[OGN] Olympus Spring 2013 Write-up #1

Both teams opted for a lane switch. MVP Blue send its Bot lane to Top while Sword decided to send its Bot lane to Mid.
Without any time to lose, Sword prepared a 3 minute gank on Easyhoon’s Karthus, which gave them first blood. However, Deft and Flahm managed to get Maknoon low on health and a nice Thresh hook secured the kill right after Sword managed to get first blood. Sword would take an early tower, which gave them a gold lead until 11 minutes. MVP Blue managed, with good ganks, to take a kill lead, but they could not take any towers. The first big fight was around 13 minutes when Flahm decided to attack Maknoon’s Renekton alone and follow him; Flahm landed a nice hook which stalled enough time to let his team members catch up and secure two kills. Unfortunately they lose their top tower in the exchange. After that MVP Blue managed to catch Sword members out of position and got an even bigger kill lead. At 22 minutes Sword managed to catch three MVP Blue players in front of their Mid Inner turret but a quick reaction from Shen’s Stan United stopped all the aggression from Sword. Afterwards MVP Blue grouped as four to defend the turret, and as Easyhoon was on his way back from base, Cheonju engaged with a nice Taunt – the followup Varus ult secured the teamfight for MVP Blue. MVP Blue followed that teamfight with a free Baron and pushed Swords turrets and secured the first victory in OGN Champion Spring 2013.

As in the first game Sword tried an early gank. This time the victim was Cheonju in Bottom lane, but he reacted quickly and retaliated against PraY, who had drawn tower aggro. Although he gave first blood, he took PraY with him. Sword used this opportunity to take the bottom tower and switched their bot lane to the top lane where they just arrived on time to stop the attack on Maknoon. Sword kept the pressure up on MVP Blue and shortly after ganked Easyhoon in mid and took top tower. With one kill and two towers advantage, Sword seemed to be in control of the game. At around 9 minutes ChuNyang went to gank top in combination with Karthus ult: Deft managed to kill PraY, but tanked the tower too long while attacking Cain and died because of that. The action continued in middle lane where Easyhoon died, but a nice hook from Flahm caught Cain, and they managed to trade 1:1. SSONG then picked a bad spot behind the Dragon pit to recall and got caught, which gave the kill lead to MVP Blue and allowed them to get an easy dragon, reducing the gold difference to 400. Maknoon tried to ward Red buff of MVP Blue but got hooked by Thresh and was killed, giving MVP the gold lead for the first time in the game. At around 17 minutes into the game the first big teamfight happened: in front of Sword’s Mid turret, MVP Blue chased Watch from the middle of the right river side to the turret and nearly killed him; Maknoon and SSONG went into the fight 4v5 since Watch was already low; Flahm put down a nice box to zone Maknoon from the rest of his team; Deft picked up a double kill and MVP Blue went 3:1 and took another Dragon. From that point on MVP Blue caught different Sword members out of position and walked right into the base of Sword and took Top inhibitor. MVP Blue recalled, secured a free Baron, and then pushed for the win.



The game started with a lane switch for both teams. Both teams opted to switch their duo lane to the toplane. Raven and StarLast nearly managed to kill Madlife, but he escaped with a sliver of health, while Hermes turned the aggression around and got a double kill. SKT T1 #1 turned the tides around with a nice hook from StarLast and SuNo who teleported to a ward behind MadLife and Hermes. Reapered also managed to kill Shy in a 1v1. Minute 16, Frost tried to get their first turret of the game but got pushed back from Reapered. SuNo teleported in while StarLast laid his lantern down and flashed forward to increase the distance SuNo could cover with the lantern, setting up 3 kills for SKT. They immediately headed for Baron where SuNo challenged Rapidstar to a 1v1, flashing behind Rapidstar for the kill. Frost chased SKT T1 away from their turret but opened the chance for SKT T1 to sandwich them and engage directly on the damage line of Frost. SKT took another 3:1 teamfight along with two towers and an inhibitor. Thanks to super minions, SKT T1 secured another Baron. CloudTemplar tried to steal in vain. With one inhib down and against a team with Baron buff, Frost did not stand a chance and lost the first game.

SKT T1 started the second match full of confidence from their first match and opened with a kill on Rapidstar. In addition they pressured Top where they nearly got their second kill but CloudTemplar barely escape. SKT they took the top tower in exchange regardless and tied the tower score. SKT T1 attempted dragon but CloudTemplar stole it, and Frost backed out without any casualties. SKT T1 tried to siege the Mid tower of Frost: a nice Lux ult and Jayce Q combo finished Hermes and allowed SKT to take the second tower. Frost retained the gold lead from Dragons. After SKT T1 took the second Top tower and were retreating, Raven got stunned by a Elise’s Cocoon and Frost engaged with Rappel and Stand United. Frost came out 3:1 and took the subsequent Baron. MadLife caught Raven out of position with a beautiful Sona ult which resulted in another kill for Frost. Equipped with Baron, Frost decided to split push Top and Bot simultaneously. At 29 minutes Frost opted for a sneaky two-man Baron and were successful, catching StarLast while warding. Frost kept on pushing while SKT T1 tried to defend their second Mid turret which was futile since they already lost one team member and led to a perfect crescendo from MadLife which caught three of four SKT T1 members in it. Frost got 3 more kills, 2 turret and 2 inhibs. With 2 inhibs down Frost pressured for their third inhib where SKT T1 did their last stand and failed, giving Frost the win in the second game.

As soon as everybody reached level 6 MVP Ozone killed the turret in KT Rolster Bot lane where Vitamin had a 2vs1 lane because KT send their Bot lane to Mid. With the fall of the turret Vitamin was the next target and got killed with a just in time Karthus ult. After a few skirmishes we skip to the 17 minute mark where the first big teamfight over Dragon started. An aggressive flash from MaTa over the Dragon pit into the enemy team allowed him to stun 4 of 5 members of KT. In addition Dade flashed aggressively into the enemy team and had a field day with Defile while the enemy was locked in a choke. The result was a 4:2 trade for MVP and Imp secured a triple kill. KT secured Dragon but sacrificed two members and their second mid turret. The next big teamfight was at 27 minutes when MVP retreated from Baron and Imp was caught by Zero. Imp was saved by MaTa who just arrived in the right time to stun Zero, allowing Imp to finish him off. Meanwhile Vitamin overextend a little bit too much and got chunked while his teammates were out of range. Dade finished two KT members with Requiem. Later KT regrouped and tried to do Baron but got interrupted by MVP Ozone as even if they managed to blow up Imp, MVP could turn around the fight. Dade had an especially cute play, placing down his wall on the escaping Me5 which just shred enough his MR to allow him to get killed by Karthus ult. The last teamfight MVP ambushed Zero who went a little bit too far ahead from his team. MVP equipped with Baron buff and a flawless execution steamrolled KT A in the last fight and secured their first win.

KT picked up first blood as DanDy attempted to defend his tower 1v2 Bot. Homme arrived just barely too late to save DanDy, but secured a return kill on Me5. KT went on to take two outer towers and gained a sizeable gold lead. Just three minutes later KT tried to destroy MVP’s last outer tower, but thanks to good ward placement MVP could position themselves to defend. DanDy, whilst bearing Stand United, immediately engaged Vitamin, but Vitamin managed to flash out of the ensuing Shadow Dash. KT A then gathered Top and turned the aggression on MVP this time. Homme quickly fell, but KT did not pay any attention to Imp, who dealt tons of damage and earned a triple kill. Although MVP won the fight 4:2, they were still behind because of the tower advantage of KT. MVP continued to win fights but could not take any towers while KT increased the tower advantage and the gold lead. After KT successfully took their fourth turret, they tried to ambush MVP. Me5 Crescendo hit only Diana and Jarvan, leaving Imp free to deal damage and forcing KT’s retreat despite gibbing Diana. While in pursuit Imp hunted down two other kills. MaTa earned himself a spot on the highlight real when, after Vitamin escaped a teamfight with nearly no health, MaTa chased him down, taunted him, and killed him. The last two teamfights were just a demonstration of an unchecked Vayne dealing a lot of damage while Diana cleaned. In the first one KT’s ADC arrived late to the fight; in the second one KaKAO overextended, opening a hole for MVP DanDy to engage on the damage line of KT. Vayne was again unchecked and just annihilated KT.



LG-IM took an early lead but Najin Shield closed the gap quickly. First Dragon of the game went to Najin Shield which helped them to reduce the gold gap, but Expression outperforming Smeb attributed a lot too. At 25 minutes, a good Crescendo and Bullet Time combo awarded Locodoco with two kills in exchange for Save. Shield retreated, regrouped, and re-engaged LG-IM from behind. NoFe leaped in with Jarvan Cataclysm, trading his life for two more kills. Shield sieged LG-IMs second top tower and got MidKing low. Shield went directly to Baron, and LG-IM followed, engaging on them and almost winning, but Expression’s zoning and a nice Lux laser turned the fight around. Shield continued to control the map and extend their lead. At 34 minutes LG-IM warded Baron and got stunned by Save; Najin followed with Final Spark and Bullet Time netting Locodoco another double kill and an inhibitor for his team. A few moments later MidKing initiated while Shield was crowded in a choke, but his team could not follow it up, and Shield escaped. Last teamfight of the first match was another perfect executed teamfight from Shield. Expression zoned the enemy team with his ultimate while Locodoco channeled his Bullet Time onto LG-IM and secured the game victory.

The second game was similar to the first. Shield took control of the game and slowly increased its lead. The first major teamfight was when LG-IM overextended, and MidKing got caught by a max range Crescendo. Shield used a team composition which was heavily focused on split-pushing, and it seemed to be in their favor with Expression outfarming his opponent. But one wrong decision led to the downfall of Shield. LG-IM chose a five-man push in midlane while Shield opted for split-pushing and left Locodoco in Top lane and Expression in Bottom lane. Locodoco managed to take one inhib but Expression died Rumble, who recalled to stop the split-pushing. In the meantime LG-IM killed Wolf and Save and was able to kill the Nexus.

The game started as many OGN Fans anticipated: KT took a lead in the early beginning and it seemed like that they had the game under control. They took early objectives but after they got their first dragon the KT motor had its first hiccup. While KT damaged Dragon, ssumday zoned ahq Korea off, but at the cost of his ultimate. InSec got caught while his team was retreating, and although his team engaged right away, it was too late to save him. ahq Promise landed a perfect Varus ultimate which spread to everyone on KT B. ahq Korea won the fight 3:0 and reduced the gold gap. At 14 minutes, both teams initially traded evenly in a teamfight, but an aggressive flash from Promise turned it in ahq’s favor and earned him a triple kill. In return, Score tried to secure a kill with an aggressive flash but instead outmaneuvered himself and died out of position. ahq Korea continued to play safe and let KT B be overaggressive and gift ahq free kills and towers. In the last teamfight KT tried to sandwich ahq Korea in the KT base – they were successful but Sona and Varus locket them down with Crescendo and Chain of Corruption. In the meantime ActScene nullified Score with wither and zoned him from the fight. After that ahq Korea had a big advantage and could easily defeat KT B in the last teamfight.

Like the previous game, KT B started strong. They exercised strong objective control through the early game, gaining a 5k gold lead before the first major teamfight. Hoon got caught by Sona and Karthus and KT followed up with Crescendo + Ace in the Hole, taking out Hoon. ahq Korea tried to continue the fight 4v5 but terrain split their team: Loray was on the right side of the Wraith camp, and TrAce was in the middle, leaving no one to peel Nocturne and Caitlyn off of Promise. Promise tried to Condemn InSec against the wall but InSec reacted quickly and evaded the stun with Shroud of Darkness. InSec retaliated with Unspeakable Horror and flashed after his target for the successful Fear and resultant death of Promise. Loray tried to get away from Ryu and ssumday but was slowed and killed under the turret. This allowed KT B to secure another turret kill and steal the Blue buff away. ahq Korea were still fighting and tried to make something happen. They finally got their first tower but while retreating they started a teamfight which first seemed to play out in their favor: TrAce distracted Score and allowed his team to fight against KT B without their ADC. The last two members of ahq Korea retreated out of Ryu’s ultimate with red health bars, but Mafa smelled blood and stalked Hoon down, securing the teamfight for KT B. At 27 minutes ahq Korea attempted to take the Mid Inner turret of KT B. Karthus trapped ahq with Wall of Pain, and ssumday used the opportunity to Slice and Dice right into ahq Korea; InSec followed in with Paranoia. Promise kited the divers well, and ahq Korea re-engaged on KT Rolster, only to run into MaFa’s Crescendo. Loray barely survived the carnage, but he passed a ward and Score picked up the kill with Ace in the Hole. KT Rolster used the opportunity and took their first inhibitor. Moments later ahq Korea attempted a desperation baron. KT Rolster B stole Baron, Aced ahq Korea, and sealed the game.




CJ Blaze came into this match a heavy favorite (as much of a favorite as you can be in such an upset-prone tournament) against the all-new SK Telecom T1 #2 (humorously referred to by the casters as Judgement Day). The draft for the first game went interestingly - T1’s mid player Faker, a solo queue star on the Korean ladder, was quickly denied his apparently famous Syndra by a quick ban from Blaze, and they fired right back by taking away both Twisted Fate and Kayle from Ambition. While Blaze opted for a bit of a more standard, boring composition consisting of picks that were generally considered strong and reliable at the highest level of play lately (Nasus, Rumble, Khazix, Varus, Lulu), Judgement Day picked an extremely exciting new composition that fused extremely long range poke damage (Nidalee, Jayce, Caitlyn) with tons of support CC and engage (Fiddlesticks, Jarvan)

Once the game was actually underway SKT grabbed the reigns from the get go with a brilliant Jarvan gank to secure a kill on Cpt. Jack in the bottom lane - and from this early lead they did not let go. Faker brilliantly capitalized on the split second self-stun Khazix applies on himself when he evolves one of his abilities to grab a 1v1 kill in the mid lane and immediately roamed bottom to dive the turret and grab even more and secure a commanding lead. Though Blaze made some decent attempt to comeback through their top lane, where Flame’s Rumble held a decent lead over Impact’s Jayce, in general the ridiculous poke damage being put down (combined with their excellent disengage ability with Jayce’s gate, Caitlyn’s traps, and Nidalee’s general slipperiness) was too much to handle and their towers fell one by one until Judgement Day was able to close it out.

The second game featured another very interesting composition from SK Telecom T1 #2, especially considering how far removed it was from what they showed in Game 1 - this time they ran an extremely AOE focused (Kennen/Karthus, Support Fiddlesticks) team while Blaze opted to take Jarvan from them with an early pick and otherwise continue gabbing many of the same solid safe choices (Varus, Lulu again for the bottom lane, while swapping Ambition to Diana and letting Flame take Khazix top). Surprisingly, this game was over more straightforward than the previous one. Again, T1 just came out super strong from the get-go, grabbing early objectives and going even on kills. Captain Jack made some extremely impressive plays to claw back some of the gold disadvantage but the general tide always seemed to be against Blaze, especially as Faker’s Karthus racked up more and more kills. By the end of the game, with a Zhonyas on both heavily stacked AP solo laners for SKT, it simply became impossible to deal with the amount of sustained magic damage being poured out while still managing to get to the strong Caitlyn in the back, so SK Telecom T1 #2 nabbed the second game and the series.

Overall the MVP of the games was definitely Faker from SKT - his mid lane play was exciting, dynamic, and most importantly effective. He played two completely different styles of champion between the two games and showed superb skill at both, effectively leading his team to victory in each instance.