KT Rolster 2 - Kongdoo Monster 0
KT Rolster ended Thursday in League Champions Korea with a bang when it eviscerated Kongdoo Monster in a nearly historical 2-0 sweep.
While the end result isn't terribly surprising -- you'd have been hard-pressed to find a single soul who would have backed Kongdoo Monster (2-9) to win this match -- that doesn't mean the match didn't hold some unexpected surprises. Chief among those surprises was the return of KT Rolster's (9-3) substitute mid laner to the stage, Woo-Hyun "Ucal" Son, who put up a 8/3/12 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) with two strong Azir showings. Normal starter Heo "PawN" Won-seok was nowhere to be found all night long, as KT Rolster opted to give new blood a shot. Whether this shift was planned or a result of PawN's abysmal performance against ROX Tigers (6-5) earlier in the week is unknown, but this substitution could be a harbinger of things to come considering Ucal's outstanding performance over the course of the series.
The series itself was interesting only due to how short it was. Both games saw KT Rolster acquire gold and then capitalize on major leads that it blew open with its trademark control of the early and mid game. KT Rolster might be struggling to assert its dominance against the best teams in the region, but against a team like Kongdoo, who is almost certainly headed for potential relegation, this team is still an unstoppable juggernaut. Each of KT Rolster's players was simply a cut above Kongdoo Monster, and while some teams might be capable of compensating for that deficit via clever use of tactics, it became clear quite early on in this series that Kongdoo Monster were not. With a total match time of less than an hour, KT Rolster left no question of which team was better.
KT Rolster will have a bit of a break until next Thursday when it takes on rivals SK Telecom T1 in another edition of the Telecom Wars at 3 a.m. ET, while Kongdoo Monster will take on Kingzone DragonX at 3 a.m. ET on Saturday.
--James Bates
Afreeca Freecs 2 - SKT 1
The Afreeca Freecs secured its position as one of League of Legends Champions Korea's top teams early Thursday morning after scoring a 2-1 victory against SK Telecom T1.
While most of the world considered this a matchup that could go either way, it was clear that no one had thought to inform the Afreeca Freecs (8-4) of that. Not only did Afreeca start substitute AD Carry Kim "Aiming" Ha-ram it even subbed out team captain and jungler, Lee "Spirit" Da-yoon, in favor of the far from proven Lee "Mowgli" Jae-ha. Surprisingly, the substitutions did little to inhibit the team's performance. While Mowgli was a clear downgrade from Spirit, the exuberance and aggression that Aiming brought to the first two games of the series made him look at least as good as Ha "Kramer" Jong-hun when he took to the stage earlier this week. While the two veterans did eventually return to play Game 3, the fact that they started the series on the bench makes it clear that Afreeca are set on developing its 10-man roster -- and that commitment has so far paid dividends.
On SKT's side, there was little to complain about. While it wasn't capable of taking the series, its performance was still a far cry better than the anemic showing it had the first time these two teams met this season. With some more polish, and perhaps a bit more restraint out of rookie jungler Park "Blossom" Beom-chan, it's easy to imagine this team breaking into playoff contention before the end of the season.
In particular, SKT's play around mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok was noticeably better over the course of this series, especially during its victory in Game 2. While that was ultimately not enough to take the series, it's still an obvious improvement that SKT can be proud of.
The Afreeca Freecs will take to the stage at 6 a.m. ET next Thursday against the ROX Tigers, while SK Telecom T1 will get its next chance at a victory against the Jin Air Green Wings at 3 a.m. ET on Sunday.
--James Bates