With all the shocking results during week 8 of LCK, a few familiar faces dropped out of this week’s OP 5. With players stepping up their play as playoffs get even closer, it’s time to find out which players made the OP 5 this week. As always, if you missed last week’s OP 5, check it out here!
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
As SK Telecom continues to rise, so too does their players. The best example of this has been Khan, who is the OP top laner for the second week in a row. Since being able to play carry top laners once again, Khan’s play has been constantly improving. With some amazing performances on the likes of Vladimir and Fiora, Khan was able to pick up three MVP honors this week.
With Khan’s amazing performances on carry top laners, SKT continue to look like the new team to beat. Along with that, thanks to the current meta, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Khan is able to remain the OP top laner for the rest of the regular season. Along with some important matches left against SANDBOX Gaming, Khan will have a great chance at proving it too.
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One of the biggest surprises recently has been the constant improvement of Kingzone’s Cuzz. He had great performances throughout the week, especially on Gragas, where he went 10/0/12 across two games. In general, his performance this week in particular was amazing as he also picked up three MVP honors and the title of OP jungler of week 8.
While Kingzone has usually been the Deft show, Cuzz was able to step up big time in week 8. While the team is still mostly reliant on Deft, if Cuzz can keep up his great performance from week 8, it could quickly become the Cuzz show.
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Despite not defeating Griffin in week 7, Faker still managed to get some revenge as he managed to dethrone Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and take the title of OP mid away from him this week. While his stats may not always show it, Faker continues to be one of the best players in the world and his recent performances have been a great reminder of that. His play this week on the likes of Lissandra and Leblanc in particular was amazing.
While Faker doesn’t have to drag his team along to victory like in the past, he continues to be one of the best players on the team. Although Faker was able to take away the OP mid from Chovy, he’ll have to likely wait until the finals to get his revenge on Griffin. As long as he continues to play at this level, his hope for revenge may become a reality.
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Although Deft had a quiet week, it was still good enough to land him in the OP 5 as the OP ADC for week 8. This is simply a testament to how great of an ADC he has been this entire season, that a quiet week 8 was still enough to land him in the OP 5. While he was overshadowed by Cuzz’s performance this week, Deft was still able to pick up MVP honor for his great play on Lucian in game 2 against Gen.G. In general Deft’s performance on Lucian this week has been solid as he played three games on the champ with a total score of 11/4/13.
With the rest of the team stepping up, if Deft can maintain his level of play, Kingzone could become a very scary team to face. While their competition is tough, Deft and the rest of Kingzone could be a dark horse contender to win it all in the Spring Split.
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It’s been a while for Mata, but after his appearance in week 1, Mata has made his return into the OP. His playmaking on the likes of Rakan and Braum through the week has been great as he and ADC Park “Teddy” Jin-seong dominated their opponents. Along with that, Mata’s vision control around the map continues to completely lock out opponents.
As Mata joins Kingzone’s Park “TusiN” Jong-ik as the only other support to be on the OP 5 more than once, he’ll need to continue his great play if he wants to be the first support to appear three times. With a huge match against SANDBOX Gaming coming up, a great performance from Mata could be all he needs to make a return. Whether it’ll happen though, 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 eighth week of action:
We’ll start the honorable mentions off with the star of Griffin’s first defeat in the Spring Split, ADC Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk (Gen.G). During Gen.G’s 2-0 victory over Griffin, Ruler’s performance on Vayne was incredible as he dominated the game. Although Ruler and the rest of Gen.G would end up later losing to Kingzone, he deserves an honorable mention for his performance against Griffin.
The Telecom Wars featured some of the best players in history
Lastly, the honorable mention of the week goes to the legendary Telecom Wars. With the recent news of SK Telecom T1 rebranding to T1 Entertainment and Sports this week’s match between KT Rolster and SKT may have been the final battle in the Telecom Wars. A historic rivalry that spans multiple game titles, this will be a huge loss for the history of Korean esports. While it may soon disappear, it’s important to remember the legacy of this rivalry. So to all former and current players of KT and SKT, thank you for the greatness that you have provided fans through the telecom wars.
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