The LPL second stage group stage has been running for three days now. BLG, after beating TT for their first win, took on EDG and won two in a row through a come-from-behind victory. The speed of development of the top lane newcomer Wenbo is beyond all expectations. Against TT, he was still struggling in lane, but in the next game versus ZDZ, he managed to hold his ground and even gain some advantages. Importantly, this young man's playstyle is very focused on the team.

He only uses Teleport for reinforcements, and when possible, he gives kills to the carries. The Yorick split-pushing to solo kill and take the base, the Renekton flanking the enemy carries in team fights—these are the plays of a newcomer who just debuted in the LPL. This young player has a bright future. However, the fact that BLG and EDG had such a back-and-forth match is also worth criticizing. Viper's form is too poor; in a patch that favors hyper-carry ADCs, what will happen to the bottom lane?

AL, who had already secured a winning start, faced LGD in a back-to-back match. Although LGD strengthened their support position, their overall strength is far behind AL's. The match only lasted two games as AL took the second consecutive victory. Breathe, when in a big advantage, really knows how to rub it in. As a temporary addition, his performance is acceptable. However, only beating LGD doesn't prove that the team's synergy is fully in place.

On the same day, another match was JDG versus WE. Before the game, no one could have imagined that JDG would be overturned by WE. The two teams fought a grueling three games, and ultimately WE won their first victory. There are many points to discuss in this BO3. Before this loss, JDG had not lost to WE in six years. Since 2020, JDG had been on a winning streak against WE, with a head-to-head BO3 winning streak of 15 games.

But in the 16th match, JDG suddenly collapsed. In this game, the other players had some moments of performance, but Gala was exceptionally bad. In the losses, he was invisible; in the wins, he just rode the coattails. The once top-tier ADC who was jokingly said to be "plugged in like a USB" has now declined so much that he's drooling. In the first game, his Ziggs couldn't even be found by the camera operator—no poke before team fights, and random skill usage during fights, putting no pressure on the enemy.

In the second game, his Ezreal showed some early performance, but when the team had a 10k gold lead, the ADC was still 800 gold behind his lane opponent. That was really hard to watch. In the decisive game, Gala was the most abstract. His Jhin perfectly embodied the concept of "edge ob"—aside from his W and R skills, he contributed almost no damage. The most absurd part was when the enemy was taking Baron, and his teammates were not nearby, but he still dared to set up a snipe alone, only to get caught by the enemy mid laner.

In a 30-minute game, Gala only dealt 8,900 damage, the third lowest in the entire match, only ahead of the two supports. Even more outrageous, in the decisive team fight, JDG found an opportunity to kill the enemy jungler, but in a 5v4 situation, they still lost the fight. Although losing the game cannot be solely blamed on Gala, his performance this season has been really poor. It feels like his once lightning-fast reaction speed is gone forever.

Maybe this patch really doesn't suit Gala. The space for hyper-carry ADCs is too low, and he is not good at utility champions. But if a pro player can't adapt to the meta, that's too abstract. After the game, viewers rated Gala as "pretending to be a pro player." Even Hope coming to JDG would be considered an upgrade. This shows how bad his performance was in this BO3. Hopefully, Gala can find his form in the upcoming matches.

Conclusion:

The JDG team now feels like a pile of sand. Even if they have an advantage in the laning phase, they don't know how to play team fights. Their macro play is even worse than WE's, which is truly exaggerated. At the end of the second stage, Gala posted on Weibo saying he would carry in the third stage. Who would have thought he was just lying?

So, what level do you think Gala is at now?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!