This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Afreeca vs. ROX
It may not have started off the best for the Afreeca Freecs in Seoul, South Korea during the first day of Week 4 in League of Legends Champions Korea on Tuesday, but with decisive control over objectives and teamfights, Afreeca bounced back for a 2-1 victory over the ROX Tigers.
ROX jumped out to an early lead in Game 1 when Yun "SeongHwan" Seong-hwan was given the overpowered Rengar that he used get first blood on the Olaf of Afreeca jungler Lee "Spirit" Da-yoon just four minutes in. Both teams grappled for control before Afreeca pulled ahead with a 3-for-0 teamfight at the 25-minute mark, leading to a Baron. SeongHwan began to turn the game back to ROX's favor, using Rengar's Thrill of the Hunt ultimate to steal the next Baron at the 34-minute mark. Afreeca then over-committed inside the ROX base, which allowed ROX to secure a clean ace, opening the door for it to push for the 36-minute win on the back of the Baron buff.
The second game began with SeongHwan picking up the first blood, this time using his Elise to take down support Bak "TusiN" Jong-ik's Karma just over six minutes in. Outside of a 4-for-1 teamfight in favor of ROX with mid laner Son "Mickey" Yonug-min earning a double kill, Afreeca was decisive in knocking down towers, building a sizeable gold advantage. It then capitalized on a ROX over-extension to take a 3-for-0 teamfight at the 28-minute mark that also gave it Baron. Afreeca then just chipped away at ROX before grabbing a second Baron at 37 minutes to push for the win.
While the first two teams saw both Afreeca and ROX take leads at certain points, Game 3 was all Afreeca from the start. Afreeca support Bak "TusiN" Jong-ik used his Miss Fortune to secure first blood on SeongHwan's Elise. The true carry of the game was in the mid lane where Afreeca's Lee "KurO" Seo-haeng used his Aurelion Sol to push Mickey around at every turn. His double kill helped secure a 4-for-0 in the mid lane at the 18-minute mark that seemed to break the will of the ROX Tigers. Afreeca continued to win teamfights and destroy towers with little resistance for the rest of the game on its way to a 34-minute win.
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Samsung vs. Kongdoo
In the second match of Week 4, Day 1 in League of Legends Champions Korea, Samsung Galaxy dominated the struggling Kongdoo Monster in a 2-0 sweep on Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea.
Game 1 was perhaps the slowest, yet most dominating show of strength to be seen in a game, with Samsung slowly biding its time to a 41-minute victory. The game was essentially won from the beginning moments when mid laner Lee "Crown" Min-ho used his Orianna to take down Kongdoo's mid laner Lee "Edge" Ho-sung's Corki, for first blood just two minutes in. It was the start of what ended up being a nightmare outing for Edge, finishing with a 0/5/1 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). Samsung destroyed its first tower at the 14-minute mark to lock up a 4,000 gold lead. From there, Samsung took every single objective to continue growing its gold lead. Crown took MVP honors with his 5/1/5 KDA that set the tone for the series.
Samsung continued to ride the wave of domination into the second game, finishing up Game 2 quicker than the first. While Kongdoo got first blood when AD carry Seo "SSol" Jin-sol took down jungler Park "Haru" Min-seung's Graves just three minutes in, Samsung picked up two kills in the fight for an early advantage. Kongdoo, despite losing towers and objectives all throughout the game, managed to take the first Baron at the 22-minute mark. The buff went completely unused, however, which allowed Samsung to continue amassing a significant gold lead. Samsung leveraged that lead into a 31-minute Baron that gave it the power needed to ace Kongdoo and push for the 32-minute win. Samsung had complete control over both kills and objectives in this series, finishing 29-to-11 in kills, 20-to-2 in towers, 8-to-0 in dragons and 2-to-1 in Barons.
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Longzhu vs. bbq Olivers
In the first game of Week 4, Day 2 of League of Legends Champions Korea, Longzhu Gaming handed bbq Olivers a loss in dominating fashion in Seoul, South Korea.
The end result of the first game in this series was almost never in doubt, with Longzhu leading from the start. Longzhu top laner Koo "Expession" Bon-taek used his Shen to pick up the first blood on bbq top laner Kim "Crazy" Jae-hee's Maokai just over four minutes into the game. This was followed up by a five-man dive in the bottom lane that netted Longzhu two more kills and its first tower. While bbq attempted to get back into the game through teamfights, it could never gain an advantage due to the dominating presence that was Longzhu mid laner Song "Fly" Young-jun's Aurelion Sol. He pumped out massive amounts of damage on his way to a flawless 7/0/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), which included a key double kill at the 43-minute mark that opened up bbq's base and allowed Longzhu to push for the 44-minute victory.
Game 2 followed a similar script as Game 1, with the only difference being that Longzhu enjoyed even more control over objectives. Longzhu started strong with jungler Lee "Crash" Dong-woo picking up first blood on bbq mid laner Kang "Tempt" Myung-gu in a gank at the 12-minute mark. Rather than focusing on teamfights, Longzhu grew its gold lead through suffocating objective control. By the end of the game, it owned an 11-to-2 advantage in towers, a 4-to-0 advantage in dragons and a 2-to-0 advantage in Barons. The only black mark on its record was a questionable Baron rush at the 20-minute mark that led to the deaths of two team members. Despite this miscue, Longzhu never lost control of the game before securing the second Baron and using the buff to gain enough ground inside bbq's base to secure the 33-minute win.
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KT Rolster vs. Jin Air
KT Rolster continued to pummel through the competition at League of Legends Champions Korea on Wednesday, earning a 2-0 sweep over the Jin Air Green Wings in the final match of Week 4, Day 2 in Seoul, South Korea.
KT was in firm control of Game 1 from the very start when top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho's Shen picked up the first blood on the Miss Fortune of support No "SnowFlower" Hoi-jong. The teams proceeded to trade kills for the next portion of the game, but KT maintained a gold lead all the while due to its control over objectives. Despite that control, it still took some time for KT to fully pull away from Jin Air. KT support Cho "Mata" Se-hyoung used Zyra's Stranglethorn ultimate to completely lock Jin Air down and set up the ace for KT that allowed it to take three more towers and a Baron. While it didn't finish up the game for another 12 minutes, that ace was just what it needed to gain complete control over the game and push for the 44-minute win.
The second game was even more one-sided than the first, with KT picking up steam as the series progressed. While Jin Air started on the right foot with jungler Eom "UmTi" Seong-hyeon using his Kha'Zix for first blood early on, the positives didn't last long. Almost immediately, KT wrestled away control of the game with a big 3-for-0 teamfight in the bottom lane that also gave KT first tower gold and a 4,000 gold lead. While Jin Air did have control over the dragon pit, taking three of the four dragons, KT dominated every other objective during its push for the series sweep. KT secured both Barons and only lost three of its turrets while knocking down all 11 of Jin Air's. KT's jungler Go "Score" Dong-bin was the runaway MVP of the game, using his Elise to amass a 9/2/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) in the 37-minute victory.
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MVP vs. Kongdoo
While Kongdoo Monster did manage to win its first game since Week 1 of the League of Legends Champions Korea Spring Split on Thursday, MVP came out victorious in the series taking a 2-1 series win in the first match of Week 4, Day 3 which took place in Seoul, South Korea.
Game 1 began with a tower dive from MVP in the top lane at the nine-minute mark that gave mid laner Ahn "Ian" Joon-hyung's Syndra the first blood on Kongdoo top laner Kim "Roach" Kang-hee's Rumble. Despite Roach getting a return kill on Kang "ADD" Geon-mo in that fight, ADD enjoyed a sizeable lead in the top lane with his Kennen. The rest of the game was an extremely slow affair with neither team taking a huge lead until a big skirmish at the 25-minute mark saw MVP get the first Baron and use that buff to break into Kongdoo's base. The advantages from that Baron were enough to eventually push for the 38-minute win.
Kongdoo came out with renewed energy in Game 2 and dominated from the jump. While MVP support Jeong "Max" Jong-bin used his Zyra to pick up first blood onto AD carry Seo "SSol" Jin-sol's Varus, Kongdoo rebounded over the next several minutes to take a 7-to-5 lead in kills by the 11-minute mark. Kongdoo jungler Son "Punch" Min-hyuk was an underlying hero in this game due to the immense pressure he put on all lanes to give his team complete objective control. This huge advantage coupled with a 30-minute Baron and 5-for-0 ace allowed Kongdoo to finish the game in 31 minutes.
Spurred by its lopsided loss in Game 2, MVP took no prisoners in a Game 3 stomping of Kongdoo. The game was almost singlehandedly won by the bottom lane, with Max's Vel'Koz and Oh "MaHa" Hyun-sik's Varus earning a combined 9/1/16 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) in the game. The duo was able to not only win its own lane, but roam up to the other lanes to help gain advantages there as well. MVP wouldn't lose a single objective, ending with an 11-0 lead in towers, 4-0 lead in dragons and 2-0 lead in Barons. With little resistance in the game, MVP wrapped up the series with a 37-minute win.
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AF vs. SKT
Afreeca Freecs came into Week 4, Day 3 of League of Legends Champions Korea with just a 2-3 record, but came out of Thursday with a shocking 2-0 upset of the defending World Champions SK Telecom T1 at the OGN E-Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.
Despite SKT getting some of the stronger picks of the current meta in Rengar and Jayce, Afreeca played to its strengths in Game 1 to take a surprising 1-0 lead in the series. Afreeca jungler Lee "Spirit" Da-yoon got things started by using his Graves to get first blood on jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho's Rengar just under three minutes in. SKT bounced back to take a fluctuating gold lead of about 2,000 throughout the rest of the early and mid game. Afreeca slowly but surely began to claw its way back into things, starting with a decisive Baron kill at the 31-minute mark. Rather than forcing 5-vs-5 teamfights, Afreeca was content to just get picks sporadically as it continued amassing its lead. The strategy worked as intended and one final push on a reeling SKT after a second Baron was enough for Afreeca to secure the 45-minute win.
Game 2 started off right where Game 1 left off, with SKT top laner Seung-Hoon "Huni" Heo's Gragas walking into a bush filled with four members of Afreeca to get taken down for first blood just over a minute into the game. Despite the early miscue, SKT managed to keep things even for most of the game. It wasn't until Afreeca snuck in a Baron undetected at the 25-minute mark that the scales started to tip in favor of the Freecs. Once again relying on a team-focused strategy, Afreeca refused to spread apart, using its five-man grouping to stay alive and slowly chip away at SKT's resolve. Outside of two deaths during the furious siege on the Nexus in the final moments, Afreeca took zero deaths from the 17-minute mark until the end of the 33-minute Afreeca victory.
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KT Rolster vs. Samsung
KT Rolster took on Samsung Galaxy to start Week 4 Day 4 of the 2017 League of Legends Champions Korea Spring Split on Saturday. Although the teams looked evenly matched heading into the series, KT shockingly decimated Samsung, taking an extremely convincing 2-0 series win in Seoul, South Korea.
KT Rolster started their series off against Samsung with a perfect performance. Executing on a niche Ability Power heavy composition, they were able to corner Samsung's draft and earn a flawless victory. Putting KT Rolster's AD Carry ýKim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu on Ziggs, the team opted for a mainly magic damage-based composition that caught the enemy off-guard. Samsung's AD Carry Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk struggled on Caitlyn against the composition, finding no chance to itemize into magic resistance -- something that cost him dearly. In every teamfight and skirmish he found himself at the mercy of KT's carries and their onslaught of magic damage. Without any resistance against it, he was taken out time and again with little response. With an early lead built up, KT played a methodical game, claiming all objectives while surgically traversing the map. As a result, they were able to claim a 30-minute perfect game to earn a commanding 1-0 series advantage.
Game 2 started out completely differently with Samsung's top laner Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin picking up first blood by solo-killing KT Rolster's top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho. Despite the early death, KT quickly found the lead for themselves again thanks to Score's early aggression, picking up four quick kills for his team. With KT Rolster's mid laner Heo "PawN" Won-seok performing extremely well on Azir for the second game in a row, the team had no problem brute forcing their way to an insurmountable lead. By 22 minutes, KT found themselves yet another set of kills and picked up the first Baron of the game, allowing them to subsequently take one of Samsung's inhibitors. Samsung responded with a desperate teamfight engage that went as poorly as one could imagine. KT seized the opportunity and turned the fight around quickly, allowing a massive flank by Smeb to secure his team an ace and immediately close out the series.
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Longzhu vs. ROX
In the final match of Week 4, Day 4 of the League of Legends Champions Korea, Longzhu Gaming picked up its third straight series win, earning a 2-1 victory against ROX Tigers on Saturday in Seoul, South Korea.
Longzhu got off to a nice start in Game 1 by picking up two kills within the first five minutes of the game. ROX followed this up by initiating a teamfight around the 10-minute mark that netted it three kills. This allowed ROX to get the first tower along with a gold lead it never relinquished. Longzhu didn't just roll over, though, thwarting multiple ROX attempts at the Baron before ROX finally secured it at the 38-minute mark. Using the buff, ROX pushed into the Longzhu base and eventually wrapped up the win in 48 minutes.
Game 2 started off in the same vein as the first, but with the roles reversed. ROX was the first to strike with a 2-for-0 just eight minutes to gain a slight early lead. Longzhu merely bided its time until it found a perfect opportunity to strike back with a decisive 3-for-0 teamfight at the 14-minute mark. Longzhu rode this advantage for the rest of the game to pick up two Barons, knock down all 11 ROX towers and lock up the win after 37 minutes. Top laner Koo "Expession" Bon-taek used the Camille that was gifted to him to push hard in every lane on his way to a 3/1/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
Longzhu started strong in Game 3 with support player Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyeon's Braum getting the first blood onto ROX mid laner Son "Mickey" Young-min's Cassiopeia in an early teamfight in the river, but Longzhu's Yun "SeongHwan" Seong-hwan used Rengar to get the trade kill. ROX then rode Mickey's Cassiopeia to amass a 12-to-3 kill advantage by the 30-minute mark. However, at the 21-minute mark, Longzhu jungler Lee "Crash" Dong-woo used his Kha'Zix to get a miraculous Baron steal that helped even the gold deficit. ROX went for another Baron near the 30-minute mark, and while it did get the kill, the whole team took too much damage, which allowed Longzhu to pick up an ace and push for the eventual 38-minute win.
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SKT vs. bbq Olivers
SK Telecom T1 bounced back from its surprising loss to Afreeca Freecs earlier in the week with a 2-0 sweep over bbq Olivers in the first match of Week 4, Day 5 of League of Legends Champions Korea on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
SKT didn't waste much time getting the ball rolling in Game 1, with jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho's Rengar securing first blood just six minutes into the game. Snowballing off of the early kill, SKT locked up six kills and a tower by the 10-minute mark for a nearly 5,000 gold lead. With Peanut creating pressure across the map and mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok wreaking havoc on Ryze, there was little bbq could do to stop the reigning World Champions. SKT displayed impressive objective control throughout the game, knocking down nine towers while slaying three elemental drakes and a Baron without losing a single objective. SKT solidified its lead with a cheeky two-man Baron secure around 21 minutes before picking up one last 3-for-0 teamfight win to push for the 27-minute Game 1 win.
Game 2 was more of the same for SKT, picking up an early lead and never letting go. While bbq AD carry Jang "Ghost" Yong-jun's Ziggs picked up first blood, Peanut ganked the bottom lane on two different occasions shortly after, picking up a double kill each time to nullify bbq's early advantage. SKT continued to snowball its lead from that point on, taking down towers and comfortably winning teamfights on the backs of Faker and Peanut. Faker and Peanut dominated the map with Faker outputting a game-high 29,700 damage to enemy champions while Peanut amassed a 9/2/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). It took awhile for SKT to find an opening to take Baron, but SKT eventually secured a 4-for-0 teamfight win and a Baron kill around 30 minutes, giving SKT the edge needed to push for the 33-minute win to finish up the 2-0 sweep.
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MVP vs. Jin Air
In the second match of Week 4, Day 5 in League of Legends Champions Korea, MVP overcame Jin Air Green Wings in a hard fought 2-1 series victory on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
JAGW got off to a great start on the back of jungler Um "Umti" Seong-hyeon's strong play on Rengar, picking up two kills onto top laner Kang "ADD" Geon-mo by the time eight minutes passed. While Umti was roaming the map to get the side lanes ahead, JAGW mid laner Lee "Kuzan" Seong-hyuk's Corki was absolutely dominating in the mid lane. Throughout the game, Kuzan output a whopping 25,200 damage to enemy champions on his way to a perfect 8/0/0 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). JAGW played incredibly aggressive to lock up the 30-minute win in Game 1.
Despite getting an advantage out the gate when it won a 3-for-0 teamfight under a minute into Game 2, JAGW lost all momentum thanks to a methodical attack from MVP. Kuzan was fantastic in the early game once again to get JAGW out to an almost 4,000 gold lead by the 20-minute mark. MVP then started winning teamfights handily due to support Jeong "Max" Jong-bin's masterful hooks with his Thresh to lock down members of JAGW and allow his team to slowly grow its gold lead. While JAGW made one last ditch effort with a Baron kill 42 minutes in, MVP remained calm and collected with a 2-for-0 to open up the JAGW base and finish the win in 44 minutes.
MVP started off strong with a first blood during a botched tower dive from JAGW in the top lane about 10 minutes in to kick off Game 3. It also took two kills in the bottom lane to secure the first tower in that lane by the 15-minute mark. However, for the next 47 minutes, MVP did everything it could to let JAGW back into the game. On its first and third Baron kills, MVP were punished on an over-commitment to the Nashor, leading to a complete decimation of the team to nullify the buff. Even after MVP's clean secure on the second Baron, JAGW wouldn't go quietly, winning a few late game teamfights to delay MVP's push into its base. MVP finally wrapped up the win with a fifth Baron 62 minutes in that gave way to a 5-for-3 ace, allowing MVP to push for the 2-1 series win.
