[Rift Rivals Finals] LCK Soar Over LPL for their First Rift Rivals Championship

Jul 7, 2019

On the 7th (KST), the finals of the 2019 Rift Rivals for the LCK/LPL/LMS/VMS was held. The LCK faced the LPL, aiming for the first Rift Rivals win. The LCK had a good start, having won 7 games out of 8 in the first round while the LPL responded with a 3-0 victory over the LMS/VMS. Fierce fights went about around the Rift, and the LCK succeeded to claim the Rift Rivals Championship for the first time with a 3-1 win.

Game 1 was Kingzone DragonX versus Invictus Gaming. IG put on the pressure from the early game with Rookie’s Azir pushing mid lane hard against Naehyun’s Corki. While IG concentrated in ganks and taking objectives, Cuzz’s Karthus concentrated on scaling. IG had the initiative with priority in top lane as TheShy’s Renekton was well ahead of Rascal’s Camille and they took first blood. However, Kingzone’s bot lane drew first turret to balance out the game. There were skirmishes around the map and the two teams stayed close, but as Deft’s Ezreal started to prove what he’s capable of, the game tilted towards Kingzone’s way. Kingzone destroyed IG’s Nexus in 29 minutes.

SK Telecom T1 and Top Esports were named as the second battle between the LCK and LPL. Faker played Neeko by taking her as the first pick. Top Esports’ Knight9 responded with mid Lucian. Clid’s Elise was active all around the Rift, diving bot and top in order. As SKT gained the initiative, they continued to snowball. Top Esports managed to keep the game close, but Faker and Teddy delivered super plays in all critical situations to keep SKT ahead. As a result, SKT secured the win to make the score 2-0 in LCK’s favor.

The third game was between Griffin and FunPlus Phoenix. FunPlus Phoenix surprised everyone by picking Pantheon in mid lane. Doinb’s Pantheon was extremely aggressive from the beginning, often visiting bot lane and gained 4 kills. It seemed FunPlus would snowball from the lead, but Griffin countered a dive at the tier-2 tower in bot lane perfectly. With that one fight, the game turned even. However, the game met another turning point at a Dragon fight where Lwx’s Vayne kited freely. FunPlus won the fight and were able to secure Baron. After an Ace at the next Baron, FunPlus succeeded to close the game.

DAMWON Gaming and JD Gaming clashed in the Game 4. DAMWON ran into accidents from the start as Nuclear's Kai'Sa was killed even before the laning started. The two teams fought aggressively throughout the game. Although JDG stepped ahead, Canyon's Karthus scaled extremely well. After a fight around Rift Herald, DWG turned the game completely around. In the following fights, DWG stacked benefits to their side extremely fast. BeryL's Alistar was the star of the fights. DWG split open the game and didn't allow any more turnarounds. As a result, the LCK was able to take their first Rift Rivals trophy home.