LPL fans had something to cheer about as fourth seed LNG Esports completed a 2-0 Day 1 at Worlds 2021, taking down not only Oceania’s PEACE but also regional rivals in the LCK’s Hanwha Life Esports. A player to definitely cheer about is Liao “Iwandy” Ding-Yang who played an immaculate Leona and Rakan in his two games of the day. Gamelevate talked to LNG’s support following his victory against PEACE.
Taking down both David and Goliath
LNG had no easy task on Day One when they went up against Hanwha Life Esports and their superstar midlaner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon. However, in a rather back and forth game, LNG managed to halt HLE in their tracks and secure the match.
“I think defeating Chovy is something I’m very happy about,” Iwandy said. “But I also felt like we were very lucky to be able to take them down.”
On the back half of the day, LNG also managed to take down PEACE in a rather convincing fashion.
“I think the second game was mainly about our top laner (Hu “Ale” Jia-Le) being too much of a carry,” he said laughing. “He basically imploded the opponent’s lane so we were able to win the game quite easily.”
Representing China in his first Worlds appearance
Iwandy made his debut to the LNG roster in the Summer of 2021 having been a substitute for LNG in Spring and being the support player for EDG Young prior. LNG themselves also had a difficult season having to climb all the way from the first round of the play-in gauntlet, winning each match to land themselves at Worlds. Now, he has the chance to make a name for himself as a top support at the tournament.
“I think it’s definitely a hardship to play so many games,” he said reflecting on the playoff run. “But there are rewards for those hardships so at the end of it we still feel pretty happy about it.”
Going the distance with Light
Joining him in the botlane is Wang “Light” Guang-Yu – another young ADC who got a chance to shine today playing Miss Fortune in both games. When reflecting on how the duo will perform at Worlds
“I think with my bot laner Light, our communication is quite good,” Iwandy said reflecting on the duo at Worlds. “As for Worlds, I just hope that we can make it up as far as possible.”
Iwandy himself is also in a comfortable position playing more engage supports as he did on Tuesday.
“I think for engaged supports, if you can manage the engages correctly, then you can usually win the team fights,” he said. “So personally, I really enjoy playing these engage supports.”
Sending thanks to the fans
Finally, Iwandy had a brief message for fans of LNG:
“Thank you for all your support along the way and we will continue to improve.”
LNG will look to remain undefeated as they face off against the CBLOL’s RED Candids on Day 2 of Worlds 2021.
