The Jin Air Green Wings came up with a nice Game 2 win, but Samsung Galaxy was commanding in the other two games for a 2-1 victory on Sunday in Seoul, South Korea, to open Week 4, Day 5 of League of Legends Champions Korea.
Even before Game 1 started, Samsung (7-1, 15-5 match record) showed why it is at the top of the LCK table by securing a powerful composition through the draft. With Samsung AD carry Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk playing Caitlyn and support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in on Tahm Kench, the bottom lane was virtually unwinnable for Jin Air (4-4, 10-9 match record). In the midlane, Lee "Crown" Min-ho was afforded the opportunity display his excellent Syndra play once again as his knowledge of her kit allowed him to tip teamfights and carry his team with six kills. Jin Air had no answers for Samsung's smooth and methodical macro play, which allowed the league leaders to seize a seemingly effortless victory in 28 minutes.
After the uninspiring start to the series Jin Air looked to its bench for a spark. Jeon "ikssu" Ik-soo answered the call, coming in for Kim "SoHwan" Jun-yeong in the top lane and putting on a highlight reel performance on Akali. From the game's onset, Jin Air made it clear that it was not going to be caught on the back foot again. With a lack of crowd-controlling abilities in its composition, Samsung had no clear way of countering Akali's dash and damage style. Not even Crown's Fiora had adequate sustain or mobility to match Jin Air's assassin. Although ikssu was impressive in lane, he was even more impressive during larger teamfights. The power of his selection carried Jin Air to victory as he scored a pentakill in the final moments before the Samsung Nexus was broken in just 28 minutes.
After an explosive Game 2, both teams returned to more standard compositions in the final game of the series. Samsung gave Crown and Ruler their comfort picks of Karma and Varus, respectively, and built an early lead on the back of clean macro play. However, Jin Air was not going to give up without making things interesting. The underdogs stole a Baron at the 43-minute mark, allowing the team to maintain hope despite a nearly 8,000 gold deficit. However, Samsung's Crown again executed an extremely clean match. The Samsung star finished the game without dying while also coming in only behind his ADC in total damage dealt to champions. In a controlled effort, Samsung broke Jin Air's Nexus in just under 53 minutes with a 10-3 kill differential to secure the series win.
Samsung Galaxy's next test comes against Longzhu Gaming on Wednesday at 4 a.m. ET. Jin Air looks to get back its winning record also on Wednesday at 7 a.m. ET against the Afreeca Freecs.