SKT 2 -- KSV 1
SK Telecom T1 earned itself a chance at redemption after it defeated KSV eSports 2-1 during the League Champions Korea 2018 Spring Playoffs wild-card match.
The arena was filled to capacity for a historic rematch between the 2017 Worlds finalists, two teams that struggled throughout the spring split. The first competitive series on patch 8.6 showcased a metagame that was new and unfamiliar, with SKT Kang "Blank" Sun-gu and KSV Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong both showcasing Trundle in the jungle, a pick recently popularized in the EU LCS as a hard counter to Olaf.
However, it was the top lane that featured most of the action. The Ornns, Maokais and Swains that other regions seem to favor were nowhere to be found -- instead Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin and Park "Thal" Kwon-hyuk engaged in a no-holds brawl between their respective pocket carry top laner picks, with Thal's Cassiopeia coming out on top.
Otherwise, the series was a predictable affair for anyone familiar with the two teams. KSV took on the role of the defender, which suited it well at first, but ultimately handicapped the team in the third game when it was unable to turn its early lead into a series victory. Once both teams had a full team to play with, the games were incredibly close, but ultimately it was SKT that came out ahead. Considering the narrow victory that KSV managed to come up with in Game 2 -- a victory that not only required Ruler to play perfectly for 30 minutes straight, but also required Ambition to steal Baron -- its loss at the end of Game 3 seemed to be the expected result.
SKT's win against KSV has earned it the right to play in the playoffs, which begins at 4 a.m. ET this Wednesday with another edition of the Telecom Wars.
-- James Bates
