The Recap: OGN Week 4
Riot·4/7/2014, 11:05:33 PM·0 votes·1,210 views
Week 4 of OGN Champions Spring was supposed to be the last week of the group stage. Alas, that was not to be as CJ Entus Blaze and NaJin White Shield swept their opponents to set up a tiebreaker for the first seed in Group D. The real shocker from this past week, though, comes from Group A. After SK Telecom T1 K suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the KT Rolster Arrows in Week 3, they looked dead in the water. PRIME Optimus had to sweep SK Telecom T1 S to set up a second place tiebreaker and breathe new life into T1 K's playoff chances. In what is the most shocking upset of the season, PRIME did just that, and now we have a true fratricide of a tiebreaker in Group A as T1 S battles T1 K for the second seed in Group A.
Both games between PRIME Optimus and SK Telecom T1 S earn Game of the Week nods in Week 4 due to how surprising they were. T1 S had a simple task: take a game off of a team that hadn't won a single game in Champions, and they were in the bracket stage of the tournament. They completely failed thanks to PRIME Optimus pulling out Jax for top laner Hanlabong. In both games, Hanlabong completely dominated his counterpart, MaRin. On top of that, jungler H0R0 was unable to settle in and be the major bridge that T1 S has leaned on to get them into the late game where they are arguably the fiercest team in Korea.
NaJin Black Sword vs. Samsung Galaxy Blue
Week 4 was heart-rending for NaJin Black Sword fans. They fell 2-0 to Samsung Galaxy Blue, and straight back into NLB for the fourth straight time. The games themselves were the Heart show. Samsung Blue's support played Thresh in both games, and was throwing lanterns, hooks, and everything in-between to help his teammates. Heart was able to single-handedly turn several dicey engagements into decisive wins for the team. He even earned one MVP for the series with a monster 1/0/19 performance. The exceptional play of Heart and the rest of Samsung Galaxy Blue secured the first seed coming out of Group C for the team.
CJ Entus Blaze had to sweep Xenics Storm to secure another chance at the first seed in Group D, and they rode their lop laner, Flame, to do it. Storm decided to let Flame have Ryze, and it was a punishing decision. While most professional Ryze's don't spike until the 25th or 26th minute which coincides with the completion and stacking of a Rod of Ages and a Seraph's Embrace, Flame sliced three minutes off of that time by having not only both of those items at 23 minutes, but also a Glacial Shroud as well. The enormous early lead turned Flame into an unstoppable killing machine which CJ Blaze utilized to secure their sweep and a shot at that coveted No. 1seed.
Baek "Save" Young-Jin
NaJin White Shield played the last series of the group stage in OGN Champions Spring knowing that they had to sweep Incredible Miracle #2 if they wanted another chance at the No. 1 seed in Group D after Blaze swept Xenics Storm earlier in Week 4. It fell to Save to pull White Shield back into Game 1 against IM#2. While IM#2 had a solid lead, it was Save being an annoyance on Shyvana via a split-push that broke the IM momentum. NaJin White Shield was able to claw their way back into it and eventually pull out a Game 1 win.
Game Two was much the same. Save played Jax and turned into a split-pushing titan very quickly. Shield didn't fall nearly as far behind in this game, but it was Save that undid IM #2. The pair of performances earned Save MVPs from both of the games, and he is actually tied atop the Champions Spring MVP standings as they sit.
NaJin Black Sword
NaJin Black Sword had been riding fairly high recently. All of the strife that plagued the team in Champions Winter had appeared to be ironed out, and they looked like a legitimate threat to make the bracket stage. Sword's shot-calling and overall awareness had been improved by the addition of Helios in the jungle. There was some consternation that Sword drew into one of the tough groups in Champions Spring, but the team was riding high due to several impressive performances in the SK Telecom LTE-A Masters tournament. Unfortunately, all of those good feelings have turned to ash following their 2-0 loss to Samsung Galaxy Blue. NaJin Black Sword is back in NLB once again, and they'll almost certainly have to win Champions Summer if they want to make a repeat trip to the World Championship.
Games of the Week
PRIME Optimus vs. SK Telecom T1 S
Both games between PRIME Optimus and SK Telecom T1 S earn Game of the Week nods in Week 4 due to how surprising they were. T1 S had a simple task: take a game off of a team that hadn't won a single game in Champions, and they were in the bracket stage of the tournament. They completely failed thanks to PRIME Optimus pulling out Jax for top laner Hanlabong. In both games, Hanlabong completely dominated his counterpart, MaRin. On top of that, jungler H0R0 was unable to settle in and be the major bridge that T1 S has leaned on to get them into the late game where they are arguably the fiercest team in Korea.
NaJin Black Sword vs. Samsung Galaxy Blue
Week 4 was heart-rending for NaJin Black Sword fans. They fell 2-0 to Samsung Galaxy Blue, and straight back into NLB for the fourth straight time. The games themselves were the Heart show. Samsung Blue's support played Thresh in both games, and was throwing lanterns, hooks, and everything in-between to help his teammates. Heart was able to single-handedly turn several dicey engagements into decisive wins for the team. He even earned one MVP for the series with a monster 1/0/19 performance. The exceptional play of Heart and the rest of Samsung Galaxy Blue secured the first seed coming out of Group C for the team.
Players of the week
Lee "Flame" Ho-Jong
CJ Entus Blaze had to sweep Xenics Storm to secure another chance at the first seed in Group D, and they rode their lop laner, Flame, to do it. Storm decided to let Flame have Ryze, and it was a punishing decision. While most professional Ryze's don't spike until the 25th or 26th minute which coincides with the completion and stacking of a Rod of Ages and a Seraph's Embrace, Flame sliced three minutes off of that time by having not only both of those items at 23 minutes, but also a Glacial Shroud as well. The enormous early lead turned Flame into an unstoppable killing machine which CJ Blaze utilized to secure their sweep and a shot at that coveted No. 1seed.
Baek "Save" Young-Jin
NaJin White Shield played the last series of the group stage in OGN Champions Spring knowing that they had to sweep Incredible Miracle #2 if they wanted another chance at the No. 1 seed in Group D after Blaze swept Xenics Storm earlier in Week 4. It fell to Save to pull White Shield back into Game 1 against IM#2. While IM#2 had a solid lead, it was Save being an annoyance on Shyvana via a split-push that broke the IM momentum. NaJin White Shield was able to claw their way back into it and eventually pull out a Game 1 win.
Game Two was much the same. Save played Jax and turned into a split-pushing titan very quickly. Shield didn't fall nearly as far behind in this game, but it was Save that undid IM #2. The pair of performances earned Save MVPs from both of the games, and he is actually tied atop the Champions Spring MVP standings as they sit.
Disappointments of the week
NaJin Black Sword
NaJin Black Sword had been riding fairly high recently. All of the strife that plagued the team in Champions Winter had appeared to be ironed out, and they looked like a legitimate threat to make the bracket stage. Sword's shot-calling and overall awareness had been improved by the addition of Helios in the jungle. There was some consternation that Sword drew into one of the tough groups in Champions Spring, but the team was riding high due to several impressive performances in the SK Telecom LTE-A Masters tournament. Unfortunately, all of those good feelings have turned to ash following their 2-0 loss to Samsung Galaxy Blue. NaJin Black Sword is back in NLB once again, and they'll almost certainly have to win Champions Summer if they want to make a repeat trip to the World Championship.
