[OGN] Back in Seoul; Week 1 Review & Preview

Farewell Busan!

With the conclusion of the first week of PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-14, it is time to review the events of the G-Star event in Busan. The first game of the new season brought a similar story to previous Champions tournaments, as the reigning Champions would need to prove their title by taking on a rookie team, while the rookie team would seek to prove their worthiness of being in Champions. Team NB was the obvious underdog, but LongPanda came prepared and took his Panda Note with him to summon greater powers than his own to defeat his opponents. The influence of the Panda Note would not be lost on SKT T1 K, as even summer MVP Faker feared its presence. Yet, the Panda Note was not enough, as Team NB stood no chance against the former Champions SKT T1 K, and were promptly defeated.

The second match of the night blew open the doors to the group of death. Fans were treated to a rematch of NLB Summer 2013 between NaJin Black Sword and IM #2, in which the latter opted for a hard push composition involving Lucian mid and a Blood Boiled Caitlyn. NaJin Black Sword came out of the gates swinging, holding out in a volatile early to mid-game in order to crush IM #2 in the latter parts of the game. In the hotly contested Group B, where a 0:2 loss could mean elimination, IM #2 rallied for the second game, proving that they are solid contenders for this Winter season as kur0 showed the audience just how powerful of a pick Riven is at the moment. As IM #2 fixed the mistakes of their first game, they snowballed an early lead and closed out the game against NaJin Black Sword.

The last game of the night was the struggling Samsung Galaxy Ozone against rookie team Alienware Arena. We saw for the first time why the Lucian and Nidalee combination is not allowed in Korea, as dade and imp joined forces to ruthlessly siege Alienware. After he dust settled and the towers fell, Alienware had no chance to get back into the game under a barrage of spears and lasers. In the second game, Dade was able to select Zed and demonstrated just why Zed had been a ban priority in the past. With cute shadow dodging, fans voted Dade as MVP as his roam carried Ozone to a second victory. Ozone looked solid in their first performance after a disastrous Worlds performance, but their performance against a top team has yet to be seen.

Of course, the highlight for many fans was interviewer Cho Eunnarae as the upcoming Popstar Ahri. Day 1 ended, and the Bexco Auditorium in Busan was quiet for another day.



Day 2 began with a match between Xenics Storm and Jin Air Falcons. Though many fans saw this match as the least interesting of the day, they were in for a pleasant surprise. The first game between the two mid-tier teams was easily one of the most exciting of all time. It had everything: a lot of action, close teamfights, and a gold lead that changed hands more often than Faker gets kills. The audience’s attention was nicely caught by the OGN cameramen and transmited to viewers at home, driving home just how enraptured everyone was by the game. This game alone was worth the OGN subscription. Yet, all good things come to an end, and it happened with Reapered being caught out at a critical time, and Xenics taking the win. Mentally shattered, the second game was a whitewash for the Falcons as they were rolled over by Xenics Storm, with exceptional play from Piccaboo’s roaming support.

The second match was highly anticipated, a match between CJ Entus Blaze and SKT T1 S. Blaze tried to get in control of the game from the start with aggressive dives from Daydream, but SKT T1 S were able to respond at every turn. Seizing the momentum, a three-on-three victory in the top lane gave the rookie team three kills and a tower for only one death. With the game firmly in SKT’s hands, they pressured objectives all around the map for a clean win. The greatly hyped SKT top laner MaRin was of special note, landing pinpoint Equalizers as Rumble to push Blaze off objectives. A Ryze pick from easyhoon also garnered attention, as Ryze has fallen out of favour recently. In the second game, Daydream turned into a nightmare (shoutout to DoA for the joke) for SKT T1 S. With exceptional map awareness, Daydream was always at the right spot at the right time for ganks and counterganks. Securing the early game for Blaze, the CJ Entus side did what they did best, closing out early leads with incredible pressure from Flame. Despite MaRin’s efforts to minimise Flame’s gold income, the macro play of Blaze proved superior.

The last match was the most anticipated of the night, a group of death clash between Samsung Blue and the KT Bullets. KT B anticipated a lane swap in the first game, but Samsung Blue opted to play it safe and put their duo lane bottom instead. With inSec’s Rengar struggling in a 1v2 lane, Blue continued to push towers and increase their gold lead, snowballing to a quick win. In the second game, KT B had a much better start than in the first game, getting both first blood and the first dragon. With an exceptional gank from KaKAO and Mafa onto PawN, it seemed the teams’ positions were reversed in the second game. In the second half of the game, quick reactions and great decision making from Samsung Blue kept them afloat, but in the end the Bullets were victorious and solidified Group B’s status as the group of death, tying all teams with one point.




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