This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Afreeca Freecs vs. Samsung
In the first match of Week 7, Day 2 in League of Legends Champions Korea, the Afreeca Freecs (6-5, 14-14 match record) pulled off a 2-1 upset over Samsung Galaxy (7-4, 16-11 match record) on Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea.
Game 1 started off with a bang as Samsung mid laner Lee "Crown" Min-ho's Ryze picked up two kills under four minutes in. This proved to be a sign of of things to come, as the early kills kicked off widespread domination by Samsung. While a tower advantage helped grow their gold lead, Samsung's neutral objective control prevented any comeback attempts from Afreeca. Afreeca won a couple teamfights in the late game, but Samsung already amassed such a sizable lead that it didn't mean much. Late in the game, Afreeca tried to push into Samsung's base, but Samsung responded with a swift 3-for-1 teamfight to finally lock up the win after 48 minutes.
Game 2 saw the Afreeca Freecs come back with a vengeance to trounce Samsung. While Crown managed to get first blood again, this time with Orianna, Afreeca took immediate control shortly after. Not only did Afreeca dominate in terms of kills, but it also controlled objectives all across the map holding a 4-to-1 lead in kills and 3-to-0 lead in towers at 21-minute mark. Relentless in their suffocating map presence, Afreeca continued winning teamfight after teamfight on its way to demolishing Samsung Galaxy in just 31 minutes.
The final game of the series started with yet another Samsung first blood that was parlayed into two more early kills across the map. Picking up the first blood tower gold, Samsung slowly began to grow its gold lead as the game progressed. A decisive Baron call at the 28-minute mark caught Afreeca off guard and put Samsung firmly in the driver's seat, or so it seemed. All it took was a 2-for-0 teamfight in favor of Afreeca to break into Samsung's base and take an inhibitor. At that point, Afreeca's late-game composition finally hit its stride and there was no looking back. The next Baron went to Afreeca, giving it the edge needed to finally put Samsung away and lock up the 42-minute win to secure the 2-1 series win.
The Afreeca Freecs are back on Saturday to take on MVP at 3 AM EST, while Samsung Galaxy will look to bounce back against Longzhu Gaming on Sunday at 7 AM EST.
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MVP vs. bbq olivers
MVP (7-4, 16-11 match record) ended Week 7, Day 1 of League Champions Korea with a bang by finishing bbq Olivers (4-7, 10-15 match record) in a quick 2-0 sweep on Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea.
While bbq managed to get on the board first with the first blood, MVP got the trade immediately after to keeps things dead even. From then on, it was all MVP, with jungler Kim "Beyond" Kyu-seok leading the way. It was Beyond's complete control over dragons that allowed the team to easily take objectives and amass its lead. MVP shredded the Baron at 30 minutes to push their lead to almost 9,000 and proceeded to push all lanes up to bbq's base. Bbq went for a desperate Baron late in the game, but it was snatched away by Beyond, which essentially sealed the deal for MVP in the 39-minute win. Beyond was the runaway MVP, finishing with a 7/0/3 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) that was good for 83 percent kill participation.
MVP switched its strategy for the second game, this time focusing on teamfights before cashing in advantages for objectives across the map. Bbq picked up the first tower and first dragon of game, which was a complete role reversal compared to the first game. MVP weren't fazed in the least, though, as it just kept on winning teamfights to snowball leads in every lane. The slow crescendo of kills finally hit a critical mass and shattered with a massive 4-for-1 teamfight in favor of MVP at the 23-minute mark that allowed it to secure the Baron. Rather than be passive with the buff as some teams often do, MVP pushed right up to start breaking into bbq's base. Once the fallen bbq members respawned, they promptly met another swift end in the form of a second 4-for-1 in MVP's favor which was more than enough to finish up bbq's Nexus for the 26-minute win.
Bbq Olivers will look to rebound when it faces KT Rolster on Thursday at 3 AM EST, and MVP aims to keep rolling against Afreeca Freecs on Saturday at 3 AM EST.
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SKT vs. Jin Air Green Wings
SK Telecom T1 (10-1, 20-5 match record) continued its romp through League of Legends Champions Korea on Week 7, Day 1, winning its sixth straight series in a throttling 2-0 victory over Jin Air Green Wings (1-10, 6-20 match record) on Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea.
The first game saw SKT in full control from the very beginning, starting with top laner Seung-Hoon "Huni" Heo's Rumble getting first blood for the first of his game-high seven kills. Before 10 minutes had passed, SKT had amassed a 2,000 gold lead that quietly grew throughout the game. The defending World Champions simply went to work at securing objective after objective to get ahead. The mid-late game lapsed into a slow, drawn out affair until SKT picked up a 4-for-0 teamfight win that gave it the Baron and broke the game wide open. After tearing through the JAGW base, SKT wrapped up Game 1 in 39 minutes.
Game 2 was a much slower affair, with no kills on either side until 14 minutes into the game when JAGW picked up the first blood. SKT continued to concede kills in favor of objectives in the early game, but even once it started picking up the kills, it took quite some time before being able to break away from Jin Air. JAGW actually picked up the first Baron -- before losing four members to essentially nullify the buff -- as well as the Elder Dragon, but the objectives never allowed JAGW to chip away at SKT's lead. The teams danced around each other for a good 20 minutes, with JAGW playing the part of a pesky fly, evading death time and again. SKT finally picked up a clean ace late into the game to lock up the 50-minute win and secure the series sweep.
SKT will look to keep its win streak alive with a match against Kongdoo Monster on Saturday at 6 AM EST, while Jin Air will try to get back on track when it faces Longzhu Gaming on Thursday at 6 AM EST.
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Kongdoo vs. ROX
ROX Tigers (5-6, 13-16 match record) outlasted Kongdoo Monster (1-10, 6-21 match record) in a close 2-1 series on Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea to close out Week 7, Day 2 of League of Legends Champions Korea.
Kongdoo shot out of the gate in the first game, recording two kills before the 10-minute mark. ROX bounced back with some kills of its own that led to first tower gold, kicking off an early snowball situation for the Tigers. Once Kongdoo picked up the first of three Barons at the 21-minute mark, it was off to the races. It took an impressive 14/0/4 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) from mid laner Lee "Edge" Ho-sung's LeBlanc, but Kongdoo started winning teamfights in the late game to eventually break ahead of ROX and wrap up the 43-minute win.
ROX started off much better in Game 2, picking up first blood early on to get an early advantage. While the towers were even throughout the early-mid game, ROX already started its teamfight domination to the tune of a 5-to-2 advantage that netted it a 3,000 gold lead by the 20-minute mark. As the game progressed, ROX kept winning teamfight after teamfight, adding up to a 6,000 gold lead before the Baron was even secured. The first Baron allowed the team to leave Kongdoo's base in shambles, while the second allowed the team to push for the 35-minute win.
Kongdoo used impeccable objective control and decisive teamfighting to stay in the driver's seat during the most of Game 3. ROX started to fight back with some teamfight wins of its own, but then Kongdoo stole the Baron at 28 minutes to wrestle control of the game right back. Using that buff to push advantages across the map, Kongdoo proceeded to grab a second Baron and looked poised to take the series victory. However, a 3-for-0 teamfight win, netting ROX an Elder Dragon near the 38-minute mark, completely flipped the game on its head. The Tigers then pushed right down the middle of the map, destroying Kongdoo's base while picking up a 4-for-0 teamfight win in the process.
Kongdoo Monster will have its work cut out in its next outing against SK Telecom T1 on Saturday at 6 AM EST, while ROX Tigers will take on KT Rolster Sunday at 4 AM EST in a rematch of the 2016 Summer Split finals.
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KT Rolster vs. bbq Olivers
KT Rolster (8-3, 18-7 match record) recovered from a series of losses against SK Telecom T1 last week with a quick 2-0 sweep of bbq Olivers (4-8, 10-17 match record) on Thursday in Seoul, South Korea during Week 7, Day 3 of League of Legends Champions Korea.
KT had a nice start in Game 1 when top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho's Camille picked up two kills on bbq top laner Kim "Crazy" Jae-hee's Renekton in under 10 minutes to get ahead early. Smeb snowballed this advantage, picking up the first two towers for KT in the top lane before bbq had even knocked down a single tower. By the time 21 minutes had passed, KT had a 6-to-3 advantage in towers and a 3,000 gold lead. Despite a poor KT Baron secure at about 28 minutes, where they killed the Baron but then proceeded to lose all five members in the ensuing skirmish, KT remained undeterred. With bbq unable to turn the ace into much of advantage, KT picked up an ace of its own to lock up the 34-minute win.
While Game 1 saw a steady stream of kills from the start, Game 2 didn't have a single kill until 12 minutes in when KT picked up another first blood. As the game progressed, however, kills certainly weren't hard to come by, as both teams looked to teamfight their way to a win. KT started out with the lead before bbq secured the Baron at 26 minutes, signaling a shift in the game where bbq asserted their dominance across the map. bbq Olivers was poised to easily take the game, but then KT showed why it's truly a top-2 team in the LCK with decisive late-game fights. Those last few fights gave KT Rolster control of the game, eventually wrapping up the Game 2 win in 45 minutes.
Bbq Olivers are done for the week and will take on Longzhu Gaming next Tuesday at 4 AM EST, while KT Rolster will hit the stage again on Sunday to face ROX Tigers at 4 AM EST.
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Jin Air Green Wings vs. Longzhu
Jin Air Green Wings defied the odds with a 2-0 sweep of Longzhu Gaming on Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea, to close out Week 7, Day 3 of League of Legends Champions Korea.
Longzhu (6-5, 14-13 match record) started Game 1 on a high note when jungler Lee "Crash" Dong-woo picked up a double kill with his Rengar just under two minutes into the game. The advantage didn't last long, though, as JAGW top laner Jeon "ikssu" Ik-su's Nautilus picked up double kill of his own to turn around a 1-vs-2 gank a few minutes later.
This brought the game to a dead-even standoff, where it stayed until JAGW (2-10, 8-20) broke the game wide open at the 28-minute mark with a game-changing 3-for-0 teamfight. The gold lead went from even between the teams to plus-3,000 in favor of JAGW in the minutes following the fight, and Jin Air snowballed from there and won the game in 40 minutes without even needing a Baron buff.
The second game of this series followed a very similar script of the first, right down to the timing of the turning point of the game. To start off, Crash, again on Rengar, got the first blood, though it didn't come until the 12th minute. Longzhu continued moving through the game with the first tower kill, amassing an early 2,000-gold lead. However, at the 19-minute mark, Jin Air reversed its fortunes with a 4-for-1 teamfight win that evened the gold going into the mid game.
The teams danced around each other for a bit until Jin Air came up with a decisive Baron secure at 28 minutes to completely break the game open. Jin Air consistently won teamfights and secured objectives on the back of ikssu's Nautilus, who held down the frontline and registered a flawless 6/0/10 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as the runway MVP of the game. Jin Air used one final 4-for-0 teamfight win to raze Longzhu's base and lock up the 37-minute win.
Longzhu Gaming looks to get back on track when it faces Samsung Galaxy on Sunday at 7 a.m. ET. Jin Air Green Wings are done for the week and will next hit the Rift against KT Rolster next Tuesday at 7 a.m. ET.
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Afreeca Freecs vs. MVP
Opening up Week 7, Day 4 of League of Legends Champions Korea, the Afreeca Freecs (7-5, 16-14 match record) throttled MVP (7-5, 16-13 match record) with a 2-0 sweep on Saturday in Seoul, South Korea.
The first game of the series started off with an MVP first blood, but Afreeca quickly took over the game and dominated MVP afterward. It all started when Afreeca cleaned up a 4-for-1 fight at the 16-minute mark that including a showstopping triple kill from mid laner Lee "Kuro" Seo-haeng's Taliyah. This fight led to two immediate towers for Afreeca, which Afreeca then leveraged into leads all across the map before taking another teamfight win at 20 minutes, this time a 4-for-0 to grow its gold lead to 9,000. There was simply no stopping the Afreeca snowball in this 28-minute win, which ended without MVP picking up a single objective all game long while trailing 17-to-3 in kills by the end.
Game 2 followed a very similar script to Game 1, with MVP showing early signs of life before completely folding under Afreeca's pressure. Despite MVP taking the first tower, Afreeca started taking fights across the map in the mid game while maintaining strong control over the dragon pit for easy advantages. MVP tried to fight back with a Baron attempt at the 24-minute mark, but the play backfired immensely when Afreeca came up with four kills to completely nullify the buff. This kicked off another Afreeca snowball, which began easily taking fights on the back of an impressive performance from Kuro's Talon. Kuro was a strong presence for his team in the late game on his way to a stellar 7/4/13 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), leading Afreeca to the 34-minute win to close out the sweep.
The Afreeca Freecs will look to continue their win streak when they face SK Telecom T1 on Wednesday at 4 a.m. ET, while MVP's next appearance comes in a matchup against Kongdoo Monster on Wednesday at 7 a.m. ET.
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SKT vs. Kongdoo
SK Telecom T1 (11-1, 22-5 match record) close out Week 7, Day 4 of League of Legends Champions Korea with a lightning-fast 2-0 sweep of Kongdoo Monster (1-11, 6-23 match record) on Saturday in Seoul, South Korea.
Game 1's early game didn't follow the script that everyone expected coming in as, against all odds, Kongdoo actually found itself ahead by quite a bit. Kongdoo held an early lead in towers and then won a couple fights to put together an almost 4,000 gold lead as the game crept past the 20-minute mark. Feeling extremely confident, Kongdoo attempted a Baron kill at 23 minutes, and that's when it all unraveled. SKT seized the opportunity with a 4-for-0 fight to nullify the buff and turn the game on its head. From then on, Kongdoo didn't pick up a single kill or tower as SKT ran roughshod on the map to completely shut down the Monsters. Two more 4-for-0 teamfight wins inside the Kongdoo base was all that SKT needed to wrap up the 28-minute win.
Whereas Game 1 saw Kongdoo look like there was a chance it could take a game from the much-vaunted SKT squad, Game 2 was an absolute steamroller from the defending World Champions. The teams did trade kills at the 11-minute mark, but then SKT quickly picked up three more kills within the next 30 seconds to jump out to a 2,000 gold lead. As the game progressed, there was just nothing that Kongdoo could do to stop SKT from doing whatever it wanted across the map. SKT had such a strong hold over the map that Kongdoo actually failed to pick up a single objective in the entirety of the game, as SKT took its time but finally took down the Baron at 28 minutes and used the buff to blitz Kongdoo's base in one fell swoop and wrap up the 2-0 sweep.
SK Telecom T1 will next see action on the Rift next Wednesday at 4 a.m. ET when it faces the Afreeca Freecs, while Kongdoo Monster will look to end its five-game skid against MVP on Wednesday at 7 a.m. ET.
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KT Rolster vs. ROX
KT Rolster (9-3, 20-7 match record) continued its path back to redemption on Sunday after the brutal Telecom Wars with a decisive 2-0 sweep of the ROX Tigers (5-7, 13-18 match record) in Seoul, South Korea to begin Week 7, Day 5 of League of Legends Champions Korea.
Game 1 looked more like a practice session than an actual game, with KT looking to be on a different plane of existence from start to finish. KT earned the first tower and Infernal Drake at 12 minutes to take a 2,600 gold lead, snowballing from that point on. Picking up teamfight wins on the back of jungler Go "Score" Dong-bin's Graves, who finished with a 9/0/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), KT put itself firmly in the driver's seat. By the time 20 minutes passed, KT had grown its lead to a whopping 9,000 gold before even thinking about a Baron attempt. That came a couple minutes later and signaled the beginning of the end for ROX. The gold lead ballooned up to over 15,000 and counting, which allowed KT to easily push for the 25-minute Game 1 win.
Game 2 couldn't have started off more differently than the first, even if the end result was the same. While KT did get first blood, ROX got the first tower, which led to a series of objectives for the Tigers. This didn't last too long, however, as a poorly executed teamfight at the 19-minute mark ended up as a 2-for-0 in favor of KT to allow it enough space to take a free Baron, as well. KT put the buff to nearly perfect use by turning what was a 200 gold lead for ROX into a 4,000 gold lead for KT. Patient until the very end, KT Rolster came up with a 4-for-1 teamfight win in the 31st minute that finally allowed it to put ROX out of its misery in this series.
KT Rolster will get right back into the thick of things against the Jin Air Green Wings on Tuesday at 7 a.m. ET, while the ROX Tigers will hope to get back on track with a matchup against Longzhu Gaming on Thursday at 4 a.m. ET.
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Samsung vs. Longzhu
Samsung Galaxy (8-4, 18-11 match score) closed out Week 7, Day 5 of League of Legends Champions Korea with a dominant 2-0 sweep of Longzhu Gaming (6-6, 13-16 match record) in Seoul, South Korea on Sunday.
Game 1 was a much closer affair than anyone could've imagined as, throughout the early game, the gold was pretty much even between the two teams. Everything changed at the 16-minute mark, though, when Samsung won a big 4-for-0 teamfight that kicked off an avalanche-sized snowball. Longzhu only managed to take two kills for the rest of the game while also failing to secure any objectives outside of the early Ocean Drake. While it took some time for Samsung to finally close out the game due to some cautious late game play, there was never a moment where it felt like Longzhu had any chance of coming back to win.
Once again, the early portions of Game 2 were incredibly close with both teams jockeying for position and looking for a way to make some major waves. While Longzhu held an early kill advantage, Samsung's objective focus led to an easy dragon and tower destructions galore for the veterans. Not content to let Longzhu have all the kills, Samsung cleaned up a 4-for-0 teamfight at the 21-minute mark to, much like in the first game, snowball hard into insurmountable advantages. Longzhu managed to come up with more kills in this game than in the first, but they failed to change the momentum of the game. Showing off their strong teamfighting and initiations, Samsung won the last few fights of the game to finally break into Longzhu's base, breaking it completely for the 40-minute win.
Longzhu Gaming won't have to wait long to try and get back on track with a matchup with bbq Olivers on Tuesday at 4 a.m. ET, while Samsung Galaxy will next face KT Rolster on Thursday at 7 a.m. ET.
