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MVP completed a razor-thin, 2-1 reverse sweep against the Jin Air Green Wings on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea to open Week 8, Day 5 of League of Legends Champions Korea.
This was a series that Jin Air (7-9, 18-19 match record) could have certainly used to keep pushing ahead towards the playoffs. While the loss doesn't necessarily make it impossible for the team to qualify for the playoff gauntlet, it ensures that Jin Air's destiny is mostly in the hands of the team it trails, the Afreeca Freecs (8-7, 22-19 match record). On the flip side, the win for MVP (5-12, 11-26 match record) was crucial in its battle to stave off relegation in the last couple weeks of the season.
As for the series itself, it was a close battle between these teams filled with missed opportunities and miscues on both sides that MVP ultimately came out on top of. Even though it eventually picked up the win, MVP struggled immensely in doing so, since it managed to set up bad initiation after bad initiation in the first two games of this series. Whenever it seemed like MVP was going to make a turn for the better, it engaged in battle with Jin Air and was summarily picked apart in teamfights. This is what ultimately led to its loss in Game 1, and it almost led to a loss in Game 2. The saving grace for MVP in the second game was simply that Jin Air was even more disjointed in its efforts to brawl. In the late game fights that mattered, Jin Air engaged separately, never acting on the same page. In the final game, MVP simply drafted a powerful scaling composition, eventually dealing too much damage for Jin Air to do anything at all, disjointed or not.
By far, the MVP of the series for MVP was support Jeong "Max" Jong-bin. His play on Rakan in the first two games of this series was impeccable, and it was his Baron steal with the Charmer that almost threatened to bring Game 1 back for his team. He then outdid himself with a 0/1/14 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) performance in Game 2, pushing his team towards victory with beautiful Grand Entrances. While he didn't get the game MVP in the final game, his play on Thresh was certainly a boon to his lane partner, AD carry Oh "MaHa" Hyun-sik, who did pick up the MVP with his ferocious 9/1/10 performance on Kog'Maw.
Jin Air will be back in action against Ever8 Winners on Wednesday at 4 a.m. ET, while MVP takes on the Afreeca Freecs the same day at 7 a.m. ET.