Kingzone 2, Afreeca Freecs 0
Kingzone DragonX proved that its struggles over the last week were nothing but a fluke when it smashed the Afreeca Freecs in a 2-0 sweep on Saturday during the 2018 League of Legends Champions Korea Summer Split.
Afreeca's defeat at the hands of Kingzone (10-5) was one of the organization's worst losses in a split that was meant to be its to lose. There was almost nothing to be proud of on the side of the Freecs (8-7), with only an outstanding performance by AD carry Kim "Aiming" Ha-ram's Kai'sa in Game 2 saving the side from complete embarrassment. In many ways, Aiming's success is even more damning, as its difficult to lose a game where Kai'sa finds five kills in the first 15 minutes; a number of tactical blunders and uncoordinated rotations from Afreeca scuttled what should have been a sure victory.
The man responsible for exploiting so many of Afreeca's unforced errors was Kingzone jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho, whose return to form has paralleled the return of tank junglers to the LCK. Peanut's Zac rushed Afreeca to an early grave in Game 1, as he used Elastic Slingshot masterfully to initiate fights from angles that the Freecs were not ready to defend from. His Sejuani in Game 2 was no less clutch, and his great patience with the Glacial Prison was they key to shutting down Aiming's Kai'sa, which the Afreeca Freecs were unable to survive without. Peanut's MVP across both games was well-earned, as there's not doubt that he was the most crucial piece of Kingzone's total victory.
Kingzone DragonX move on to play against Hanwha Life Esports at 7 a.m. ET on Tuesday, while the Afreeca Freecs will face off against SK Telecom T1 at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
-- James Bates
Griffin 2, MVP 0
Griffin crushed MVP in an entertaining (if not competitive) 2-0 series on Saturday to maintain its position atop the League of Legends Champions Korea standings.
What was supposed to be a routine series ended up being history in the making. An unfortunate miscalculation by Griffin (11-4) in Game 2 forced AD carry Park "Viper" Do-hyeon onto Teemo in the bottom lane -- a champion that has only ever been accidentally picked in the history of the LCK, and never won. While there's no way to argue that VIper's Teemo pick positively contributed to his team's success in any way -- his only role seemed to be to clear bottom lane endlessly via Noxious Traps -- the rest of Griffin did everything in their power to ensure this unfortunate lock-in didn't drag the rest of the team down.
A breathtaking performance from Griffin jungler Lee "Tarzan" Seung-yong ensured that the team continued the beatdown that began with a dominant and uneventful Game 1, Teemo or not. MVP (4-11) predictably looked to exploit the accidental pick from Griffin, but every time it did so Tarzan was there, ready to make sure any play MVP made blew up in its face. What should have been a difficult game for Griffin quickly turned into yet another easy victory, as the synergy between Tarzan's monstrously fed Sejuani and mid-laner Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon's equally fed Yasuo meant that Griffin were able to win without a bottom lane. Thanks to this performance, Griffin now hold the dubious honor of being one of the few teams in the history of Korean League of Legends to actually win a game with Teemo.
Team Griffin's next match will be held at 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday against the Jin Air Green Wings, while MVP looks ahead to a tough matchup with Hanwha Life Esports at 4 a.m. ET on Thursday.