Champions Ups & Downs - OGN Week 2 Overview

Samsung Blue finally was crowned as the king of all LTC teams, while Najin White Shield's road to Round of 8 became very unclear.



The Ups

As Korean fans have stated, SKT T1 K versus Samsung Blue was an "amazing battle of the dragon and the tiger". Although Samsung Blue was victorious, SKT K showed to Koreans why they have dominated Season 3 all the way up through Worlds, and still they have not totally fallen.

Both teams have a funny history: SKT K was defeated by Samsung Blue in the World Cyber Games Korean qualifiers last year. Many were surprised back then that SKT K were defeated by a team which was not considered strong like CJ Blaze, or KT Bullets. Unfortunately, SKT K crushed Samsung Blue in the winter season of The Champions right after. However, it's important to remember that SKT K had no true opponents back then, winning the league with a flawless victory and not even a single loss. The two teams met again in LTC Round of 16. Many have looked foward to this match.

After Heart's aqua prison lifts three players of SKT, Spirit jumps and steals the Baron

SKT K had a lot of leads and advantages in the first match. Throughout the early lane-phase, SKT K showed the perfect synergy rekindled between Bengi and Faker, which allowed them to conquer the previous season. However, Samsung Blue had caught up SKT K through carefully calculated battles. Samsung Blue's careful and solid objective control, wonderfully timed teamfights and Spirit's baron steal shifted the tide towards Samsung Blue, winning the game.

Faker's display of outstanding Orianna play, protecting Piglet and knocking out Deft winning a teamfight

​Samsung Blue was also victorious in the second match. Unlike the first match, SKT K showed questionable picks & bans, opening Braum and Lucian for Samsung Blue. To inform the readers, in KR solo ranked queue, people dodge or leave the game if Braum and Lucian both end up as your bot lane opponent.

Samsung's bot lane crushed SKT's bot lane, easliy pushing their lead in the game. To add, Impact's Gragas pick was also questionable, since the ultimate was hard to synergize with Orianna's. Even though picks & bans were horrible, SKT K put up good fights with Samsung Blue. Faker proved that he was still a leading mid laner and Dade did not fall behind the curve.

General Overview

When the spring season started, no one had estimated that Samsung Blue would win the league. Samsung Blue showed a lot of potential, but their weaknesses made it impossible to win against solid, steady teams which previously have conquered Champions. But now Blue revealed said potential in their match: It was like watching SKT K rise in previous spring and summer season, members executing flawlessly and steadily.

Still, hope is not lost for rest of the teams. Even though Samsung Blue looks undefeatable right now, These matches have proved that even Samsung Blue makes mistakes-- like Spirit and Dade showed in early phases of the game. We do not who will win the Summer league yet. In fact, of one SKT's teamfights ended up giving the fans a hope to see their team return to the throne once again.

The Downs



Najin White Shield is in trouble. The team might not end up in Round of 8.

The Najin brother teams battled in Round of 16 this week, after the amazing matches of SKT K and Samsung Blue. Many have predicted that Najin White Shield will win this time for sure. Well, they were wrong. Najin White Shield made a draw against Najin Black Sword team which ended up in Round of 16 for three previous seasons of The Champions.

Watch's Rengar knocks out Lee's Lee Sin in a single combo, creating a teamfight of five against four​

Shield was successful in their first match. Watch destoryed Duke by frequently ganking top lane by utilizing Rengar's ultimate. By fifteen minutes in the game, Duke's Ryze had 4 deaths and lacked three levels comparing to Save's Shyvana. Although NJBS marksman Ohq and mid lane Kuro worked hard trying to make additional picks and plays, the rest of the team kept on showing mistakes and weaknesses.

Kuro keeps on dealing NJWS while being focused by his opponents.

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NJWS successfully caught Ohq with a three men tower dive, but Zefa was frequently cought by NJBS in response. Still, no one was sure what would take place in teamfights. Beyond that, Kuro hard-carried his team, showing astounding skillls, dealing heavy damage to his opponents while surviving with low health most of the time. Kuro's Orianna ended up with too much farm to stop while Shield was crushed by their brother team in every teamfight. Finally Gorilla's Nami was knocked out in a flash, bringing victory to Sword.



General Overview

To start, Kuro and Ohq were amazing in both games. They constantly tried making plays and they freqeuntly worked, bringing the team back into the game. Kuro played especially well, dealing damage steadily and gathering a large amount of CS, reaching 500 for the first set of the game.

White Shield didn't play bad in the summer league. The problem of White Shield was that they didn't change; while other teams have developed after the spring season, NJWS stayed still. The fact that they had a draw with Jin Air Falcons and NJBS exemplified this fact. Also, it's important to note that those two teams are quite new, undergoing a huge rebuilding process and because of it, they could not perform their best. In the spring season, Shield was always in danger: they were driven by KT Bullets and CJ Blaze. They nearly lost their games but clinged on to make unbelieveable victories.

That worked miraculously well in the previous season, but it doesn't now. With two draws, they have to hope that Falcons and KT Bullets play badly while their brother team Sword crushes them. It is surprising that the runner-up of previous season have to rely on others to get into Round of 8. If there's time to change their mentality, Shield has to face the simple fact: They are not a strong team anymore. They have to change and develop, before it's too late, and they lose a chance to qualify for 2014 season World Championship.

So where does that bring us?

It is now hard to predict which team will prevail in the Round of 16. CJ Frost showed a strong match against Bigfile Miracle, but got crushed by Samsung White who had a draw with SKT S. If CJ Frost win against SKT S they will surely advance to Round of 8, but they are not allowed to even make a draw.

NJWS's road to Round of 8 is unclear also- they have to hope that other teams bring down each other. Remember that both teams showed a strong performance in the spring season: NJWS was a runner-up for LTC, and Frost was the champion of NLB spring season, defeating SKT S and SKT K. For those who predict with previous match datas, put aside your guesses for now. This season, you cannot predict, you have to see for yourself whether these teams will return as winners or will drop off.