KT 2 -- Afreeca 0
KT Rolster easily toppled the Afreeca Freecs on Sunday to close out the 2018 League Champions Korea Spring Split.
While there was no way that KT (13-5) could overtake Afreeca (13-5) in the standings due to map differential, this was one last chance to prove it is the strongest iteration of the team we have seen. Not only did KT show off its strengths, but it put the rest of the LCK on notice heading into the playoffs.
Sunday marked the much-anticipated debut of KT jungler Lee "Rush" Yoon-jae, who spent most of his competitive career in the North American League Championship Series with Cloud9. While he didn't have the greatest showing, finishing with just a 1/3/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) across both games, he was never a liability. If anything, it cemented the fact that KT had a reliable backup for Go "Score" Dong-bin.
KT demonstrated another ace-in-the-hole in the form of mid laner Son "Ucal" Woo-hyeon. Despite only playing in 25 percent of KT's games this spring, he played with the poise and skill of an accomplished veteran, winning MVP awards in both games. His Ryze in Game 1 and Swain in Game 2 were used perfectly to pick up early leads for his team. His overwhelming pressure in the mid lane easily spilled into the side lanes and allowed KT to hold off Afreeca whenever it tried to gain any sort of momentum. Afreeca may have put up a bit of a fight in the first game, but by the time Game 2 rolled around, KT broke the spirit of Afreeca, leading to a perfect game to close out the series.
Both teams will now have a bit of a wait until it's time to take the stage in the playoffs. KT Rolster will face the winner of the wildcard match between SK Telecom T1 and KSV eSports at 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday while Afreeca will face the winner of that series the following Sunday at 4 a.m. ET.
--Wyatt Donigan
SKT 2 -- Kongdoo 1
It wasn't pretty, but SK Telecom T1 took down Kongdoo Monster in a 2-1 victory on Sunday to secure its spot in the playoffs.
With SKT (9-9) needing a win against the last-place Kongdoo (2-16) to qualify, many expected it to walk all over the opposition. While it may have picked up the win in the end, it was an incredible struggle that shows the team has plenty to work on going into the postseason.
Game 1 saw Kongdoo on the offensive with two kills, putting SKT in retreat mode early on. SKT AD carry Bae "Bang" Jun-sik saved the day with his Xayah picking up three kills in four minutes during the mid game to stabilize the team. That was the spark needed that allowed SKT to grab all the momentum and lock up the fairly easy win.
Despite having series momentum, however, everything almost unraveled for SKT in the final two games. Both games saw Kongdoo continue its early game pressure with kills and objective secures to keep SKT feeling uncomfortable. In Game 2, Kongdoo managed to leverage this early pressure into all-around map control for a blazing-fast 29-minute win.
Game 3 followed the same script as Kongdoo went up by 2,000 gold by 23 minutes. Feeling the game start to slip away, SKT came up with a big 2-for-0 teamfight win in the mid lane that opened the window just wide enough for the team to start gaining control of the game. At that point, the veteran presence of SKT took over as it steamrolled past Kongdoo with nine kills in the final five minutes of the 36-minute affair.
SKT will now look towards the first round of the playoffs at 4 a.m. ET next Saturday where it will face KSV eSports in a 2017 World Championship rematch. Meanwhile, Kongdoo will begin preparation for the Summer Promotion in a few weeks.
--Wyatt Donigan