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It took longer than expected, but Afreeca Freecs eventually picked up a 2-1 victory over bbq Olivers on Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea, to close out Week 7, Day 1 in League of Legends Champions Korea.
Bbq Olivers (3-10, 9-22 match record) came into the first game of this series with a high-damage composition and used it to great effect. Jungler Choi "Bless" Hyeon-woong's Elise was the leader early on, with three kills by the 10-minute mark.
As the game progressed, Afreeca (8-5, 21-15 match record) seemed unable to find solid initiations for its teamfighting draft, and the team was punished by bbq at every turn. Afreeca managed to prolong this game for 40 minutes, but it never felt as though it had a chance of overcoming bbq. Once bbq picked up its second Baron to go along with four dragons -- including a whopping three Infernal Drakes and an Elder Dragon -- it came away with a commanding Game 1 win.
With a head full of steam, bbq came right into Game 2 with another high-damage composition and immediately got to work once again. Once things crossed the 16-minute mark, bbq was up by 3,000 gold and looked to be coasting to another win. Afreeca did not go quietly this time, though.
After finding a few picks throughout the midgame, Afreeca picked up a Baron at 32 minutes and then followed that up with a 3-for-0 teamfight that flipped the game on its head and gave the Freecs an Elder Dragon and Game 2 win. Afreeca support Bak "TusiN" Jong-ik's Rakan posted a 0/0/10 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) and tilted late-game fights with clutch use of his ultimate, Grand Entrance, to help his team get the win.
The final game of this series went as expected going into the matchup. Afreeca trounced bbq from start to finish. After picking up the first blood just three minutes in, it was off to the races. Afreeca then parlayed its lead into a 4-for-0 teamfight at 11 minutes that all but ended the game. It owned a 7-to-1 kill advantage at that point, and bbq didn't have the damage to combat the offensive onslaught from Afreeca. A 22-minute Baron was the final piece to the puzzle in this 25-minute win.
Afreeca has KT Rolster next up on the schedule at 4 a.m. ET on Sunday, and bbq will face LCK-leading Samsung Galaxy at 7 a.m. on Thursday.