With a week of upsets and amazing games, week 5’s OP 5 features a few players that are making their return to the list. With the playoff race heating up, these players will play a huge role in their teams efforts to make the playoffs. Who are these players? Let’s find out in this week’s edition of the OP 5. As always if you missed last week’s edition, check it out here!

Top: Kim “Kiin” Gi-in (Afreeca Freecs)

It’s been a while, but after putting on a show against SANDBOX Gaming and Hanwha Life Esports, Kiin makes his return to the OP 5. With amazing stat lines like 11/0/1 on Vladimir and 8/2/8 on Jayce, Kiin just reminded the world why he was considered the best top laner in Korea last season. Considering all of Afreeca have been able to make huge improvements recently, they’ll be looking towards making a late push for a playoff spot. With huge matches against SANDBOX Gaming and DAMWON Gaming next week, Kiin will need to continue his great play if Afreeca wants a chance at playoffs. If he’s able to replicate the great performance of week 5, Afreeca could make a huge leap towards a playoff spot.

Jungle: Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong (Griffin)

Along with Kiin, Tarzan also makes his return to the OP 5. While Tarzan may not have been the OP jungler since the first week of LCK action, he has been quietly dominating the stats sheet as he leads all junglers in multiple categories from kills (76) to KDA (15.2) to even damage per minute (259).  This week Tarzan was absolutely dominant, dying only three times across two series against Gen.G and KT Rolster. While the teams they faced are near the bottom of the standings, it didn’t stop Tarzan from simply putting on a show. While he won’t be able to remain in the OP5 next week due to having no games on the schedule, don’t be surprised to see Tarzan back here in the future.

Mid: Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Griffin)

Is it really a surprise to see Chovy back here once again? It definitely appears that Chovy is very good at League of Legends. With only two deaths to his name this week and another MVP honor, Chovy continues to simply be the best mid laner in Korea as he dominated mid laners like Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong . Not much else can really be said about Chovy at this point, but rest assured, Chovy won’t be found in the OP 5 next week with no games on schedule as well.

ADC: Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu (Kingzone DragonX)

The Deft carry show made a huge return as he picked up all four MVP honors from Kingzone’s 2-0 week. With a total stat line of 22/2/25 and an incredible kill participation of 83.9% this week, Deft has been single handedly making Kingzone a contender this split. Coming up Deft and the rest of Kingzone will have some important matches coming up against the likes of Hanwha Life Esports and SK Telecom T1. As such Deft will need to continue his amazing play in order for Kingzone to lock in their spot for the playoffs and to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

Support: Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee (DAMWON Gaming)

Making his debut in the OP 5 is DAMWON’s support BeryL. In his LCK debut, BeryL put up an impressive stat line of 0/2/23 in DAMWON’s 2-0 victory against Hanwha. His overall play on Alistar during that series was great and was signs of things to come as he put on another great performance against SK Telecom in DAMWON’s 2-1 win. With a great start in his LCK debut week, BeryL has made a strong case to be the starting support going forward instead of usual starter Ryu “Hoit” Ho-seong. Whether that happens or not, only time will tell.

Honorable Mentions:

As always, with all the great players, it’s hard to fit everyone in. Here are some honorable mentions for the fifth week of action:

The original carry god in the top lane, Lee “Flame” Ho-jong (DAMWON Gaming) has finally made his return to the LCK, and boy, what a return. Being subbed in for game 2 against the powerhouse SK Telecom, Flame put DAMWON on his back on the way to an exciting 2-1 victory. While he only played the one series, Flame deserves an honorable mention for his return to LCK.

The second honorable mention goes to ADC Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram (Afreeca Freecs). While he only played one series this week, he was amazing. In the 2-1 victory over SANDBOX Gaming, Aiming had a total stat line of 13/1/17 and even picked up a MVP award in game 3. Despite all the criticism Aiming gets at times for his play, his performance this week was great and deserves an honorable mention.  

Like last week, the final honorable mention this week won’t go to a player. Instead, this week it goes to the fans of Jin Air Green Wings. Despite the results and play of Jin Air so far this season and relegation awaiting them, the remaining fans of the team continues to support their team through this rough period. For their resolve and belief in the team, you deserve a shout-out and an honorable mention.

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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