Photo: Daily eSports (데일리e스포츠)
Time sure does fly. Only two months ago, we witnessed history as MakNooN led his NaJin Sword team to a surprising 3-0 sweep of AZUBU Frost in the grand finals held at the Hanyang University Gymnasium. With sports, the off-season leads to much discussion on how what moves teams make over the period, with much debate from the general population. League of Legends in Korea is of no exception to this. Teams disbanded, formed, reshuffled and even moved organizations over the past two months.
AZUBU ended their relationship with the Blaze-Frost duo of teams, where they found a new home with the renowned KeSPA organization CJ Entus. NaJin completely revamped their Shield team after a string of disappointing results, and last season's Cinderella team GSG found a new home with MVP. As for the rest, the influx of new teams shall be covered in the power ranking for this season below.
Play time is over for the teams now. It's time to get those nightcaps off and get serious. With qualifiers concluding and OLYMPUS coming back to sponsor another season, come this Wednesday night, OnGameNet welcomes you to the Korean Spring season.
Signing off,
GTR
GTR
Powerranking
By: Chexx & GTR
KT Rolster+ Show Spoiler +
KT Rolster premiered in the OGN Winter Season League of Legends tournament, and the organization had a very good start. Both KT teams remained undefeated in the group stages and advanced to the next round, but the clean record ended with a teamkill in the quarter-finals.
After a weak performance semi-finals match, KT B was halted by the eventual Winter Champions, Najin Sword. Still, in just their first OGN season, KT B dominated the group stage and went on to convincingly claim 3rd place against Azubu Blaze. They have since acquired one of the best Junglers of OGN Winter, the former CJ Entus Insec. KT Rolster B stands as one of the biggest challenges to Najin Sword’s throne.
KT A is called the weaker KT Rolster team; nonetheless they are still very capable of beating other top-tier Korean teams. With the acquisition of former KT B jungler KaKAO, they will gain experience and stability, becoming even stronger.
Najin e-mFire+ Show Spoiler +
Najin e-mFire is one of the oldest and strongest teams in Korea. At least one Najin team has reached the knockout rounds in each OGN season.
Najin Sword are the reigning Olympus Champions Winter League winners and are therefore a huge favorite for the upcoming spring season. It remains to be seen if they can successfully defend their title – a feat yet accomplished in OGN history.
Najin Shield did not qualify for the knockout rounds in the last season. Because of this poor placement and the health issues of their Jungler Mokuza, Najin Shield has remodeled their roster. NoFe, Locodoco and Save join Najin Shield in preparations for the upcoming Spring league. The new roster debuted in the Gigabyte StarsWar league and managed to take 3rd. However, they displayed some obvious, unresolved communication issues. Najin Shield thus remains one of the weaker teams this season.
CJ Entus+ Show Spoiler +
CJ Entus underwent a huge organization change after the winter season. They scrapped their old lineup and acquired the ex-Azubu teams, Blaze and Frost. With these two powerhouse rosters, CJ Entus is poised to win the Spring League.
CJ Entus Frost is the League of Legends “King of Silver.” They have been in every final of the OGN league yet and thus have the skills, knowledge and experience to reach the finals again. Despite a new AD Carry, with Hermes replacing Woong, Frost remains a big favorite for the Olympus Champions Spring 2013.
CJ Entus Blaze hold the most first place finishes of any Korean team, reinforced by additional success in foreign tournaments. Recently they have struggled slightly in adapting to the Season 3 changes and shown weakness in the scene; nonetheless they are a strong team with plenty of experience. As they adapt to Season 3, they remain strong contenders for the Spring League.
SK Telecom T1+ Show Spoiler +
SKT T1 Team 1 is a relatively new team and this will be their first OGN appearance. The team had a perfect debut at IEM Cologne, securing first place. However, they have been unable to reproduce such results, losing in the semi-finals to CJ Blaze at IEM World Championship, and furthermore placed especially poorly in StarsWar League.
SKT T1 Team 2 was formed just weeks before the start of the Spring League. They managed to qualify for the last spot over an amateur team. SKT T1 Team 2 is one of the weakest teams in the Spring league – they have no experience and have yet to show anything special.
LG-IM+ Show Spoiler +
LG-IM recently established a second team to improve their skills through a strict practice regime. LG-IM Team 2 failed to qualify for the Spring League in a close match against SKT T1 Team 1.
LG-IM 1 used the off-season to travel to IEM Sao Paulo. At Sao Paulo they were the favorite and won the tournament, qualifying for IEM World Championships. However at the World Championship they placed in the midfield, where they seem to belong.
MVP+ Show Spoiler +
MVP was another team with big roster changes. Three members of GSG, a fan favorite team, joined MVP Blue. MVP White is now MVP Ozone. The new MVP team looked strong at OGN Club Masters, taking first place.
MVP Ozone has big potential this season. Although not a fan favorite, they are definitely capable of producing upsets and becoming Champions. However, their ability to play consistently at their highest level remains untested.
MVP Blue are the dark horse of Champions Spring 2013. They have unconventional picks and have already shown as an amateur team that they can compete with the professionals. Now that they are playing in a pro team, they can grow even further. Watch out for fabulous plays – MVP Blue is not to be underestimated.
ahq e-Sports Club Korea+ Show Spoiler +
A Taiwanese organization has, for the first time, created a squad to compete in Korea. However, only Hoon has previous Korean pro-scene experience; the rest of his team are amateurs, yet to play their first televised match. Hoon must guide them if they want to win and produce any results.
Powerranking
+ Show Spoiler +
12.
SK Telecom T1 Team 2Roster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Impact, bengi, Faker, Piglet, PoohManDu
11.
ahq e-Sports Club KoreaRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): TrAce, ActScene, HooN, Promise, Loray
10.
SK Telecom T1 Team 1Roster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Reapered, Beelzehan, SuNo, Raven, StarLast
9.
NaJin ShieldRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Expession, NoFe, Save, Locodoco, a Wolf
8.
MVP BlueRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Cheonju, Sense, easyhoon, Deft, FLahm
7.
LG-IMRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): a Lilac, (vacant), MidKing, Paragon, Lasha
6.
KT Rolster ARoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Vitamin, KaKAO, Zero, Hiro, Me5
5.
MVP OzoneRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Homme, DanDy, Dade, imp, Mata
4.
CJ Entus FrostRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Shy, CloudTemplar, RapidStar, Hermes, MadLife
3.
CJ Entus BlazeRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): Flame, Helios, Ambition, Cpt Jack, Lustboy
2.
NaJin SwordRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): MakNooN, Watch, SSONG, PraY, Cain
1.
KT Rolster BRoster (Top-Jungle-Mid-ADC-Support): ssumday, Insec, Ryu, Score, Mafa
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Tournament Information
By: Chexx
List of Competing Teams and Team Members
+ Show Spoiler +
- LG-IM - a Lilac, (vacant), MidKing, Paragon, Lasha
- SK Telecom T1 Team 1 - Reapered, Beelzehan, SuNo, Raven, StarLast
- SK Telecom T1 Team 2 - Impact, bengi, Faker, Piglet, PoohManDu
- KT A - Vitamin, KaKAO, Zero, Hiro, Me5
- KT B - ssumday, Insec, Ryu, Score, Mafa
- CJ Entus Frost - Rapidstar, Madlife, Relax, Hermes, Shy
- CJ Entus Blaze - Flame, Helios, Ambition, Cpt Jack, Lustboy
- Najin Sword - Maknoon, Ssong, Watch, Prav, Kain
- Najin Shield - Expession, NoFe, Save, Locodoco, a Wolf
- MvP Blue - Cheonju, Sense, easyhoon, Deft, FLahm
- MvP Ozone - Homme, DanDy, Dade, imp, Mata
- ahq e-Sports Club Korea - TrAce, ActScene, HooN, Promise, Loray
▲ Back to Top ▲
Games Today
By: Chexx
Group A Game 1
09:30 GMT (+00:00)
Najin Sword vs. MVP Blue ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dFDKW.png)
+ Show Spoiler [Bo2 Match Details] +
Najin Sword vs. MVP Blue ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dFDKW.png)
Game 1
+ Show Spoiler +
Game 2
+ Show Spoiler +
Results
+ Show Spoiler +
09:30 GMT (+00:00)
Najin Sword vs. MVP Blue ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dFDKW.png)
+ Show Spoiler [Bo2 Match Details] +
Najin Sword vs. MVP Blue ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dFDKW.png)
Game 1
+ Show Spoiler +
Bans
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Picks
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Game 2
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Bans
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Results
+ Show Spoiler +
??? - ???
??? - ???
??? 2:0 ???
??? Result
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??? 2:0 ???
??? Result
Group B Game 1
09:30 GMT (+00:00)
SKT T1 Team 1 vs. CJ Entus Frost ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1xHQp.png)
+ Show Spoiler [Bo2 Match Details] +
SKT T1 Team 1 vs. CJ Entus Frost ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1xHQp.png)
Game 1
+ Show Spoiler +
Game 2
+ Show Spoiler +
Results
+ Show Spoiler +
09:30 GMT (+00:00)
SKT T1 Team 1 vs. CJ Entus Frost ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1xHQp.png)
+ Show Spoiler [Bo2 Match Details] +
SKT T1 Team 1 vs. CJ Entus Frost ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1xHQp.png)
Game 1
+ Show Spoiler +
Bans
??? (blue) -
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Picks
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??? (blue) -
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Picks
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Game 2
+ Show Spoiler +
Bans
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Picks
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??? (blue) -
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Picks
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Results
+ Show Spoiler +
??? - ???
??? - ???
??? 2:0 ???
??? Result
??? - ???
??? 2:0 ???
??? Result
Discuss the game with other fans who stayed awake here
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Art by Caulo (Deviantart)
This edition of the TeamLiquid LoL write-up was brought to you by NeoIllusions, JBright, MoonBear Chiharu Harukaze, TheYango, Navi, GTR,xes, and Chexx.

