Preface: Since an LPL caster revealed that IG's scrim results were on par with BLG, IG fans prematurely started celebrating, believing that IG had a chance to reach the finals, beat BLG for the championship, and qualify for Worlds as the first seed. However, after IG's match against AL ended, many IG fans broke down because in this BO5 series, the biggest hidden problem within IG was exposed, and the team's core players TheShy and Rookie also underperformed due to this issue.

When IG was in the Nirvana group, they were often criticized by fans for their draft (BP) issues. Many IG fans believed that the team might miss the playoffs due to poor drafts. However, as IG continuously turned things around and created miracles in the playoffs, many IG fans thought their BP issues had been resolved, especially since IG crushed TES, WE, and LGD consecutively. But no one expected that in the crucial match against AL, IG's BP problems would completely blow up.

Many LPL casters and streamers began to question whether the IG coach was dragging the players down. Although IG lost 2-3 to AL, many casters and streamers believed that IG's draft was outclassed by AL's coach in all five games. IG only managed to win two games thanks to individual player performances; if the players had performed slightly worse, IG could have been swept by AL. Game 1 was won solely due to TheShy's perfect engages on Ornn, and Game 4 was won because jungler Wei secured crucial steals on dragons, etc.

Among them, the well-known LPL caster group DYS summarized IG coach's BP issues during a live stream. DYS's Xiaoxiao believed that IG has too many veteran players, and they are not suited for "high-skill lineups". Game 1 was won by relying on TheShy's frontline tankiness and engage ability, but in the following games, the coach directly abandoned frontline and engage champions, giving TheShy, Rookie, and Wei various high-damage-output champions. This resulted in IG having no one to initiate fights.

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Precisely because of the poor BP by the IG coach, the reputations of TheShy and Rookie took a nosedive after the match. In particular, TheShy's poor performance on ranged top laners resulted in a post-match rating of just 4.5, the lowest he has received in the playoffs. As for Rookie, without his signature champions Orianna and Syndra, his performance in this BO5 was also very lackluster. In particular, his Game 3 Sylas was mocked by many viewers for dealing less damage than the support.

Is there really no need to worry about IG facing TES?

After IG's BP problems were exposed, many IG fans began to worry about the upcoming playoffs match against TES. After all, IG has been playing BO5s since the Knight's Path, and they have almost completely shown their hand. In the future, the champions IG excels at may all be targeted. For example, in this BO5 against AL, Rookie never got to pick his signature champion Syndra, and bottom laner Jiaqi's signature Aphelios might also be restricted in the future.

Of course, IG legend player Ning stated during a live stream that although IG couldn't beat AL, given the players' current form, they would still find it easy to beat TES in the upcoming playoffs. Many viewers agreed with Ning, since TES jungler Tian and AD player JKL's form has been really poor. Unless Tian and JKL have an explosive performance, IG is likely to defeat TES and qualify for Worlds. Some viewers even think it's a good thing that IG lost to AL, because IG would probably lose to BLG anyway, so it's better to experiment with new champions in this BO5.

Conclusion

IG has already made history by securing a spot in the playoffs. However, it's a pity that because IG has played so many matches, they have revealed too many of their strategies. If IG had exposed fewer of their signature champions, they would have had a chance to beat AL. Was IG's loss to AL really due to BP issues? Do you think IG can defeat TES in the playoffs??