Gen.G 2, Jin Air 0
Gen.G wrapped up Friday's slate in League Champions Korea with a convincing 2-0 sweep over the Jin Air Green Wings.
Toward the end of Week 3 in the LCK, Jin Air (0-8) has failed to win a series. While there was certainly no hope at victory against a red-hot Gen.G (6-1) squad in this series, this was still a rough performance all around from Jin Air.
Despite the end result, Jin Air did manage to secure early advantages in both games, only to have them quickly slip away once Gen.G decided to flip the switch. Both leads came from the top side of the map as Jin Air jungler Eom "UmTi" Seong-hyeon made a concerted effort to put pressure on the top lane early and often. In what has become a trend for Jin Air, though, these advantages never translated to any other portion of the map and never actually gave the team any sort of momentum. It simply seemed as though Jin Air were going through the motions before being dominated by Gen.G.
Indeed, Gen.G demonstrated better execution of its game plan and an overall stronger macro execution than Jin Air did throughout this series. In Game 1, it was biding its time before being able to secure the Baron, giving top laner Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin the resources needed to splitpush Jin Air to death with his Kennen. In Game 2, it was weathering the early storm of kills from Jin Air before once again taking the only Baron of the game that gave it everything needed for victory. After experiencing some rough patches during the Spring Split, Gen.G looks to be fully back on the horse and ready for another deep run this summer.
Gen.G takes on the Afreeca Freecs at 4 a.m. ET Sunday, and Jin Air hope to finally win a series against the also winless bbq Olivers at 4 a.m. ET on Thursday.
--Wyatt Donigan
Afreeca 2, MVP 0
Afreeca Freecs ran through MVP in a 2-0 sweep during Friday's League of Legends action in Seoul.
Although Afreeca (5-2) and MVP (3-4) came into this series separated by just a single game in the standings, Afreeca was miles ahead of MVP in every aspect of the game. It didn't matter if Afreeca was going with the increasingly popular funnel strategy or a more traditional game plan -- it did whatever it wanted and picked up the easy win.
Credit to MVP, however, as it opened the series by heavily focusing Afreeca top laner Kim "Kiin" Gi-in, handing his Darius a pair of deaths in the opening minutes of the game that threatened to derail Afreeca's funnel. Afreeca seemed unfazed by the early deficit in the top lane, though, as it kept on funneling resources to AD carry Kim "Aiming" Ha-ram, who eventually grew into a late-game monster and shut the door on MVP with a quadrakill in the final fight.
Game 1 broke MVP's will, as Afreeca waltzed to a 38-minute win that saw it finish with a 14-to-1 advantage in kills and 10-to-2 advantage in towers. MVP floundered in every lane and simply looked unsure of what to do from the very start, which allowed Afreeca to easily take its time and methodically pick MVP apart in the win.
Afreeca has now rebounded from two losses in Week 2 with a pair of strong showings. Meanwhile, MVP, despite starting the season 3-2, is on a two-game losing streak.
Things don't get any easier for MVP as it'll take on KT Rolster at 7 a.m. ET Sunday. Afreeca will face Gen.G in the preceding game at 4 a.m. ET.
--Wyatt Donigan