With an intense first week of action out of the way it’s time to see which players impressed in the first OP 5 of the LCK Summer Split. With Kingzone DragonX coming out with some impressive play to start the split 2-0, they ended up dominating the list, but which players from other teams snuck in?
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
Starting off the first OP 5 of the Summer Split is Griffin’s top laner Sword. With a substitute top laner waiting for a chance to take over, Sword came into the Summer Split with a lot of pressure to perform. Despite a decline in overall performance during the Spring Split, Sword was able to show that he can still hold his own against the likes of Kim “Kiin” Gi-in and Lee “Flame” Ho-jong, even on carry top laner champions.
His solid performance through the week was highlighted by his amazing games on Jayce. Across three games, Sword rocked a 3.0KDA with The Defender of Tomorrow and picked up the honor of being MVP in Griffin’s Game 3 win against Afreeca Freecs. If Sword can consistently perform well on carry top laners through the rest of the split, then Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon will just have to keep waiting for his chance to play on stage.
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
After a fairly successful Spring Split, Cuzz makes his return to the OP 5 as the first OP jungler of the Summer Split. While last split was all about Cuzz’s rise to the top as he continued to improve week after week, this split could be all about Cuzz finally cementing himself as the best jungler in Korea.
With high expectations for himself and the team, Cuzz came out swinging in the first week as he ended with an incredible KDA of 16.0 on the way to a 2-0 week. While he played Sejuani for three of the four games, Cuzz was able to act as a huge playmaker for the team, landing him both MVP honors in Kingzone’s match against SANDBOX Gaming. While it’s a great start to the split, if Cuzz wants to be considered the best jungler in Korea, consistency will be key from here on out.
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
The legend of Naehyun continues to grow as he makes his debut in the OP 5. Coming into the Summer Split, Naehyun was under quite a lot of pressure as he was taking over the starting spot of Heo “PawN” Won-seok. Despite Naehyun’s reputation from his past teams, he was very impressive to the surprise of most fans as he stepped up big time.
Across both matches, Naehyun was able to hold his own and beat out solid mid laners in Lee “Kuzan” Seong-hyeok and Kim “Dove” Jae-yeon on his way to dying only three times across four games. Playing a variety of champions from Jayce to Ryze, Naehyun was impressive all the way through no matter which champion he was playing. But will he be able to keep this up?
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
It turns out this Deft guy is pretty good at League of Legends as he maintains his status as the OP ADC of the week. This week however, Deft showed some continued development as he showcased some stellar play on mages.
While Deft had two solid games on Sivir, his best performances came on Viktor and Sona this week as Deft dominated Gen.G and SANDBOX Gaming alongside the rest Kingzone DragonX. With Deft showing the ability to play mages at a consistent level it adds another threat opponents must deal with on a team that is slowly getting better and better.
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
Despite a 1-1 week for key and the rest of Hanwha Life Esports, he finds himself in the first OP 5 of the Summer Split. Along with ADC Gwon “sangyoon” Sang-yun, key had some great plays throughout the week on a variety of champions.
In their loss against SANDBOX Gaming, key was impressive on Thresh and Rakan, making some solid plays. Then in their victory against KT Rolster, key was even better as he ended the match with a total KDA of 8.5. He and sangyoon played a large role in leading Hanwha to a decisive victory. If Hanwha wants to finally make a solid run to the playoffs this split, they’ll have to rely on their talented bot lane tandem to bring them there. Will they have what it takes? Only time will tell.
As always, with all the great players, it’s hard to fit everyone in. Here are some honorable mentions for the first week of summer action:
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
Starting things off is the mid laner for Afreeca Freecs, Son “Ucal” Woo-hyeon. Despite an abysmal Spring Split, Ucal has come back better than ever and played some great League of Legends in the first week of the Summer Split. Thanks to his great play this week, especially on Sylas, Afreeca was able to beat out the defending champions in SK Telecom T1 and take the runner-up in Griffin to a third game. If this is a sign of things to come for Ucal and the rest of Afreeca, they could be on their way to sneaking into a spot at Worlds.
Finishing off the honorable mentions for week one is Kingzone’s top laner Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee. Like Cuzz, Rascal came into the Summer Split after one of his best splits in terms of individual performance. Now he looks to build on those improvements. Starting the split off, Rascal casually got himself two MVP honors with some great play on Sylas (2/1/6 against Gen.G) and Irelia (8/0/7 against Gen.G). If he continues to play at this level, Kingzone could easily become the team to beat in the Summer Split.
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/category/league-of-legends/.
Featured image courtesy of LCK flickr.
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