Gen.G 2-0 MVP
Gen.G picked up a clean 2-0 sweep over MVP on Sunday during the final day of Week 1 in League Champions Korea.
Flying in the face of one of the wildest metas in recent memory, Gen.G managed to improve to a 3-0 record with AD Carry Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk sticking to traditional marksman champions. While he didn't take over in Game 1 with Ashe, Ruler absolutely showed off with Ezreal in the final game of the series. Not only did he put up a 3/0/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) in the 24-minute win, he poured on a game-high 15,572 damage to go along with it, showing that it is indeed possible to stick with tried and true champions in the current meta.
While Ruler managed to push his team to an easy victory in Game 2, the opening game was anything but easy. Despite securing both Barons and three of four dragons, it took Gen.G 41 minutes to put away a feisty MVP. Gen.G looked to have gone ahead for good in the mid game when it picked up its first Baron, but it simply couldn't shake off the jungle/mid lane duo of Kim "Yondu" Kyu-seok's Master Yi and An "Ian" Jun-hyeong's Taric. The pair continually led MVP to teamfight wins to stall the game as long as possible, but Gen.G jungler Kang "Haru" Min-seung's Taliyah put an end to the game with a double kill that led to a 4-for-0 teamfight. It may not have been the cleanest win, but Gen.G easily recovered in Game 2 thanks to Ruler, and is now sitting atop the LCK at the conclusion of Week 1.
Gen.G will take on Hanwha Life Esports at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday, while MVP will try and bounce back against SK Telecom T1 at 4 a.m. ET on the same day.
--Wyatt Donigan
Hanwha 2-0 Jin Air
The first week of the League Champions Korea summer split came to an end with Hanwha Life eSports picking up a 2-0 victory over the Jin Air Green Wings on Sunday in Seoul.
In Game 1, Jin Air Green Wings (0-3) decided to run the resource funnel composition of Karthus and Nunu, but Hanwha Life eSports had the answers to it. Hanwha drafted two champions that could easily dodge Requiem in Vladimir and Fizz, as well as Tahm Kench, who can protect a teammate by Devouring them. Jin Air Green Wings' mid laner Lee "Grace" Chan-ju had some early success on Karthus but, once members of Hanwha Life eSports (2-1) bought Stopwatches and Zhonya's Hourglasses, it became extremely difficult for him to secure kills. Soon, it was Hanwha Life winning teamfights and knocking down turrets as it marched across the Rift to secure a 1-0 lead, easily dismantling Jin Air.
Hanwha Life had a slow start in Game 2, as Jin Air was the first to roam the map as a squad, winning skirmishes and taking the early gold lead. Jin Air's gold lead was mainly thanks to top laner Kim "SoHwan" Jun-yeong's Renekton that enjoyed a level advantage for most of the laning phase, bullying his matchup in the way that Renekton tends to do. Despite this, while Jin Air managed to hang on to its small gold lead for most of the game, they struggled again in late game teamfights. Simply put, it just didn't have enough damage to deal with the squad of bruisers that Hanwha Life drafted. After Hanwha won a 4-vs-5 teamfight and went on a huge Baron power play, there was little to no chance for Jin Air Green Wings to come back.
Jin Air Green Wings look to bounce back against Griffin on Wednesday at 1 a.m. ET, followed by Hanwha Life eSports facing off with Gen.G at 5 a.m. ET later that day.
--Ben Wong