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| RELIEF: SKT's jungler Kang Sun-gu (Blank) smiles as he is relieved in making it out in Round 1 of the Gauntlet, where SKT eliminated current World champions KSV eSports in their best-of-3 date. |
MANILA -- And SKT's quest for redemption in the 2017 World Finals is now complete.
SK Telecom T1 (SKT) ultimately redeemed their shocking defeat in the 2017 World Championship Finals as they eliminated the current kings KSV eSports (KSV) out of title contention, 2-1 in their best-of-3 2018 LCK Spring Playoffs - Round 1 date to advance to the Second Round at the Seoul OGN e-Stadium on Saturday evening (Philippine time).
Despite experiencing slumps all throughout the split, falling into a ninth place relegation in the early phases, and succumbing into KSV (formerly Samsung Galaxy)'s hands in the World Finals through a sweep, 3-0, SKT still flashed their three-time World Championship pedigree as their resident AD Carry Bae Jun-sik shone the brightest in the entire series, constantly wrecking KSV's bot lane through his surprise Kai'Sa pick and his signature Ezreal, which paced them to their tormentor's early exit.
With this, Bae, also known in-game as Bang spearheaded the 10-man squad's onslaught through his whopping 17 Kill-Death-Assist (KDA) Ratio (14/2/20 KDA), highlighting his incredible performance in Games 2 (SKT lost) and 3 (SKT won), giving him a flawless merged 8/0/15 KDA on Ezreal in the said games.
SKT's rookie top laner Park Kwon-hyuk (Thal) and legendary mid laner Lee Sang-hyeok (Faker) also aided Bae in carrying as they amassed a combined KDA Ratio of 6 (20/10/40 KDA), which accentuated Park's superb poke power on Cassiopeia and Gangplank, and Lee's excellent use of Shield of Durand and Hero's Entrance, which caught their adversaries off-guard sequentially in game-clinching team fights.
Also, even criticized by Korean analysts for their inconsistency, jungler Kang Sun-gu (Blank), and rotating supports Lee Jae-wan (Wolf) and Lee Sang-ho still provided quality minutes for SKT as their utility tank picks proved to be a thorn on the opposition, letting them rule the assists department with 56 combined assists, and co-lead in the kill participation side with a merged 70.37% (Bae leads with 89.47%).
KSV, meanwhile, could have taken the chance of clinching the series as they pulled off a comeback win in Game 2 through their AD Carry and 2017 Worlds MVP Park Jae-hyuk (Ruler)'s Caitlyn late-game power, but their counterparts thought two steps ahead of them as they suppressed their gained momentum, crushing their solo lanes early in courtesy of Kang's pressure and Lee (Wolf)'s Grand Entrance on Rakan, which forced them to call GG in almost three nerve-wracking hours of action.
Having this, Park (Ruler) then concluded the series with a decent 8/5/9 KDA (3.4 KDA Ratio), alongside with Lee Min-ho (Crown), who garnered a merged 2.71 KDA Ratio (4/7/19 KDA) in the three-game run.
With the win, SKT are now assured of acquiring at least 30 to 90 Championship Points, which are vital in the squad's 2018 World Championship entrance, denied KSV from qualifying into the 2018 Mid Season Invitational and Rift Rivals and will face KT Rolster in the 2nd round on Wednesday evening (Philippine time).
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| The updated bracket of the 2018 LCK Spring Playoffs. Leaguepedia |
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