Park Do-hyeonRookie phenomenon Griffin has made it to the LCK Grand Finals after defeating Afreeca Freecs in one of the best matches of the year. The two teams went back and forth in a five game series, but it would be Griffin who would be victorious.
vs AFS Playoff round2 3:2로 경기 승리했습니다. 응원해 주셔서 감사합니다.
Team Griffin won this match. Thank you for your support. pic.twitter.com/TCzGpDLFdw— Team Griffin LoL (@TeamGriffinLoL) August 18, 2018
The Freecs were coming into this matchup looking dominant. They had just taken down two very strong teams in Gen. G and Kingzone DragonX. Their bottom lane of Ha “Kramer” Jong-hun and Park “TusiN” Jong-ik have been very flexible for the team. Also, rising top laner Kim “Kiin” Gi-in was proving to many people that he could be the best top laner in the LCK. Afreeca had plenty of momentum going into this match up against Griffin.
On the other hand, Griffin was an anomaly. The whole team was made up of rookies, with some players who had not even touched professional play yet. However, they were able to become one of the best teams in the LCK in the span of a year. Their 17-year-old mid laner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon reminds many of Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, who was also 17 when started playing professionally. The synergy between the Griffin teammates is top notch, and when they are clicking, they might be the best team in the world.
Fortunately, Griffin lives to see another day as they were able to defeat the veterans of Afreeca Freecs this time around.
A Veteran Presence
Afreeca Freecs would field an experimental composition in the first game. They would place mid laner Lee “Kuro” Seo-haeng on Aatrox while putting ADC Kramer on his classic Swain in the bottom lane. Meanwhile, Griffin would send out a much more traditional composition, with Park “Viper” Do-hyeon on Varus and Son “Lehends” Si-woo on Braum. The young squad would exercise their will early with great team fighting and individual mechanical ability. Griffin would take game one quite convincingly, with an 11k+ gold lead by the end of the match.
However, the veteran Afreeca Freecs would bounce back quite well in game two. Kiin would pick Quinn and utilize her superior mobility and splitpushing to its fullest potential. His ability to pick off any straggling Griffin members while splitpushing constantly gave the Freecs some great momentum heading to game three. In the third game, it was all about Afreeca’s jungler Lee “Spirit” Da-yoon, and how he counter-jungled Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong. That, plus the early first blood for Kiin in the top lane would help snowball a lead for Afreeca Freecs, which would lead to the fastest game in the series thus far.
It wasn’t looking too great for the rookie phenoms, but they would soon prove why they were a top team in the LCK.
The Griffins Fly High
Possibly out of overconfidence, the Afreeca Freecs opt into a teamfighting composition, to stand toe-to-toe against Griffin. However, that is the young squad’s forte, and it would show. Chovy’s Galio would carry multiple fights and Lehends would play incredibly well throughout the whole match. Griffin would absolutely roll on Afreeca, and end the game quicker than the game before. Silver scrapes would play, as we would head to an exciting game five. Game five would be the closest match of them all. The whole match would be back and forth, with both teams winning teamfights and pushing objectives. However, it was the Griffin’s mid lane prodigy who would seal the fate of Afreeca Freecs:
https://clips.twitch.tv/TacitImpossibleHawkWow
This would be an impressive first year for any new team. However, being a team full of rookies, and being in the LCK makes this even more amazing. Griffin now moves on to face off against KT Rolster, who were looking incredible by the end of the LCK regular season. We will see if these fiery youngsters will be able to take down the cool, calculated veterans of KT in a few weeks.
What do you think of Griffin’s victory over the Afreeca Freecs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you want more League of Legends content, check us out here!
