[LCK Today] HLE and DRX takes a 2-1 victory, Pyosik's Udyr returns to the Summoner's Rift.

On Jan. 22nd, day 8 of the 2021 LCK Spring split took place. Hanwha Life Esports managed to take a 2-1 reverse sweep over kt Rolster. Utilizing Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon’s Twisted Fate’s ultimate, HLE continued to rack up kills by catching out isolated members of KT, and built their macro from there. DRX also managed to defeat Liiv SANDBOX 2-1, through superior teamfighting.

In game 1, HLE had a split push team composition, while KT opted for a team fighting comp. HLE’s top lane lost priority early on, and despite Chovy’s attempts at influencing other lanes, a single death near the Baron Nashor pit during late game was what led to KT’s set loss. While HLE’s game 1 composition was a hard but flashy one to pull off successfully, HLE was unable to connect their dots to victory. The top laner for KT, Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon, was the key player in leading KT’s set 1 victory, as he successfully shut down Akali and the rest of HLE’s game plan.

HLE managed to tie up the series in game 2. It was mainly due to Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu’s Kai’Sa, as Deft was able to get significantly ahead from a skirmish in the mid lane. He continued to cause havoc as HLE aggressively pressured the enemy, as HLE managed to win every skirmish that followed. Deft was named ‘Player of the Game’ in game 2.

With the series tied up 1-1, HLE managed to defeat KT in game 3 to take the series. HLE drafted both of the champions that they were familiar with in the series, Twisted Fate and Kai’Sa, HLE managed to snowball by smartly utilizing TF’s ult. Despite Doran’s hard-fought attempts at trying to stay in the game on Gnar, KT couldn’t overcome the lead in the bot lane, ultimately failing at overcoming HLE.

In the 2nd match of the day, DRX managed to take game 1 from LSB. Son “Becca” Min-woo performed superbly on Sett in each teamfight, accelerating DRX’s snowball. Eventually, Pyosik was ahead by 5 levels, and managed to destroy LSB’s Nexus. However, the jungler for LSB, Kim “Croco” Dong-beom, managed to take over game 2 and managed to take DRX down in just under 22 minutes. It was a victory that seemingly washed away their earlier loss, and thus, it all came down to game 3.

Game 3 was pretty even throughout most of the game. When LSB was attempting to take down the Baron Nashor, Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon, teleported onto a nearby ward. He managed to bait out a lot of LSB’s abilities, as he immediately used the stopwatch and bought his team time to position properly. It was a clean team fight victory for DRX, and with it, they took the Baron Nashor and managed to snowball the game and close out the series 2-1.

2021 LCK Spring split day 8 results

kt Rolster 1 - 2 Hanwha Life Esports

DRX 2 - 1 Liiv SANDBOX

2021 LCK Spring split standings

1st Gen.G 3-0 (+5)

2nd DRX 3-1 (+2)

3rd DWG KIA 2-1 (+1)

3rd Hanwha Life Esports 2-1 (+1)

5th kt Rolster 1-2 (-1)

5th T1 1-2 (-1)

9th Nongshim RedForce 1-2 (-2)

9th Fredit BRION 1-2 (-2)