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Jin Air Green Wings snowballed early to sweep Ever8 Winners to kick off Week 9, Day 2 of League of Legends Champions Korea on Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea.
Jin Air (8-9, 21-19 match record) and Ever8 (2-15, 9-30 match record) brought out comfort picks across the board to craft their respective teamfighting compositions for Game 1. Both teams also followed the pattern that lower-tier LCK teams go to: Play proactively to create an early-game lead, then use multiple Baron attempts to win the game.
Jin Air moved around the map pristinely and took down objectives to build a 5,600-gold lead at the 20-minute mark. Then Jin Air took down Baron after Baron was unable to close the game due to Ever8 mid laner Park "Cepted" Wi-rim consistently hitting clutch Command: Shockwaves. It wasn't until the third Baron kill near the 39-minute mark that Cepted could no longer keep his team above water.
Game 2 was essentially the same affair for both teams. Jin Air built a solid gold lead going into the mid game, and it took two Barons for Jin Air to come out victorious. The multiple Baron grabs, though a show of Jin Air's objective control, also point to a problem.
One of the main takeaways from this series is that Jin Air lacks the late-game macro play to close out games, which is a main factor in why the team might finish just outside of playoffs. Jin Air also didn't respect Cepted's Orianna play in two games and was forced to deal with a peskier-than-usual mid laner in back-to-back games as a result.
That being said, Jin Air's ability to snowball the early game could turn into a legitimate threat against teams that need time to scale.
Ever8 Winners will return to the Rift to play MVP at 4 a.m. ET Saturday. Jin Air will play on the same day against Afreeca Freecs at 7 a.m ET.