After another grueling three-game series to open Week 2 of League of Legends Champions Korea, KT Rolster earned a 2-1 series win over ROX Tigers on Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea.
While ROX (0-3, 2-6 match record) tried valiantly to hang with KT (2-1, 4-4 match record) in Game 1, it only managed to delay the inevitable. Things started off with KT support Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong's Thresh protecting his teammates from certain death numerous times with Dark Passages in the early game, keeping ROX at bay and allowing KT to keep on farming into the late game. ROX managed to pick up the first Baron, but KT didn't let it push for advantages of any kind before getting a Baron of its own next time around. Without much help from mid laner Sun "Mickey" Yong-min's Ahri, ROX gave up late teamfight after teamfight as KT locked up the 37-minute win.
Despite not drafting much initiation, ROX managed to control the game through decisive picks throughout Game 2, starting with two kills onto KT top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho's Kled in the early game. These kills snowballed ROX across the map, giving it a mid-game tempo advantage. Whether it was AD carry Kwon "Sangyoon" Sang-yoon's Kalista or jungler Kim "Mightybear" Min-soo's Graves, ROX had no trouble taking fights and punishing over-extensions from KT. Having full control over the game, it was only a matter of time before ROX slowly chipped away at KT's base before finishing up the 33-minute win to push it to a Game 3.
In a game that lasted far longer than it should have, KT managed to outlast ROX for the series win. While the early game was dead even, a big four-kill teamfight win for KT in the early-mid game put it in the driver's seat. Mid laner Heo "PawN" Won-seok's Viktor, who finished with a stellar 6/0/8 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), guided KT Rolster along from start to finish, taking over in a desperate-feeling late game despite KT being up over 14,000 gold near the end. PawN helped KT win almost every late-game teamfight, and, while it took three Barons and 40 minutes, ROX never had an avenue for a comeback in the KT win.