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As we move down the list of teams, starting with the G2 team preview, we come to the FunPlus Phoenix. The Phoenix are a surprise frontrunner in this year’s LPL. They had middling placements in both splits last year, with a Round 1 playoff appearance that ended in a 1-3 defeat at the hands of JD Gaming. In between the 2018 and 2019 season they revamped the roster, making several changes to both the roster and the coaching staff. They started the year off with the third best record in the LPL, along with a third place finish in the playoff bracket. They followed that up with a first place finish in the Summer split, along with a league best 27-4 record.
- Record: 38-7
- Win %: 84%
- GPM: 1958
- DPM: 1968
- Average Game Duration: 31:25
FunPlus Phoenix Team Members
Top – GimGoon
Besides having one of the funniest names in esports, GimGoon is one of the longest standing members of FunPlus Phoenix. While his stats aren’t the most jaw dropping in the world, the Phoenix don’t necessarily run the game through him. He accounts for only 20.3% of gold accumulated by the Phoenix, and his early game stats are nothing to write home about. He’s ahead in CS at 15 minutes less than 3% of the time, and his differentials are terrible. He participates in first blood 2% of the time, but he didn’t fall victim during the Summer split.
While GimGoon doesn’t do a ton of damage, he has the second best KDA on the team, 5.6. He may not get a ton of kills, but he almost never dies, and racks up assists like he’s Rondo. Even though Phoenix doesn’t run the game through GimGoon, he manages to have a high degree of impact on the team.
Jungle – Tian
Tian is the jungler for the FunPlus Phoenix, and has been since December of 2018. One of the Phoenix’s last pick-ups, he’s helped to solidify the roster and turn them into a championship caliber team. While he’s had a surprisingly sparse career, and he didn’t play in the Summer split of the LPL last year, he’s come into FunPlus Phoenix and made an immediate impact.
He has an elite Gragas and Elise, and a 66% kill participation which is solid for a jungler. While he certainly doesn’t have the stats of someone like Jankos, he’s still a high functioning piece of one of the best rosters in League right now.
Mid – Doinb
Doinb is another recent addition to this roster. He plays one of the most important spots on the team, and his versatility is perhaps what shines the most about him. He has played 21 champions just in the Summer Split, and has won at least one game on all but Kennen. He has just one game played with 11 champions and has won 10 of them, which is pretty incredible.
His early game stats are lacking as well, with negative differentials in every category and low first blood participation. That being said, that’s starting to look like a trend. If we look ahead for a second, we’ll see that Lwx has the best early game stats with a CS differential of +28.3, which isn’t a ton. Clearly FunPlus Phoenix are a team that like to take their time.
ADC – Lwx
As I mentioned, Lwx is one of the only players that does much meaningful work in the early game. He’s ahead in CS by about 6.7% at 15 minutes, and his differentials are all barely positive. Something very interesting about this team is their first blood statistics. They win first blood only 4% of the time, which is ridiculous. The fact that their record is as good as it is points to a lethal late game, which they have in spades.
Lwx’s versatility is far from impressive. 13 games on Lucian and 10 games on Kaisa make up the lion’s share of his champions played, which doesn’t allow for a ton of flexibility.
Lwx’s kill participation is 63.5%, which is not bad at all. He also has the highest KDA on the team of 6.3, which inspires confidence.
I’d be worried about Lwx getting shut down in the pick ban phase. He seems to be the focus point of a lot of what Phoenix is doing, and if he isn’t given room to work it’ll be hard for Phoenix to get into their groove.
Support – Crisp
Crisp does his job, which is about all you can ask from a support. He’s never given up first blood, he participates in 65.4% of the team’s kills, he has a KDA of 4.9 (which is a team worst, but still not bad). While Crisp is unlikely to win Phoenix many games, he will certainly keep them in it by performing his duties near flawlessly.
Conclusion
I honestly don’t love Phoenix here. It doesn’t feel like they have any superstars, and their lack of early game play worries me. It feels like the wrong matchup could bury these guys, especially if they come up against any rampant early game aggression. Assuming a team can force Phoenix to play their opponents game, rather than their game, I could see Phoenix folding earlier than you might expect.
