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For the first time since the organization joined the league in 2015 under the name “Rebels Anarchy,” Afreeca Freecs have qualified for the LCK Spring Split final after a commanding 3-1 victory over KT Rolster.
Today was Afreeca’s first LCK best-of-five match, despite being a part of the league for almost three years. Historically an organization known to get knocked out in the playoff wildcard match, Afreeca never had the chance to play a best-of-five. But after a spectacular regular season, Afreeca stood three game wins away from their first LCK finals appearance.
But in order to make the finals, Afreeca needed to beat KT Rolster, one of the most practiced best-of-five teams in the league. And after game one, the future looked bleak for Afreeca.
KT seemed to have Afreeca completely understood as they found advantages at almost every facet of game one. Afreeca, who had been put behind at the start of the game due to a clever delayed invade by KT, simply couldn’t make a comeback.
After their game one loss, though, the flow of momentum massively shifted in favor of Afreeca. Feeling comfortable to pick seldom-seen counters like Malphite top and mid lane Yasuo, Afreeca quickly gained the edge over the KT.
This edge manifested itself in many ways throughout the next three games. Games two and four were a complete stomp by Afreeca. After finding an initial lead from a skirmish or teamfight victory, Afreeca proceeded to run away with those two games.
Game three, however, actually saw both teams struggle to find leads. KT and Afreeca went back and forth, trading objectives and kills in the process. If Afreeca took Baron, KT quickly answered back with three kills.
Where KT faltered, though, was in their late game decision making, a problem that has plagued the team for over a year. A poor decision by KT to try to take the Cloud Drake gave Afreeca the clear path to rush straight into their opponent’s base and end the game following a great engage by Afreeca support, Park “TusiN” Jong-ik.
Now that they’ve qualified for the LCK Spring Split final, Afreeca will head to Busan to face KINGZONE DragonX in a battle to be crowned Korea’s No. 1 team on April 14.
