Royal Never Give Up has been one of the elite teams in China for the past two years. This is one of the newer League of Legends teams in the world, but don’t let that lead you to believe that this team will be a pushover on the international stage.
RNGU turned heads last season by qualifying for the Worlds Quarterfinals out of Group D in front of Team SoloMid. Unfortunately for them, they ran into eventual champions SK Telecom T1 in the Quarterfinals and were bounced 3-1.
For as good as they are, this team has typically been the bridesmaid and not the bride since their inception in 2015. They have finished runners-up for three straight splits in China, but success at the international stage would alleviate those domestic woes.
Opening Betting Odds to Win 2017 League of Legends World Championship
Royal Never Give Up +1600
Top Lane
LetMe has been the top laner for RNGU all year long after Looper was the top laner last year at Worlds.
He has been one of the most consistent top laners in China and showed off his skills on a number of champions this season. He played 13 different champions this last split and had success on all but Rumble, Fiora, and Jayce.
Typically, RNGU asks him to get on a strong carry champion. He played Renekton, Jarvan IV, and Camille most during the Summer Split and had at least a 4.5 KDA on every champion.
Jungle
Last season, mlxg was considered one of the best junglers around. He was named the best jungler at the Demacia Cup and was one of the keys to RNGU’s success.
This year, he has stumbled at times and looked pedestrian in the playoffs on every champion but Gragas, with whom he struggled on during the regular season.
In the past, mlxg has had an aggressive mentality, always looking to invade the enemy jungle to get key early advantages. More recently, he has been a team focused jungler as Elise is the only carry champion he has looked good on.
The team decided to use their one substitute on a jungler, the electric Y1HAN. He only saw limited action this season, but was phenomenal on Kha’Zix and Rek’Sai and was a decent Lee Sin. Don’t be surprised if we see him at some point.
Mid Lane
The emergence of Xiaohu has a dominant mid laner gives this team hope going into Worlds. He was pivotal in the team’s defeat of Team WE in the LPL Summer Split Semifinals. Xiaohu had at least a 6.0 KDA on five different champions in the LPL playoffs and he proved himself to be among the world’s elite at carry champions and team-focused selections.
Xiaohu is one of the two superstars on this RNGU roster. He has been the most reliable of the two superstars and the team has leaned on him when its need has been most dire throughout the year.
His play on Corki, Taliyah, and Lucian has been exemplary and his champion pool is amazingly deep. It will be amazing to see him square off against other talented mid laners like Perkz and Crown in Group C.
AD Carry
Uzi is the most talented player in the world to not win a championship. He has come ever so close as a member of RNGU, but that domestic title remains elusive.
A lot of that has to do with the play of Uzi himself. In the past, he wanted to be the superstar carry for whatever team he was on and would want everything to be funneled into him. He has gotten more mature since those days, but can still get caught out of position and hurt his team by trying to make plays.
There’s no denying his skill though. You have to consider him one of the three or four best AD Carries in the world and he is fantastic in the laning phase.
Support
Ming is a good support that has adapted well to the current meta. In the past, he didn’t get the chance to shine as his main role was to protect Uzi. However, now that initiate supports are popular, he has played a bigger role in team fights.
He has been very good on Thresh and decent on Alistar this year. His play on those two champions has helped RNGU greatly in team fights and he is no longer just a faceless support charged with protecting Uzi.
Prediction
RNGU might win the group if Xiaohu can play well enough. G2 and Samsung Galaxy are the other two big teams in Group C and both rely heavily on their mid laner. RNGU will be favored to make it to the Quarterfinals again, but will be an underdog to Samsung Galaxy to win Group C.
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