Liiv SANDBOX upset Gen.G in a close 2-1 series in the 2021 LCK Summer Split, with Summit leading the charge from the top lane.
Going into this series, Gen.G subbed in jungler Ko “YoungJae” Yeong-jae instead of Clid, a surprising move considering that only a handful of games are left in the Summer Split before the playoffs begin. Following this defeat, Gen.G lost their leadership position to Nongshim RedForce, who look like one of the best teams LCK has to offer currently.
The MVP votes for this showdown were picked up by Summit and Effort. The 22-year old top laner picked up his vote after a spectacular Viego performance in the first game of the series. He dominated his lane, before grouping up with his team and dealing a lot of damage. He finished the match with a 27.9 percent damage share and a KDA of 3/0/9. Effort picked up his vote after a confident Rakan performance, looking for angles to engage on unaware opponents and picking up easy kills for his team with his decisive engages.
The first match of the series opened up with a surprising upset by LSB, who took control of the early game and denied Gen.G from taking any neutral objectives. Summit’s performance in the top lane was a huge enabling factor for LSB since he was able to easily split push and draw attention from Gen.G. His team picked up several objectives, before finishing the match empowered by Baron and the Infernal Dragon Soul.
Gen.G banned Viego in the second match after Summit’s impressive performance and looked much more in control throughout the match. They had better map and objective control and while their win was almost guaranteed, LSB’s AD carry Prince almost put a stop to their comeback story with his Kalista pick. A couple of crucial ultimates by Bdd’s Orianna helped Gen.G equalize the series, however.
In the last match of the series, LSB picked four of the five champions that helped them secure the first win. With Summit back on Viego once again, he was able to easily win his lane and transition to teamfights with an item and experience lead. On the other side of the map, Effort was going for aggressive plays with his Rakan, propelling his team to a huge gold lead that kept growing with every teamfight. After 30 minutes of controlled play, LSB secured the 2-1 upset over Gen.G in dominant fashion.
Related: Here are the 2021 LCK Summer Split standings
LSB (7-5) will return on the Rift on Saturday with a match against T1 (7-5). While this match would favor LSB in the past couple of weeks, recently improved performances from T1 puts them as favorites going into the next match. The substitute jungler Oner enables other T1 members really well with his aggressive playstyle, which might prove to be a huge challenge for LSB.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
Published: Jul 22, 2021 06:43 am