Afreeca Freecs picked up a clean 3-0 series win against KT Rolster in the first round of LCK’s regional qualifiers.
AFS were favored coming into the series with most analysts predicting a clean sweep by them—and they delivered. AFS’ jungler Spirit played well in this series, popping off on Lillia and Volibear. He was everywhere his team needed him to be on the map, securing crucial objectives and pulling off great ganks throughout the entire match.
This League of Legends series began with a statement from AFS, who kept farming KT while giving up objectives left and right. Even though they were behind on Heralds, Drakes, and towers early on, the gold gained from kills allowed them to snowball to get their core items and transition into the mid game.
KT’s composition failed to deliver what was expected of them. AFS had the perfect counter draft to stop KT’s chances of winning the game. Following a 32-minute teamfight, AFS secured the first win of the series.
In the second game, AFS played even better, securing early gold leads and objectives on top of that, something that they failed to do in the first game. They were so dominant that by 22 minutes, they had nine kills to KT’s zero. KT managed to sneak away a Baron, but it didn’t help them in the end. The buff barely did anything and just extended the game. After the second Baron spawned, AFS picked it up and went on to finish the game.
The third game looked good for KT with all players playing safely, but a failed gank in the top lane sealed their fate. Spirit and Kiin’s moves on Lillia and Camille allowed them to easily win the two-vs-two and snowball from there. The team was once again dominant all over the map, securing an easy win and finishing the series on a high note.
AFS looked like the gatekeeper team the entire split, they didn’t win a single game against the top four but haven’t closed against the bottom five as well. Their gameplay allowed them to qualify for LCK Summer Split playoffs in the Wildcard round. Starting from first round, they pulled off a huge upset against the favorites T1. However, they couldn’t keep up their momentum and eventually dropped out of the title contention. This win gave hope to the team for another day for their chances this year.