Star top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok is back on the biggest League of Legends international stage for Worlds 2023 in South Korea.
Weibo Gaming qualified via the LPL regional finals 2023, where they beat Top Esports 3-2, then Edward Gaming 3-1 to secure the fourth seed.
The last time TheShy stepped onto the Worlds stage was in 2019 with Invictus Gaming where they finished 3rd-4th place. The year before, this very same roster won Worlds and made history as the first-ever LPL team to lift the Summoner’s Cup.
He moved to WBG at the start of the 2022 season. The organization underwent roster changes and this iteration that finally proved its mettle includes former Royal Never Give Up veteran mid laner Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao and Worlds 2019 champion Liu “Crisp” Qing-Song in the support role.
LPL regional finals 2023 saw TheShy and Uzi fighting for Worlds qualification
JD Gaming and Bilibili Gaming qualified for Worlds 2023 via championship points. LNG Esports qualified after winning their first series in the LPL regional finals 2023 against Edward Gaming.
That left three teams vying for one spot. WBG narrowly defeated TES 3-2 to set up a showdown with EDG, led by legendary AD carry Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao, who had come out of retirement a second time this year.
In game one, TheShy played Ornn and absorbed pressure during the laning phase, which allowed WBG to focus on bot side where they reaped three early kills. Snowballing hard, they ended the short 22-minute game with a whopping 19 kills to two, and three dragons.
Game two’s early game was much tighter, and WBG actually started to pull ahead in the mid-game. Wang “Light” Guang-Yu’s Kai’Sa had six kills while Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao had three on Azir.
However, all it took was a single fight at Baron to completely change the momentum of the game. When it spawned, EDG found the perfect engage in river, which led to Chu “FoFo” Chun-Lan reaping a triple kill on Jayce. Utilizing Baron buff, they won a second team fight in the mid lane where Uzi’s Xayah scored a triple kill.
Tied 1-1, WBG went back to their playbook from game one: TheShy on tank duty while the rest of the team focused on the bottom half of the map. By 10 minutes, Light’s Aphelios had four kills and a 400 gold bounty, which was enough for them to close out game three in 23 minutes and take the lead in the series.
Things were actually looking up for EDG in game four. Uzi and Tian “Meiko” Ye won a 2v2 at bot barely a minute into the game, and even turned around a failed gank a few minutes later.
By mid game, he had three kills, no deaths, and a 300 gold bounty. FoFo’s signature LeBlanc was equally fed. In total, they led nine kills to three and had secured the first two dragons.
In the late game, however, WBG found an opening to take Baron uncontested, which put them right back into the game. At the 36-minute mark, they engaged in the final fight to seal the deal in EDG’s bot side jungle which they won thanks to clever spacing even though it was a 4v5.
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READ MORE: All teams qualified for Worlds 2023
