MVP 2 -- bbq Olivers 0
MVP closed out Saturday's slate in League of Legends Champions Korea with its first 2-0 win of the 2018 Spring Split against the bbq Olivers.
After losing its first five series this year without picking up a single game win, MVP is now 2-1 in its last three games and looking stronger than ever. While the win against a struggling SK Telecom T1 was a nice starting point, Saturday's series against bbq truly showed off the growth of this team.
While the early game of the opening frame was incredibly rough, MVP simply weathered the storm to come away with the win. Bbq jumped out to a massive lead on the back of 10 kills and a Baron, while MVP didn't pick up a kill for itself until 34 minutes in. That kill, however, gave MVP all the hope needed to pull back into the game. Just a few minutes after its first kill, MVP found a clutch Baron secure that led right into an ace, powered by a triple kill from mid laner An "Ian" Jun-hyeong's Azir. With the ace and Baron buff in hand, MVP marched right into the bbq base to close out the win.
If executing a flawless comeback victory in Game 1 was impressive, MVP one-upped itself with a dominant Game 2 win in just under 24 minutes. Rather than let bbq gain momentum with an early lead as in the first game, MVP was decisive from the start, holding bbq to just a single kill and Ocean Drake in the lightning fast win. Time will tell if MVP's newfound dominance will stay, but the team is on an upward trajectory at the moment.
MVP will look for a second straight victory when it faces the ROX Tigers at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 21, while bbq will try and halt its four-game skid with a matchup against Kingzone DragonX at 3 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22.
--Wyatt Donigan
Kingzone DragonX 2 -- Jin Air Green Wings0
Kingzone DragonX took another 2-0 victory on Saturday in League of the Legends Champions Korea, this time taking down Jin Air Green Wings.
Kingzone may have gotten the sweep to extend its winstreak to 14 games, but this was far from the usual dominance we see from this team. It opened up the series by winning one of the oddest games we've ever seen in League of Legends. While the meta is certainly geared towards the late-game, this game cranked that up to 11 with an incredibly passive game that saw an Elder Dragon secure before a first blood, which didn't come until 39 minutes in. As the game progressed, it looked like Jin Air's late-game siege composition was going to end Kingzone's streak, but mid laner Gawk "Bdd" Bo-seong wasn't having any of it. He showed up with a massive, and timely, quadra kill that stopped Jin Air 237 HP short of razing Kingzone's Nexus. That was all Kingzone needed to march down and win the game shortly after.
The razor thin loss seemed to do Jin Air in, as it couldn't muster much of an offense or defense in the final game. Kingzone decided it was time to end things and simply bled Jin Air out of resources before farming up enough to secure the 42-minute win to finish up the sweep. While Kingzone didn't exactly keep its streak alive in the cleanest way possible, it showed that it can win games in just about any way possible and is still the team to beat in the LCK.
With the LCK taking a week off for the Lunar Year Holiday, fans will have to wait a bit longer for these teams to get back in action. Kingzone will return at 3 a.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 22 to face bbq Olivers, while Jin Air will take on the Afreeca Freecs at 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
--Wyatt Donigan