MVP's return from Rift Rivals to League of Legends Champions Korea started strong on Tuesday, but Longzhu Gaming came back to win 2-1 to start Week 6 in Seoul, South Korea
The hybrid teamfighting composition trend in the LCK continued in both teams' drafts, with one key difference. Corki was selected to be the hypercarry mid laner for MVP (2-9, 5-19 match record), a tactic that was shown at Rift Rivals. After some long pauses, both teams were eager to fight, leading to an even game through the first 15 minutes. MVP built a 2,000-gold lead in the next five minutes by taking down towers, giving it the map control to consistently threaten Baron. MVP eventually slayed Baron near the 25-minute mark and cracked open Longzhu's base, eventually taking down one Longzhu Nexus tower. After a second Baron at 33-minutes didn't yield any major gains for MVP, both teams danced around each other without fighting, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. MVP managed to close the game out after wiping four Longzhu members off the map near the Baron, closing out the 42-minute win.
The draft was essentially the same for MVP in Game 2, but Longzhu went for a more splitpush-focused lineup. Through stronger teamfighting and a renewed focus on early game objectives, Longzhu came out with 5,000-gold lead at the 20-minute mark, overwhelming MVP. Longzhu continued to play well throughout the game, taking a 20-minute Baron further increasing its lead. Longzhu slowed the game down after the Baron buff wore off, biding its time and waiting for an opportunity to end the game. That opportunity came at 28 minutes as a quick collapse in the mid lane led to four dead members of MVP, giving Longzhu a decisive Game 2 win.
Both went back to the teamfighting playstyles for Game 3, which only served to show that Longzhu was simply better than MVP throughout the early game. A six-kill lead for Longzhu around 20 minutes in translated to a 4,000-gold lead which only got bigger later into the match. MVP attempted a desperate teamfight to stop the game from slipping out of its fingers, but it only earned a kill while Longzhu took three kills and a Baron. Longzhu utilized its Baron buff to break down two inhibitors, only further putting itself further ahead of MVP. In another lightning-fast game, Longzhu dove into the MVP base, acing its opposition and ending the game in 28 minutes to close out the series.
Longzhu Gaming will return to the Rift to play bbq Olivers on Thursday at 4 a.m. ET, while MVP will look to find a win against ROX Tigers on Sunday at 4 a.m. ET.