JDG found their answer after a rough start. Beijing JDG Esports lost the opener to Xi'an Team WE in the LPL Regional Qualifier on September 18, then took the next three games to close out a 3–1 win in the best-of-five.

That first game belonged to WE. They finished it 17 kills to 5, with nine towers to JDG's one, and every member of the lineup contributed. Karis went 4/0/9 on Ahri, About led the server in damage on Ezreal, and Erha's Seraphine had a hand in 94% of the team's kills. On that evidence, few would have picked JDG to win the next three.

GALA never falls

The thread running through JDG's comeback was GALA. The ADC did not die once across four games, finishing the series with 25 kills and zero deaths. Even in the opening defeat he went 2/0/2 and was close to About on damage, which hinted that JDG's bottom lane was not the problem.

Game four was his. On Jinx, GALA finished 15/0/5 with 43,179 damage dealt, the highest figure of the series by some distance. That was also the longest game played at 48:22, and WE, to their credit, held it to ten kills against 21 for JDG with Karis posting 7/2/2 on Corki. But JDG took nine towers to two and both Barons, and Vampire's 21 assists on Alistar showed how much was running through the bottom lane.

Support from across the map

JDG did not lean on GALA alone. Xiaoxu was a key piece in game three, going 7/1/5 on Olaf, while HongQ's Twisted Fate finished 4/1/11 as JDG closed that game with a 20–6 kill count and four dragons to WE's one. Game two was the quickest of the series, a 23:20 win in which JunJia's Trundle ended 4/0/6 and WE managed only three kills.

For WE, the problem was finding that first-game form again. Cube and Monki, who combined well with the rest of the team in game one, ended the final game with eleven deaths between them, and WE took just five towers across the last three games.

JDG leave with a series win and an ADC who, for four games, simply could not be caught. For WE, the opener showed what this roster can do. The question is why it lasted only one game.