The LPL second-stage regular season sees a short "hiatus," intended to provide LPL teams sufficient preparation time for the League of Legends EWC (Esports World Cup) qualifiers. In the spotlight match of the qualifiers' winners bracket, the LPL's strongest team BLG met JDG, a team it had previously beaten. Before this match began, many viewers believed BLG would win easily, given the overwhelming strength of BLG's top laner Bin, who consistently dominated JDG's top laner Xiao Xu in past encounters, and Bin's ability to translate his lane advantage into benefits for his teammates.

When viewers expected BLG to defeat JDG 2-0, JDG demonstrated remarkable "adaptability." Previously, JDG favored engaging BLG in top-jungle clashes, but after losing several matches, JDG finally realized that targeting Bin's teammates was more effective than focusing on Bin himself. Thus, in the decisive game between JDG and BLG, JDG directly banned five mid-lane champions to restrict BLG's player Knight, and through flexible hero swaps, executed a perfect BP by selecting Red Q Jayce to counter Knight's Akali.

Although JDG's match BP strategy earned praise from many LPL viewers, some also believed BLG's loss to JDG was due to BLG coach Dan Shen's tendency to experiment. Some viewers even speculated that BLG coach Dan Shen deliberately chose "unconventional heroes" to test BLG's lower-limit potential. After all, everyone knows BLG's core player is top laner Bin, yet in the crucial game, BLG coach Dan Shen assigned Bin the tank Sion to withstand pressure, shifting the output responsibility to BLG's other players.

After BLG lost the match,"BLG cannot rely solely on Bin" successfully became a trending topic.Viewers who watched this match should have been deeply impressed by Bin's performance. Playing Sion countered by Xiao Xu's Rek'Sai, Bin still managed to out-farm Xiao Xu by nearly forty minions during the laning phase. Moreover, despite BLG's significant economic disadvantage, Bin's Sion ultimates consistently caught key enemy carry heroes. Unfortunately, even if Bin played exceptionally well, his teammates' underperformance prevented a comeback victory. (Bin's Sion died once and the base immediately exploded; in contrast, JDG's top laner Xiao Xu played Rek'Sai until the game ended with an awkward 0-4-0 record.)

After BLG's loss to JDG, many LPL viewers felt sorry for Bin, as Bin had previously vowed to advance to MSI without losing a single match. This defeat also ended BLG's twelve-match winning streak. However, some viewers considered BLG's loss beneficial, as it exposed serious issues in BLG's gameplay: when Bin plays tank heroes and cannot carry, how should the other players perform to help BLG secure victory?

Although BLG lost to JDG, BLG still has future opportunities to emerge from the losers bracket. Many BLG fans did not take the defeat seriously, as the Esports World Cup qualifiers are not a major tournament, with prestige comparable to an "open training session." Personally, I feel BLG coach Dan Shen is treating the EWC qualifiers as a "stage" to hone BLG's players, given that BLG's current tactical approach is overly simplistic. Without experimenting with new strategies, they risk being easily countered by opponents.

Conclusion

Do you think BLG's loss to JDG was part of coach Dan Shen's strategy? Can other teams replicate the BP or tactics from JDG's victory over BLG? I am also highly anticipating the future performances of BLG's mid-laner Knight and AD player Viper. I sense BLG coach Dan Shen is grooming these two players; if Knight and Viper can perform at a level comparable to Bin, then BLG would be an unstoppable force this year.