This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
KT Rolster vs. Afreeca Freecs
In the second series of Thursday's Week 3 action in League of Legends Champions Korea, KT Rolster and the Afreeca Freecs put together a hard fought three-game series in Seoul, South Korea. Despite the series looking a bit hairy in Game 2, KT picked up the 2-1 series win with a suffocating Game 3 finish.
KT got the best start one could ask for when its top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho stole Afreeca's blue buff with his Jayce, and jungler Go "Score" Dong-bin's rarely-seen Ivern stole the red buff to kick off Game 1. While Afreeca did manage to get first blood, KT's victory was almost never in doubt, as it never relinquished its gold lead after the two-minute mark. Score was a terror in the jungle, clearing out camps left and right to control the map and give his team a huge advantage. With the tempo completely in KT's favor, there wasn't much Afreeca could do in the 34-minute loss.
Game 2 was a complete 180 from the first, with Afreeca being the ones in control this time around. Smeb used his Jayce to pick up first blood on Afreeca's Jang "MaRin'" Gyeong-hwan's Renekton just four minutes in before Afreeca jungler Lee "Spirit" Da-yoon took down Smeb a minute later to even things up. Afreeca then won a 2-for-1 teamfight about 12 minutes in to take a gold lead that it held onto until the very end. On the back of decisive teamfights throughout the rest of the game, Afreeca slowly chipped away at KT until it won after 40 minutes.
The final game of the series followed the same storyline of the first two, with the teams jockeying for position until one finally got ahead with a key teamfight. This time it was a big 3-for-0 teamfight win for KT at the 19-minute mark that broke things open and allowed KT to start snowballing into a win. Score once again controlled the map and got his team ahead, finishing with a 5/1/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) in the final game.
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Longzhu vs. Kongdoo
Longzhu Gaming has gotten off to a bit of a slow start in League of Legends Champions Korea, opening with a 1-2 record after the first two weeks. However, with a strong 2-0 win over Kongdoo Monster on Thursday in Seoul, South Korea on the first day of Week 3, it looks to have gotten back on track.
From the start, Longzhu had quite a firm grip on the series, leaving little room for Kongdoo to maneuver. The early game was farming-heavy until Longzhu's top laner Koo "Expession" Bon-taek's Shen secured a kill on Kongdoo top laner Kim "Roach" Sang-hui's Maokai in a quick skirmish in the mid lane near the 12-minute mark.
Kongdoo tried to claw back with a handful of smaller kills, but Longzhu still held a 3,700 gold lead after 21 minutes. Longzhu seized full control of the game when Kongdoo support Kim "GuGer" Do-yeop charged into battle alone with his Tahm Kench, igniting a poorly planned teamfight, and was subsequently decimated. This miscue allowed Longzhu to secure the Baron and used the buff to secure two more kills, eventually pushing in for a 32-minute win.
Game 2 was an absolute trouncing by Longzhu that saw it take down 10 towers and rack up 16 kills without losing a single tower or giving up a single kill itself. The match started with a first blood from Longzhu support Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyeon's Nami on the Jayce of Kongdoo's Lee "Edge" Ho-sung during a very quick teamfight. From then on, it was all Longzhu. Kongdoo tried desperately to stop their opponents, but were eliminated at every turn. Teamfight after teamfight went in favor of Longzhu before it finally wrapped up in a 31-minute win. Expession's Maokai and Kim "PraY" Jong-in's Varus were the MVPs of the game, finishing with KDAs (kills/deaths/assists) of 2/0/8 and 3/0/7, respectively.
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Jin Air vs. Afreeca Freecs
In the final match of Saturday's Week 3, Day 2 action in League of Legends Champions Korea, Jin Air Green Wings won its first series of the 2017 Spring Split by securing a surprise sweep over Afreeca Freecs in Seoul, South Korea.
JAGW won what essentially amounted to a war of attrition in Game 1 of the series. JAGW started the game off on the right foot when jungler Um "Umti" Sung-hyeon picked up first blood for Wings at the 9-minute mark. JAGW held onto a lead for most of the game, but lost it after a 4-for-1 teamfight went in favor of Afreeca and gave the Freecs a sizable gold lead. Afreeca looked poised to take Game 1 before it was decimated in a 5-for-2 in JAGW's favor at the 59-minute mark. JAGW then secured another ace three minutes later to make one final push into the Afreeca base and lock up the 63-minute win. Umti was the hero for JAGW, picking up seven kills and three assists in those final two teamfights to help his team to victory.
The second game saw JAGW finish the series with a commanding victory. Jeon "ikssu" Ik-su kicked it off with a first blood for JAGW on his top lane counterpart Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-hwan just over three minutes into the game. JAGW then slowly started to amass a bit of a gold lead while trading kills with Afreeca. The game never truly broke open until JAGW's AD carry Park "Teddy" Jin-sung picked up a triple kill during a 3-for-1 teamfight at the 22-minute mark. JAGW then just chipped away at the towers and inhibitors of Afreeca before finishing up the 2-0 series sweep with a 34-minute win. Teddy was a monster for JAGW, amassing a 7/2/3 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) and ending two kills short of matching Afreeca's kill total for the game.
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bbq Olivers vs. Kongdoo
Saturday's action during Week 3 of League of Legends Champions Korea saw bbq Olivers hand Kongdoo Monster its fourth straight series loss in a 2-0 sweep in Seoul, South Korea. Kongdoo have now lost eight games in a row while bbq Olivers will end Week 3 with a surprising 3-1 series record.
Despite the end result, Game 1 did look promising for Kongdoo at various points. Bbq took the first lead with a 4-for-3 teamfight at the 18-minute mark, but then the struggling Kongdoo bounced back with a decisive Baron play 24 minutes in that gave it the lead. Now in the driver's seat, Kongdoo was unable to keep its lead intact as mid laner Lee "Edge" Ho-sung made a poor decision to rush into the backline of bbq with his Ryze, leading to the deaths of four Kongdoo members. That led to a Baron kill by bbq, who then used the buff coupled with the massive damage output of mid laner Kang "Tempt" Myung-gus' Corki to finish Game 1 in 39 minutes. Tempt finished with over 37,000 in damage done to champions.
While Game 1 was a bit shaky from bbq, Game 2 saw it take control from the start. Bbq jungler Choi "Bless" Hyeon-woong, using Rek'Sai, kicked things off with two kills near the nine-minute mark. That kill lead ballooned to a 10-1 advantage shortly thereafter, thus creating an insurmountable lead. To its credit, Kongdoo didn't go down without a fight, taking numerous kills to prolong the game. Bbq's gold lead never dipped under 4,500 gold, though, making the rest of the game simply a formality until it destroyed Kongdoo's Nexus after 47 minutes. Bless grabbed series MVP honors after tallying an impressive 3/6/19 series KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
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SKT vs. MVP
In stark contrast to the first series on Sunday in Week 3 of League of Legends Champions Korea, SK Telecom T1 trounced MVP in a 2-0 sweep in Seoul, South Korea. Three weeks into the 2017 Spring Split and the defending World Champions have yet to drop a single game while compiling a 4-0 record.
While SKT didn't pick up first blood until nine minutes into Game 1, that kill opened the floodgates for an easy victory. By the time 12 minutes passed, SKT downed the first tower and secured a 3,000 gold lead. SKT played like true defending World Champions, picking up objectives and kills at will in the 27-minute win. It finished the game with a 16-to-5 kill advantage while taking nine towers, two inhibitors, three dragons, and a Baron. SKT mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok used his his Corki to dominate the game to the tune of an 8/1/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
Despite losing a bit of steam in the mid game, SKT still thoroughly dominated MVP in the second game of this series. While SKT's jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho was gifted the overpowered champion Rengar, it was MVP jungler Kim "Beyond" Kyu-seok's Olaf that got the first blood on SKT top laner Seung-Hoon "Huni" Heo's Singed. SKT quickly fired back to take a 2,000 gold lead by the 13-minute mark. MVP then caught SKT sleeping with a Baron steal followed by 4-for-3 and 3-for-0 teamfights that almost evened the gold deficit at the 28-minute mark. SKT weathered the storm and seized full control of the game with a big 4-for-1 teamfight stemming from Peanut's Baron steal at the 33-minute mark. Using that buff and an Elder Dragon buff, SKT pushed for a 40-minute win to complete the series sweep. Peanut was the MVP of the game, demonstrating why Rengar should be an auto-ban, finishing with a 6/4/14 KDA in the dominating victory.
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Samsung vs. ROX
In a series that ended up very close, Samsung Galaxy took on ROX Tigers to kick off Day 3 of Week 3 in League of Legends Champions Korea. Despite faltering at times, Samsung managed to pick up the 2-1 series win on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
Game 1 was pretty much never in doubt for Samsung, with the team taking a lead immediately. Samsung jungler Kang "Haru" Min-seung used his Kha'Zix to pick up first blood on mid laner Son "Mickey" Young-min's Corki just three minutes into the game for an early lead. From then on, Samsung ran roughshod on ROX on its way to a 29-minute win. ROX only tallied two kills and just one assist as a team, while Samsung racked up 15 kills to go along with 10 towers and one Baron.
Game 2 started off nicely for Samsung with another first blood, this time with mid laner Lee "Crown" Min-ho using his Viktor to take out Mickey's Jayce. Samsung picked up a few more kills to take a 4-to-2 kill advantage before things all fell apart. ROX grabbed two kills and a Mountain Drake at the 17-minute mark to begin its extremely slow comeback. It would take 51 minutes, including a furious Samsung push late that almost won the game, but ROX stabilized in the end and got the win to force a decisive Game 3 on the back of strong teamfights and objective control.
With the series tied, Game 3 saw both teams play extremely passive to try and eliminate any mistakes. Haru once again grabbed the first blood with his Kha'Zix onto Mickey's Syndra near the four-minute mark. From there, the teams were content to simply farm before Crown took control of the mid lane with his Corki to give Samsung an advantage going into the late game. Two kills near the Baron pit finally broke the game open, as Samsung took the buff as well as the Elder Dragon to push for the 41-minute win and close out the series win.
