The Recap: OGN Week 3
Riot·3/31/2014, 10:46:51 PM·0 votes·1,141 views
The third week of OGN Champions Spring 2014 brought us a stack of highly-anticipated matches, as many teams fought to keep their championship dreams alive. With the All-Stars week of Masters running alongside Champions, spectators were treated to a beautiful contrast of intense, tactical games as well as a handful of relaxed, fun games. Samsung Ozone and CJ Entus Frost played for Group B's first seed, while Incredible Miracle #1 had their Champions run cut short. Yet, the biggest story out of Week 3 came in the form of one particular telecommunications war.
For the KT Arrows and SK Telecom T1 K, a 2:0 victory in Week 3 would punch a ticket to the bracket stage of Champions Spring. T1 K came out strong, drafting an unorthodox composition featuring two recently-ignored picks in Karthus and Corki. However, a dual global strategy was employed by the Arrows, helmed by another unusual pick in Nocturne. KT A would proceed to pick on T1 K's weak laning, dismantling their map control and obtaining a hard-fought win in Game 1.
An intelligent draft by KT A in Game 2 prevented T1 K's poke composition from ever leaving the ground, as they initiated fights from all angles to deny the incumbent champions of any opportunity to lay siege to objectives. For the first time in six months, T1 K were defeated. With their tournament hopes now riding on the miniscule chance of their sister team T1 S losing 0:2 to the struggling Prime Optimus, it may be a safe call at this point in time to say that they have failed in the group stage of Champions. The KT Arrows will go down in history as the team that ended the incredible winning streak of one of the greatest teams to ever play League of Legends.
After a few quiet seasons in the top lane, Save has finally found his stride in Champions Spring. With an incredible performance in Game 2 of Shield's set versus CJ Entus Blaze, Save showed an incredible mastery of Renekton as he snowballed his natural lane advantage against Flame's Shyvana into an avalanche, pressuring Flame while also roaming to pick up kills in other lanes. Given the recent success of his teammates Watch and Ggoong, Save may be the final piece that Shield needs to take a championship.
Score
KT Rolster fans have been wondering for a while when the Score of seasons past would return – the Score that would carry his team with zero backline protection, positioning perfectly during fights and never dying. They would find out as the Immortal Score made his return in Game 2 against NaJin Black Sword, in which he brought back a pick not sighted in Korea for a while in Kog'Maw. Sword's frontline of Dr. Mundo and Lee Sin could not even scratch Score as he vomited ooze all over the NaJin team.
KaKAO
Making good on his promise to “obliterate the [SK Telecom T1] organisation”, KaKAO managed to shut down Bengi's Evelynn - once as Nocturne and once as Lee Sin, denying T1 K of the smooth early game that they had snowballed into victory for the better part of a year. KaKAO's name is certainly in the conversation for the best jungler in Korea at the moment, and his progress in the bracket stage should be followed.
After winning two consecutive seasons of OGN Champions, as well as the Season 3 World Championship on the side, SK Telecom T1 K have to be considered the biggest disappointment of Week 3, if not Champions Spring as a whole. The warning signs were plastered across T1 K's play for the last few weeks, with only one real clean win in the group stage to their name, against their sister team T1 S. Their other victories were scrappy and unnatural for a team of their calibre, and their losses were even more unexpected.
The road to recovery will be a harsh one for T1 K, but it must be remembered that a team does not become world champion by pure accident. Faker remains Korea's best mid laner, while Impact and Piglet have performed relatively consistently this season. In sports, disappointment always comes hand-in-hand with surprise, and spectators should be excited beyond belief for one of the most competitive seasons of Champions in over a year.
Games of the Week
KT Arrows vs. SK Telecom T1 K
For the KT Arrows and SK Telecom T1 K, a 2:0 victory in Week 3 would punch a ticket to the bracket stage of Champions Spring. T1 K came out strong, drafting an unorthodox composition featuring two recently-ignored picks in Karthus and Corki. However, a dual global strategy was employed by the Arrows, helmed by another unusual pick in Nocturne. KT A would proceed to pick on T1 K's weak laning, dismantling their map control and obtaining a hard-fought win in Game 1.
An intelligent draft by KT A in Game 2 prevented T1 K's poke composition from ever leaving the ground, as they initiated fights from all angles to deny the incumbent champions of any opportunity to lay siege to objectives. For the first time in six months, T1 K were defeated. With their tournament hopes now riding on the miniscule chance of their sister team T1 S losing 0:2 to the struggling Prime Optimus, it may be a safe call at this point in time to say that they have failed in the group stage of Champions. The KT Arrows will go down in history as the team that ended the incredible winning streak of one of the greatest teams to ever play League of Legends.
Players of the Week
Save
After a few quiet seasons in the top lane, Save has finally found his stride in Champions Spring. With an incredible performance in Game 2 of Shield's set versus CJ Entus Blaze, Save showed an incredible mastery of Renekton as he snowballed his natural lane advantage against Flame's Shyvana into an avalanche, pressuring Flame while also roaming to pick up kills in other lanes. Given the recent success of his teammates Watch and Ggoong, Save may be the final piece that Shield needs to take a championship.
Score
KT Rolster fans have been wondering for a while when the Score of seasons past would return – the Score that would carry his team with zero backline protection, positioning perfectly during fights and never dying. They would find out as the Immortal Score made his return in Game 2 against NaJin Black Sword, in which he brought back a pick not sighted in Korea for a while in Kog'Maw. Sword's frontline of Dr. Mundo and Lee Sin could not even scratch Score as he vomited ooze all over the NaJin team.
KaKAO
Making good on his promise to “obliterate the [SK Telecom T1] organisation”, KaKAO managed to shut down Bengi's Evelynn - once as Nocturne and once as Lee Sin, denying T1 K of the smooth early game that they had snowballed into victory for the better part of a year. KaKAO's name is certainly in the conversation for the best jungler in Korea at the moment, and his progress in the bracket stage should be followed.
Disappointment of the Week
SK Telecom T1 K
After winning two consecutive seasons of OGN Champions, as well as the Season 3 World Championship on the side, SK Telecom T1 K have to be considered the biggest disappointment of Week 3, if not Champions Spring as a whole. The warning signs were plastered across T1 K's play for the last few weeks, with only one real clean win in the group stage to their name, against their sister team T1 S. Their other victories were scrappy and unnatural for a team of their calibre, and their losses were even more unexpected.
The road to recovery will be a harsh one for T1 K, but it must be remembered that a team does not become world champion by pure accident. Faker remains Korea's best mid laner, while Impact and Piglet have performed relatively consistently this season. In sports, disappointment always comes hand-in-hand with surprise, and spectators should be excited beyond belief for one of the most competitive seasons of Champions in over a year.
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