With the official end of the Spring Split drawing closer with the final matchup between Griffin and SK Telecom T1 set to take place on April 13th, it’s time to hand out some awards! This time around the awards will be given out in two parts. The first one will be the “unofficial” awards, ones that aren’t awards that Riot would give out as part of their awards. Meanwhile, the second part will focus on the official awards like rookie of the split and MVP.
With all the being explained, let’s find out who picked up awards in Part 1 of the LCK Spring Split Awards!
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
The Fight Forever award is given to the best and most entertaining series of the regular season. While there were some great candidates for this award this split, the two series between SKT and DAMWON win out in the end.
Both series provided fans with some great back and forth action, going the distance as each team took all three games to win their respective series (SKT in week 2 and DAMWON in week 5). With smart plays coming from both teams and some amazing individual plays to top it off, the series between SKT and DAMWON provided fans with some high-level League of Legends.
While they were not able to meet each other in the playoffs, their matches in the Summer Split will surely provide the same level of entertainment. Because of this, SKT and DAMWON take the Fight Forever Award for the Spring Split.
Courtesy of: Inven Flickr
The Teddy Award is given to a player that has been absolutely dominating their opponents but has been unable to get a win due to the overall strength of his team. This split, the award goes to Gen.G’s Ruler.
While the expectations for the team going into the Spring Split were not incredibly high, their results were still mostly disappointing. With everyone underperforming across the map, Ruler was unable to drag the team to victory in many games. Although Ruler was arguably a top 3 ADC for most of the split, his performance was mostly wasted as Gen.G was only able to barely escape relegation.
While it’s unlikely fans will see Ruler move on to another team before the Summer Split, they can at least hope for roster changes for Gen.G. If Gen.G is able to upgrade the rest of their roster Ruler could make a trip back into the playoffs fairly soon.
Courtesy of: Inven Flickr
The Peanut Award is given to the player that was unable to meet the expectations placed on them by fans and analysts alike. This split the award goes to the man the award is named after in Peanut.
Despite underperforming in his time on SK Telecom T1 and near the end of his time on Kingzone DragonX, Peanut became the highest paid jungler when he signed with Gen.G. Because of this, expectations were high for Peanut to make a comeback on a roster that should theoretically allow him to play his style. Instead, it was more of the same from Peanut as he underperformed for most of the split as Gen.G continued to fall down the standings.
While Gen.G is likely regretting their contract with Peanut at this point, it could still be made better if Peanut can start performing again in the Summer Split. As to whether that’ll happen however is yet to be seen. Even if unlikely, Peanut still has one last chance to redeem himself, otherwise, it could be the end of his career before he knows it.
Courtesy of: Inven Flickr
The KOO Smeb Award is given to the player that has improved the most since the previous split. This split, the award goes to Kingzone’s PawN.
After being on the bench for most of the 2018 season, PawN came into the season with a lot of doubters. Will he still be able to keep up against the other talented mid laners of the League? Is he fully recovered from injury now? Will that really make all the difference? Despite a rocky start to the split, sometimes being subbed out for Yoo “Naehyun” Nae-hyun, PawN continued and has constantly improved throughout the split. At the end of it all, PawN could have been considered one of the top mid laners in the League as he looked simply amazing.
While he’s not quite at the same level as his Samsung White days, PawN’s improvement has made Kingzone a much stronger team in the long run. Will he continue to improve in the Summer Split? Has he reached his limit? Or was this a one time run? Only time will tell.
Courtesy of: LCK Flickr
This award should be pretty self-explanatory. But for those who need an explanation, the “Maybe Next Split” Award goes to a team that came into the regular season looking strong, but ends up disappointing and barely misses out on playoffs. This time around, the award goes to Hanwha Life Esports.
At one point in the season, Hanwha had a hold of 4th in the standings. However, a mix of poor roster management and other teams stepping up, they barely missed out on playoffs once again. As a result, questions began to emerge regarding their roster such as the usage (or in this case lack of usage) of top laner Kim “SoHwan” Jun-yeong and jungler Kim “Moojin” Moo-jin. Despite having two very capable players waiting on the bench, Hanwha decided to continue using Park “Thal” Kwon-hyuk and Kim “bonO” Gi-beom.
Going into the Summer Split, Hanwha will need to improve their roster management if they want a shot at the playoffs. With an underrated bot lane and a solid mid laner, Hanwha can definitely make the jump into a playoff spot. It will simply all depend on how they use their roster.
To watch League of Legends tournaments, visit watch.na.lolesports.com. For more information on the Split, teams, standings and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Recaps of former weeks and other LoL content can be found at https://thegamehaus.com/league-of-legends/.
Featured image courtesy of LCK Flickr.
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