At long last, Uzi’s wait for a domestic title is finally over. The star of Royal Never Give Up has finally won a Chinese title and no longer has to deal with those questioning whether or not he can actually win the big one. Now he will set his sights on an even greater accomplishment, winning the Mid-Season Invitational.
This will be Royal Never Give Up’s second appearance at MSI. RNG made it to MSI back in 2016 but were knocked out of the tournament by SK Telecom T1 despite finishing atop the standings in the group stage. They are looking to be the first Chinese team to win MSI since Edward Gaming did it in 2015.
Odds to win the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Royal Never Give Up +500
Backstory
RNG had to run the gauntlet in order to make it to MSI. They had a sluggish start to the season but were able to turn it on after Uzi returned to the team following Chinese New Year. RNG finished third in their division and thus had to win four playoff series in order to make it here.
They didn’t have much trouble getting past Team World Elite or Snake Esports in the first two rounds, but they were heavy underdogs coming into their bout with Invictus Gaming. Invictus went 18-1 in the regular season and looked to be the team to make it to MSI out of China.
However, RNG was able to upset them in their series. While RNG lost the early game in the first four matches, they were able to hold on until Uzi took over in the late game in two of those and ended up coming from behind to win. After the big upset, they did not have much trouble getting past Edward Gaming in the finals.
What to watch for
The first person you have to talk about when it comes to RNG is Uzi. Uzi is touted as the top AD Carry in the world by everyone, including other AD Carries. His mechanics are exceptional and he proves he is the best every year by winning the 1v1 Tournament during All-Star Weekend.
His Vayne is legendary and we should see it at some point during MSI. However, the champion he cannot be allowed on is Kai’Sa. Uzi put up absurd numbers on Kai’Sa in the LPL semifinals and any team that allows him to take the champion will be ridiculed if they don’t have a strategy to beat it.
Xiaohu is perennially overshadowed by Uzi, but you can’t sleep on him either. The mid laner was vital to the team’s playoff run, and he was fantastic at Worlds 2017. He had a 7.6 KDA at the tournament and held his own against SK Telecom T1’s Faker, nearly leading RNG to an upset in the semifinals.
Prediction
There are two concerns with RNG coming into the tournament. The first is which jungler will see more action at MSI. Mlxg and Karsa each bring something different to the table and the team used each about equally during the season.
The other one is how LetMe will perform at MSI. He was largely replaced by Zz1tai, but teams are only allowed to bring six players to this tournament. The coaches decided that LetMe was more consistent, as ZZ1tai has a higher upside but a lower downside.
The betting odds have RNG as the second favorite at MSI. They performed well at Worlds last year, but the price on them is too low for me to back. I could see them getting bounced in the semifinals by one of the other five teams and not even making it to the finals.
