SKT 2 -- ROX Tigers 1
It might have taken a while, but SK Telecom T1 closed out the second day of the 2018 League of Legends Champions Korea Spring Split with a 2-1 win Wednesday over the ROX Tigers.
SKT's 2018 redemption tour began with a bumpy start. With the series at 1-1, the team opted to put support Lee "Wolf" Jae-wan in the jungle for the first time in the two-time World Champion's five-year career during Game 3. Wolf immediately overcommitted on Sejuani in the jungle three minutes into the game to give up first blood. His teammate's essentially brushed off the poor exchange and proceeded to run right through ROX for the next 30 minutes. From AD carry Bae "Bang" Jun-sik's 7/1/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) on Sivir to mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok's 6/0/10 KDA on Ryze, the rest of the team was firing on all cylinders to lock up this win. Even Wolf, despite his rocky start, finished with a 3/1/9 KDA, even picking up MVP honors to boot.
For all the good that SKT did in its two wins, it's worth noting that ROX picked up an incredibly dominant win in the second game of this series. ROX tormented SKT top laner Park "Untara" Ui-jin's Gangplank to the tune of a 1/6/3 KDA by the game's end. ROX secured the 31-minute win while not giving up a single tower, dragon, or Baron to SKT. While it still ended up taking a loss overall, it was a strong showing for the team nonetheless.
SKT will now turn to its matchup with Jin Air Green Wings this Saturday at 6 a.m. ET, while ROX will hope to pick up a win against next Tuesday when they take on bbq Olivers at 6 a.m. ET.
-- Wyatt Donigan
Afreeca Freecs 2 -- KT Rolster 1
Afreeca Freecs walked away with a 2-1 series win over KT Rolster on Wednesday in the LCK, accomplishing something it hadn't done since the 2016 Summer Split: beat KT Rolster. The last four meetings between the teams have ended with a 2-1 scoreline in favor of KT.
As the series developed, Afreeca looked unafraid of its competition, clearly rejuvenated from the offseason. While KT picked up first blood during each game, Afreeca never let that dictate the pace of the game. Whether it was jungler Lee "Spirit" Day-yoon coming up with a Baron steal out of nowhere or top laner Kim "Kiin" Gi-in somehow finding a 1-vs-1 kill in the face of a massive Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho engagement, Afreeca never backed down from a fight and came out all the better for it.
Speaking of Spirit, he was by far the biggest difference for Afreeca in this series. Not only was his surprise Baron steal in the first game the catalyst for Afreeca's win, but his Shyvana pick in Game 3 was a massive boon for his team. He finished with a flawless 7/0/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) in that game, as KT seemingly had no answer at all for his incredible play.
Afreeca will have a few days to bask in the glory of the win until they take on Kingzone DragonX next Tuesday at 3 a.m. ET, while KT will need to have a short memory with a matchup against against MVP on tap Saturday at 3 a.m. ET.
-- Wyatt Donigan