Jingdong Gaming defeated the LPL Summer Season last year. However, their performance at the LPL Rold Cup as the number one seed was not as impressive as expected, and they ended up losing to T1 in the quarterfinals, 1-3. After adding to their roster and revising their strategy, Jingdong Gaming is now a formidable foe and will once again take on T1.
The biggest reason for Jingdong’s rise to power is recruitment. In the 2022 quarterfinals against T1, Jingdong Gaming’s lack of carry power in the mid lane was noticeable, while Wang “Hope” Wang and Liu “Missing” Wenfeng in the bottom lane were outclassed. After the season, they successfully rebuilt by signing Zhu “Knight” Ding and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk. Unlike Yagao, Knight is a mid laner who relies on a strong laning game to generate carries, and he had already proven himself by winning the regular season MVP before joining Jingdong. Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk is one of the strongest bottom laners in the game, combining strong laning and late game carry.
Collecting the best players doesn’t necessarily make a good team, but Jingdong Gaming head coach Yoon “Homme” Seong-young also excels at organizing traffic and distributing roles among players. By giving Bai “369” Jiahao a tank champion who can play solo at the top, he concentrated his team’s resources on high-carry mids and ranged dealers. In fact, the most played champions by ‘369’ so far this year have been Orin, Xanthe and Renekton.
Jingdong Gaming has also excelled at reading the meta and adapting to it. Basically, this is because their mid laners and ranged dealers play most champions well. The time I felt this most acutely was at MSI. In MSI, Jing-dong executed the high-value, one-hit-centered compositions that were the meta at the time better than anyone else. Jae-hyuk Park’s Jinx and Knight’s Annie were some of the most skillful picks in the meta at the time. Seo “Canavi” Jin-hyuk was also able to handle the likes of Goku, a growth jungler, and Sejuani, a tanky jungler, while also being flexible enough to change colors depending on the meta. Overall, Jingdong Gaming is a team that leans towards the bottom lane, but is also flexible with their picks depending on the meta.
With this ability, Jingdong Gaming lifted the MSI along with two LPL titles, leaving them just one step away from the first ever “Grand Slam” in LOL esports. At Worlds, the team went 3-0 in the Swiss stage with wins over BDS, BLG and LNG to reach the knockout stage. They followed that up with a 3-1 win over KT in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals.
Nevertheless, Jingdong Gaming is not a team without its weaknesses, especially during the Rold Cup, where their upper lane sole liners ‘Knight’ and ‘369’ were repeatedly exposed for their less 토토사이트 than stellar laning form. Even in their actual match against KT Rolster, Kwak “Biddy” Bo-sung was able to create a good flow in the game, taking the initiative in most sets against “Knight”. Considering that Jingdong Gaming’s game plan is heavily centered on the mid and bottom lanes, the form of ‘Knight’ in the mid lane is definitely a factor.
Jingdong Gaming’s ability to be a powerhouse is due to their ability to recruit quality players, set up tactics to suit their players, and adapt to the meta. They’ve maintained their strong form in the Rold Cup, but at the same time, they’re not an outright unstoppable force.