Despite losing the first game of the series, The ROX Tigers were able to record its first win of the split by defeating Kongdoo Monster on Thursday.
In Game 1, jungler Son "Punch" Min-hyeok got Kongdoo started with a first blood on Elise only five minutes into the game. While ROX rallied from there to earn a slight gold lead, Kongdoo's methodical, slow-paced game chipped at its opposition's resolve before snowballing late into into a win at just under 42 minutes. Kongdoo's AD Carry Jin-sol "SSol" Seo was the MVP of the game, tallying a 6/0/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) on Jhin and downing four towers in the big win.
Whereas the first game was very much a slow burn, the second was a powder keg that exploded about 12 minutes in. Kongdoo looked poised to coast to a 2-0 victory after Punch got three kills on ROX's mid laner Sun "Mickey" Young-min within the first 10 minutes. But the Tigers' ADC, Gwon "Sangyoon" Sang-yun, kicked off an extended teamfight with a nice Enchanted Crystal Arrow that locked down Kongdoo and netted four kills to the Monster's zero. From then on, ROX completely dominated on its way to a 32-minute victory; ROX amassed 20 kills to only five deaths.
Game 3 started as an even tug-of-war. Each team opted to farm for the majority of the early game until 11 minutes in where there was a quick teamfight that ended up being a two-for-two. Momentum swung back and forth between the two teams before ROX used a 4-for-0 teamfight to lock up the Baron, take a gold lead, and march to a 38-minute victory.