DRX beats Gen.G in an extremely long 5-game series, ( due to technical issues ), locking a spot for Worlds.
LCK has entered the final stages of the Summer Playoffs. In Round 3, DRX faced Gen.G in an ultimate battle for the spot at Worlds; the winners would guarantee themselves a seed at the biggest tournament of the year. More importantly, they would represent Korea at least as a 2nd seed, which would put them at a greater advantage in the future Group Stage.
The first game of the series started with a banger. Both teams had very clear priorities: Gen.G wanted to focus on Dragons while DRX wanted to exploit the Lucian-Ashe double marksmen combo. Skirmishes happened everywhere on the map. The two teams fighting over objectives will be a recurrence throughout the whole series. In this case, DRX’s better teamfight execution allowed them to take Game 1, despite Ruler picking up a Pentakill on Senna after a very greedy call from the opponents.
After losing the first game, Gen.G immediately responded in Game 2 & Game 3. Their drafts were a lot better compared to the opponents and their execution was really on point. Proactive early game and superior set up allowed them to open up a lead from the beginning. Not only that, but team fighting execution was also stellar: DRX had their backs against the wall the whole time. Gen.G almost never gave the opponents chances to come back, and in both games, Gen.G steamrolled DRX in sub-30 minute games.
During the break after Game 3, a technical issue came up. This caused the teams to wait for more than 3 hours. After the issue had been fixed, the two teams agreed to play the rest of the series on the live servers. This meant that the patch they played on in Game 4 & Game 5 was 10.17, with Yone still globally disabled.
This was the first time in League’s history where a series was played on two patches. However, the issue wasn’t the only unexpected thing…
After two very convincing games, it looked like Gen.G was going to win the series and advance to the Finals. Nevertheless, DRX found a miracle win to take it to Game 5. Pyosik was able to get an early snowball on Graves, allowing them to take control over drakes and eventually Mountain Soul. Paired with Shen’s roaming ability with the ultimate, DRX was able to push the lead by diving and engaging on Gen.G with ease. After more than eight hours, the strain and pressure the players have gone through must have reached its peak. Yet, one last game was still left. The game that would decide everything…
Once again, the two teams had very clear ideas on how they wanted to win: Gen.G focused playing around Ruler’s Kalista in a traditional protect-the-carry composition, while DRX relied on Doran and Chovy to threaten the enemies. The main key to win the teamfight for DRX was reaching Ruler and shutting him down. Gen.G started slowly snowballing the lead with drakes, up to the Soul Point. Clid managed to steal the last drake for Soul and the rest of the team was able to kill a flashless Chovy. It looked like Gen.G had the game and ultimately, the ticket to Worlds. But that illusion didn’t last long.
DRX found a miraculous fight around Baron Nashor, killing all the enemies without dropping a single member. They were healthy enough to tank the turrets and make a final last push for the Nexus. With that, DRX won the series in an unbelievable fashion and earned themselves a ticket to Worlds.
DRX will now face DAMWON Gaming next week in the Playoffs Finals. Gen.G, on the other hand, will hope that DRX wins the split which would allow them to qualify for Worlds as the 2nd seed ( they’re tied with DRX on 140 championship points ). Otherwise, they will have to go through the Regional Finals and fight for the last seed. So, who do you think will win Playoffs? Who do you want to see at Worlds? Write it below in the comments.
To watch the Playoffs Finals, head over to the Official Broadcast on Saturday, 5th September 10AM ( CET ).
