Introduction: The S16 season has officially begun, and most fans are closely tracking recent clashes. The Global Pioneer Cup is intensely contested. JDG secured a 3-1 victory over Lyon, advancing to the semifinals to face BLG. While this win was expected to bring celebration, JDG faced unprecedented criticism. Against a North American team, their victory was deemed ugly, especially for Gala in the bot lane, who was completely suppressed across four games. Within just seven minutes, his CS deficit doubled. Additionally, in post-match interviews, Knight revealed issues with training conditions in Brazil, noting no practice matches with Gen.G and limited overall training time.

LCS player confronts Gala head-on

Most fans are quite familiar with JDG, a top-tier LPL team that has maintained high popularity and stability over recent years. Each transfer season sees significant investment to assemble a star-studded roster. This season, under head coach Tabe’s excellent guidance and seamless player synergy, JDG—a relatively young squad—secured the LPL’s second seed and qualified for the Global Pioneer Cup. Unexpectedly, this tournament exposed JDG’s flaws, even prompting ridicule from a North American player targeting ADC Gala.

The match against Lyon held little suspense given the substantial gap between regions; everyone anticipated JDG’s smooth victory. The outcome aligned broadly with expectations: JDG beat Lyon 3-1 to meet BLG in semifinals, yet the match’s messy execution surprised many. Across four games, JDG’s laning phase was consistently pressured. Were it not for Lyon’s poor teamfight decisions, JDG might have been eliminated. Winning felt more painful than losing.

The most embarrassing moment came in Game 2: Gala played Jhin against the opponent’s Corki. Within seven minutes, he suffered a 1100 gold deficit; CS差距 was even worse—doubled, with Gala at 38 CS versus Corki’s 77. North American teams’ inconsistency is baffling:他们在对线期 perform decently, yet in resource团战, they seemingly放弃胜利. Each game’s gold curve favored Lyon early. Pre-match taunts added sting: Lyon’s ADC publicly stated that while he always dominates Gala in lane, Gala consistently wins the match.

Fortunately, JDG narrowly advanced to semifinals, securing an LPL spot in finals. Barring surprises, BLG likely progresses further, given their current stable form—JDG’s wins all came through reversals. Earlier, BLG mid-laner Knight addressed training details: no scrims with Gen.G, limited practice time in Brazil, yet confidence in defeating any LCK team.

Final thoughts

Currently, JDG’s most noticeable shift is ADC Gala’s performance against North American teams: he was suppressed in all four games, with no chance in lane. Similar issues arose versus Gen.G. Is Gala truly declining? Hope now rests on BLG—果然 Bin remains the core pillar; future criticism should avoid targeting him.

What are your views on this situation?