League of Legends: The LCK Week 5 Day 3 Recap

The transition day between rounds was an exciting one in the LCK. The playoff race is heating up as teams in the middle get closer together. Not surprisingly, the best are only getting better as the gap between first and the rest continues to grow.

Hanwha Life Esports vs. Damwon Gaming

Game One

Kingzone watched on nervously as they secretly rooted for Damwon Gaming. The game immediately went in Damwon’s favor as Showmaker secured first blood. Similarly, Nuguri’s Fiora had a tough time against Thal’s Yorick. absorbing much of the pressure from Hanwha Life. Thal took the early advantage in the top lane after solo-killing Nuguri and was always in his face around the map. Despite the battering, Damwon’s top laner was patient, and once he had his three items, the game was in the bag.

Fiora’s split pushing advantage proved too powerful once she reached the late game. Hanwha Life took a crack at Baron as Nuguri reached their base. The rest of Damwon was there to buy their carry some time and were rewarded with several kills and a nexus turret. In a last attempt to find something, Hanwha Life tried to use their remaining baron buffs to get some turrets for themselves, but Nuguri was on the flank and ready to close out the game. A clean ace allowed Damwon to march into HLE’s base and take their reward.

https://twitter.com/DamwonGaming/status/1098883753336700929

Game Two

The final game of the series was all Damwon from the beginning. BeryL’s Alistar once again made it through the bans, allowing him to play it for the second time. That would prove to be an awful decision for Hanwha Life. Thal went back to Urgot, a pick that he has found much success on. This time he wasn’t so lucky. Hanwha Life would score only one kill, their sole highlight in a sea of Damwon success. Nuclear and Punch each played exceptionally well on Yasuo and Lee Sin respectively.

In contrast, bonO and key simply weren’t able to make anything happen on their Nocturne/Shen combo. It was a quick and painful time for Hanwha as Damwon was diving inhibitor turrets pre-20 minutes. At 21:51, Damwon sealed their spot on fourth, for now.

Griffin vs. KT Rolster

Game One

Given their seemingly unmatched level of power, everyone wonders when Griffin’s time to fail is. This match wasn’t their time just yet. KT’s night started in the worst way, as Smeb face-checked all of Griffin in the top tri-brush. Following that terrible blunder, both teams are content to farm and wait for the right opportunity to fight. After an early skirmish in mid, UmTi would die to his wolf camp, only making a lousy outing worse for KT. Griffin was soon bored, and a team fight in the 15th minutes would accelerate them toward victory. Their perfect game was ruined as Smeb scored a consolation kill on Viper. In stark contrast to a tame opening 20 minutes, Griffin averaged 2 kills-per-minute for the rest of the game. To cap off a dominant night, Griffin romped through KT's base, fountain-diving with impunity to pad their KDAs.

Game Two

Fortunately for KT, their mental fortitude is high. As a result, their early game was much better than game one, but Griffin would not be denied. First blood went over to Tarzan, followed by a kill for each team as trades and clean-ups came through. The game exploded in the 16th minute as both teams converged on the bottom lane. The ensuing fight belonged to Griffin (barely), but they were able to secure two towers as a result. The LCK leaders fell back into their macro patterns and patiently chipped away at KT.

Despite KT's improvements, they weren't able to turn them into anything on the map. Even as they won a fight in mid lane in the 29th minutes, the infusion of gold wasn't enough for KT to bring themselves back into the game. Only two minutes later, Griffin fixed their mistakes and closed out the game to reach a 10-0 match record.

그리핀, 10 연승!🏅
Be the Best in our own way#GRF #GRFWIN pic.twitter.com/hYTFr49JCo

— Team Griffin LoL (@TeamGriffinLoL) February 22, 2019

Griffin is the King of the LCK

As the first round robin comes to a close in the LCK, we have some exciting storylines to watch going forward. Hanwha Life, Kingzone, and Damwon are all neck-and-neck in the standings as they trade playoff spots with each other. With a ten-match winning streak, Griffin is now the undisputed king of the LCK. While teams like Kingzone and Afreeca continue to improve, the gap may simply be too big.

Griffin and the LPL’s FunPlus Phoenix are also the only two undefeated teams left in the 5 qualifying regions. Both G2 and Team Liquid suffered losses last week in their respective regions, but whether Griffin will follow suit remains to be seen. The LCK’s top team now has a two-week break as the league shifts to 4-day weeks. Hopefully, that’s enough time for the rest of the teams to catch up. If there is any time for that to happen, it is indeed now.