight gold advantage kept growing, though, and EDG secured a slow but mostly convincing victory.

It wasn’t flashy in a way that would excite fans, but they were never in danger of losing. EDG is ramping up -- possibly at the perfect time. And as anyone in professional sports will tell you -- a win's a win, no matter what shape or form it comes in. For EDG, and the rest of China, they can breathe a little easier there at the top of Group C. They’ll carry this momentum into Week 2.

As for the other teams representing China -- things are looking better than they were back in 2015. Royal Never Give Up are in a close three-way tie in Group D, and I May’s only loss has come at the hands of SK Telecom T1 -- which is nothing to be embarrassed about. They will play Cloud9 tonight to see who ties for first place in the Group.

China as a whole will move into Week 2 in a strong position. But as Cloud9 will tell you, in Week 2, anything can happen. They’ll have to be prepared and let level heads prevail to make sure there isn’t a repeat of last year. As for Meiko, he just wants to make sure he doesn’t disappoint as a Top 20 player. “I think it was a pretty high estimation,” he says with a laugh. “So I’m trying to live up to the level that you guys gave to me.”

Group C will come to its conclusion on Friday, October 7th, so tune in and let us know how you think the group is going to play out in the comments below.