In a hard-fought series, Longzhu Gaming took out the Afreeca Freecs with a 2-1 victory on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea to finish up Week 4 of League of Legends Champions Korea.
In an opening game filled with aces galore, Longzhu (6-2, 14-6 match record) used its unconventional pick of Mordekaiser for top laner Kim "Khan" Dong-ha to outlast Afreeca. After a slow early game with scattered kills traded back-and-forth, the midgame saw both teams look to break ahead, each securing a Baron. The only problem was that, immediately after a team secured the Baron, the other team came up with an immediate ace to neutralize the buff, leaving things at a complete stand still going into the late stages of the game. Afreeca (4-4, 12-11 match record) figured that a second Baron would put it on top but was immediately aced for a second time by Longzhu as it waltzed right into Afreeca's base and picked up the 46-minute win.
In a more standard Game 2, Longzhu was on the back foot from the draft as it allowed Afreeca to pick up Xayah and Rakan in the bottom lane, and Kassadin for mid laner Lee "Kuro" Seo-haeng. These picks ended up telling the story for Afreeca in the end. The teams traded kills early on before Afreeca began its snowball with three kills in the mid lane at 12 minutes. Things settled into a lull from then on, with just four kills between both teams until Afreeca picked up three kills to give way to a 33-minute Baron. Kuro came up big in these final fights, picking up three kills in the final six minutes of the game for a 5/0/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) that helped lock up the 37-minute win to force Game 3.
Despite drafting champions with plenty of engage tools in Game 2, Afreeca couldn't push for any major advantages in the early game. Longzhu managed to come away with the first two towers by 20 minutes, while neither team had established itself in terms of kills. By 25 minutes, there was only four kills between both teams, although Longzhu quickly changed that. Longzhu picked up three quick kills at the 27-minute mark to open up a window for a Baron secure. While it lost three members shortly after picking up the Baron, it still managed to make the most of the buff with four kills as the buff was expiring. Afreeca tried to make some moves to get back in it a few minutes later, but Longzhu quickly shut that down with three more kills to close out the 36-minute win.
Both teams will be back in action next Wednesday, with Longzhu facing Samsung Galaxy at 4 a.m. ET and Afreeca taking on the Jin Air Green Wings at 7 a.m. ET.