World Champion Invictus Gaming took one more victory lap in 2018, triumphing over the new Topsports Gaming lineup 3-1 in China's 2018 Winter Demacia Cup. 

Topsports Gaming sported a new roster entirely re-built around Jungler Xiong "Xx" Yu-Long. Korean Bot Laners Lee "LoKen" Dong-wook and Nam "Ben" Dong-hyun, as well as domestic solo lane talents Bia "369" Jia-Hao and Zhuo "Knight" Ding, showcased impressive individual levels of play.

Topsports had a good amount of synergy despite only being together for a month, and had little issue dispatching of Royal Never Give Up and Invictus Gaming early on in the tournament without dropping a game.

Still, when it came down to a best of 5 series, Invictus Gaming did not break. While not quite in Worlds form, IG looked far less stiff than in its previous meeting with Topsports. The World Champion only dropped the first game before settling down and reverse sweeping Topsports in increasingly dominant fashion. 

Substitute Top Laner Lee "Duke" Ho-seong played the entire series, including a hard-carry performance on Aatrox in the final game of the series. In the press conference following the Winter Demacia Cup Finals, Duke commended Topsports Gaming on its rapid improvement:

"TOP improved the fastest this year.

The other teams shouldn't be far behind, next year LPL should be very exciting."

The 2018 Winter Demacia Cup was a fitting ending to an incredible season for Invictus Gaming. More importantly, however, it showcased the immense talent the China's League of Legends Pro League will possess in 2019.