LCK week one results and review

LCK week one – day two

KT VS. HLE

• Winner: Hanwha Life Esports

Game 1 was a complete smash by KT, ending in over a 10K gold lead against Hanwha Life. In their convincing win over HLE, KT demonstrated their finesse in the early game, whilst switching over to strategic brute force during the mid-game.

Game 2, however, was a complete turn-a-around of HLE, as they pulled ahead in the early game with HLE’s Jungle Kim “bonO” Gi-beom securing all three early drakes as Olaf. Taking advantage of KT’s uncoordinated team fighting, HLE were able to secure the baron and close the game cleanly – demonstrating their effective mental reset in Game 2.

Despite it being 2019 LCK’s first best of three series, Game 3 wasn’t as close as one might expect. Riding on their momentum from Game 2, HLE bulldozed their way through the early game, acing KT at an incredible time of 12 minutes. Despite a close team fight over an infernal drake in which KT secure, HLE won back-to-back team fights – 5 for 0 – and eventually secured a huge win, upsetting the previous LCK winners.

GRF VS. KZ

• Winner: Griffin

Beware of a huge surge of Vladimir bots in solo-queue now, as Park “Viper” Do-hyeon made the champion seem incredibly OP in their first game against King Zone. Despite giving up first blood and dealing with a 20cs difference during the laning phase, Viper’s Vladimir returned to smash in the mid to late game. While things looked good for King Zone in the early game, their continuous greed for kills ended up backfiring and they lost their lead – along with first turret gold.

Heo “PawN” Won-seok’s consistent poor positioning in team fights got him killed frequently and Griffin translated their midgame lead into a 21-minute baron and a final push to end the game. Game 1 between these two teams showed that King Zone’s micro-victory in the early bot lane was not enough to stop the new powerhouse that is Griffin.

Game 2 was definitely a treat as Son “Lehends” Si-woo pulled out the Elise support. The unique pick was the only interesting aspect of the game, however, as Griffin demolished King Zone in a largely one-sided match. Lehend’s cocoons were also like a magnet, consistently catching King Zone’s members and punishing them for positioning mistakes. Griffin played an extremely clean and convincing series, proving themselves to be THE team to watch during this LCK Spring Split.