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Afreeca ends Jin Air's playoff hopes, Kingzone locks in first place

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Kingzone DragonX 2 -- KT Rolster 0

Kingzone DragonX made good on its death grip on the LCK when it locked itself in first place after defeating KT Rolster in decisive fashion Thursday.

To call the series one-sided would be generous, as KT Rolster (10-5) had very little to say about the course of the contest. While it did score a promising first blood on top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho's Fiora in the opening minutes of Game 1, that would be just about the only good news for KT Rolster fans. Despite that early kill, KT Rolster would utterly fail to jump start the critical top lane matchup, which would become a running theme over the course of the series as Kingzone DragonX (14-2) punished KT Rolster's unusual fixation on Fiora once again in Game 2.

Kim "Khan" Dong-ha played conservatively all throughout the series -- an out of character decision that frustrated Smeb's every attempt to send each of the top lane matchups into critical mass. Without the ability to rely on a split push victory, KT Rolster simply didn't have a viable way to win the game.

This victory was not simply another feather in Kingzone's cap, however, as it was the very condition required to squash any possibility for Afreeca Freecs (11-4) or KT Rolster to overtake Kingzone and take first place in the regular season. A LCK Spring final including Kingzone DragonX is now certain, as the LCK gauntlet-style playoff system ensures the team that places first in the season gets automatically seeded into the finals.

Fortunately for Kingzone DragonX, both of its presumptive challengers -- KT Rolster and the Afreeca Freecs -- have lost every direct match against them, leading most to conclude that the LCK championship title is now Kingzone's to lose.

Before the playoffs kick off, Kingzone DragonX must first take on Jin Air Green Wings at 7:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday while KT Rolster will look to compete against the Afreeca Freecs for the league's second place position when it takes on MVP at 4:00 a.m. ET on Saturday.

--James Bates

Afreeca Freecs 2 -- Jin Air 1

The Afreeca Freecs all but destroyed Jin Air Green Wings' hopes of making an appearance in the 2018 LCK Spring Playoffs early Thursday morning.

The two took turns scoring nearly perfect victories against each other, but it was Afreeca that scored the final critical win at the end of the night. That might have seemed like an obvious conclusion after the end of Game 1 but an amazing performance out of both mid laner Lee "Grace" Chan-ju's Taliyah, and support Kwon "Wraith" Ji-min's Rakan put the series on unstable footing, as they managed to completely dissect the aggressive composition that Afreeca put together for the second game.

A chain of unfortunate mistakes by Jin Air in Game 3, however, ensured that Jin Air's dream of taking down one of the two second place LCK teams was going to remain but a pleasant fiction.

For the Afreeca Freecs, this victory is just one piece of a complicated puzzle that, if successfully completed, leads to a possible first place finish for the squad -- an unthinkable accomplishment for the organization only a few months ago. The Afreeca Freecs will return to the stage in order to try to make its first place dream a reality at 7:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, when it takes on the bbq Olivers. Jin Air, on the other hand, face the end of its playoff dreams at 7:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday when it squares off against Kingzone DragonX.

--James Bates

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