This week kicked off the first week of OGN Champions Summer after a 2 month break following MVP Ozone’s deconstruction of CJ Entus Blaze in the Spring Finals. Amongst all the commotion with various role swaps and roster expansions, Champions this season has expanded from 12 to 16 teams in 4 different gropus. If you’re curious about the new roster changes and the teams coming into this season, please refer to teamliquid’s excellent OGN Summer Primer. Throughout the season, Cloth5 will be bringing you weekly coverage and highlighting the best games of the days to come.

In this week’s coverage, we highlight:

• Day 1: MVP Ozone vs Xenics Blast, Game 2
• Day 2: SK Telecom T1 vs Incredible Miracle 2, Game 1
• Day 3: CJ Entus Blaze vs Hoon Good Day, Game 1

Day 1

MVP Ozone vs Xenic Blast 

Game 1:

Ozone  bans:                             XB  bans:   

Ozone Picks:         XB picks:     

Winner MVP Ozone MVP: Mata on Thresh, Support – 0/3/12

 Game 2

XB  bans:                            Ozone  bans:     

XB Picks:         Ozone Picks:     

Winner MVP Ozone MVP: Dandy on Lee Sin, Jungle – 13/3/13, 190 cs.

The game started with MVP going for a top-bot lane swap, sending Varus-Thresh against Jarvan in the top lane and leaving Kennen against the push power coming from Caitlyn-Zyra. Despite Stark (Jarvan) having a cs lead over Homme (Kennen) Xenics Blast’s top turret was the first one to fall and after that lanes went back to normal. Seven minutes into the game, last season’s MVP, Ozone’s Dade (Ryze), got first blood on Blast’s Quality (Elise) in the mid lane after a failed gank attempt. In the 2v2 match up in bot lane just before Varus-Thresh (Imp-Mata) get to their power spike over Caitlyn-Zyra (Bhang-Boink) at level 6 they got ganked by Elise and Blast got a kill on the 3v2 play.

The first two dragons of the game went to MVP Ozone but they couldn’t extend their lead (gold wise) because Xenic Blast took both Ozone’s bot and top outer turrets. Later into the game XB was able to take an uncontested Baron but right after, they went on to lose a teamfight (with Baron buff) after Jarvan IV initated in the mid lane, with only Dade (Ryze) surviving the brawl, the power of a well fed Ryze had started to show in teamfights where MVP was winning even though Blast seemingly had the advantage.

Turning Point: Going into late game, a fight broke out and went well in Blast favor, leaving only Dandy (Lee Sin) defending for the reigning champions against three members of Xenic Blast, where Ozone’s player would get a 1v3 triple kill in the bot lane securing the Baron buff for his team on re-spawn. With Baron buff on them, MVP Ozone would push the side lanes and initiate on Blast in the mid lane with two members (Dandy and Imp) closing in from behind with a Lee Sin kick on Caitlyn that would knock back ALL of Blasts members, causing it to be an easy teamfight for the spring champions securing their final push over Blast’s base and Nexus at 48 minutes.

MVP: Ozone’s Dandy, Jungle – 13/3/13, 190 cs.
With his incredible Lee Sin plays, including a Baron securing 1v3 triple kill and a teamfight winning ‘’Pentakick’’ he was the most determinant player to his team victory.

Highlights:

MVP Ozone’s Dandy on Lee Sin 1v3 triple kill and a rare 5-man Dragon’s Rage knockup

 Najin Black Sword vs Chunnam Techno University 

Game 1

CTU  bans:                              NBS  bans:    

CTU picks:           NBS picks:     

Winner: Najin Black Sword MVP: Expession on Renekton, Top – 10/5/13, 328 CS

Game 2

NBS  bans:                                CTU  bans:   

NBS picks:            CTU picks:     

Winner: Chunnam Techno University MVP: Mima on Gragas, Mid – 5/2/10, 204 CS

Day 2

    SK Telecom T1 vs Incredible Miracle 2 

Game 1

SKT1 bans:                               IM2  bans:    

SKT1 picks:          IM2 picks:     

Winner: SK Telecom T1 MVP: Faker on Kassadin, Mid – 6/1/8, 206 CS

The game was set up with a couple of lane swaps; SKT1’s duo lane went top against Gragas, IM2’s duo lane sought to keep down Faker’s Kassadin in the mid lane, and Kennen dueled LeBlanc in the bottom lane. Later on in the game, it was revealed to us that SKT1’s team composition would rely on a fast split-push consisting of a Blood Boiled Caitlyn coupled with the powerful zoning prowess of Nami to bring down turrets quickly. Since kurO’s Gragas could provide waveclear in the event of a siege from SKT1, it was necessary for Sylph’s LeBlanc to be able to duel Faker. Thus, it brings us to bengi’s first gank on Sylph in the bottom lane to give Impact first blood at 3:50. As players are wont to do with Nunu, bengi successfully begins counter-jungling Lilac without repercussions and brought so much forward vision for SKT1. At 12 minutes, SKT1 managed to catch out Thresh warding dragon from bot lane. Nami’s Tidal Wave knocked up Thresh to allow Caitlyn to trap him with cupcakes which led to another knockup from Aqua Prison. This pick led to SKT1 taking the first dragon and showed just how terrifying SKT1’s bottom lane will be through Champions as they’re clearly capable of making plays to get kills on their own.

At 15 minutes, Faker purchased a Mejai’s Soulstealer to keep the SKT1 snowball rolling and it proved fruitful for the next dragon fight. Faker baited a Chains of Corruption ultimate with his Riftwalk which led to Nami’s Tidal Wave completely scattering to the the sides of the river. SKT1 took advantage of their positioning and it led to Piglet getting a triple kill. They attempted to siege the second middle turret but LeBlanc and Gragas successfully repel them and they take a large bounty off of Caitlyn’s head. Following Faker’s return to the map, his roaming began. First, he was able to create a pick on Sylph with bengi’s help that led to a rather hilarious 180° Ice Blast from Nunu and the successful siege of IM2’s 2nd top turret. After SKT1 dove a bit too far for IM’s 2nd middle turret, they attempted to create some map pressure by pushing their bottom lane. There, kurO found Piglet and after landing a Barrel Roll, Piglet dodged the Body Slam and Cleansed off the Ignite saving his life. Faker followed up and found a roaming Sylph and he was able to 100-0 combo her so fast that the stream missed it. He then caught up with Gragas and completed the double kill bringing his Mejai’s stacks to a total of 13. At 27 minutes, SKT1 started Baron and when IM2 arrived they immediately made the correct call and switched focus to fighting their underfarmed and underleveled opponents. Kassadin and Kennen picked off Thresh in a half second which led to Nami’s Tidal Wave and Kennen’s Slicing Malestrom wombo-combo’ing all of IM2. SKT1 aced without a single death on their side and IM2 surrendered at 27:47.

MVP: SKT1’s Faker, Mid – 6/1/8, 206 CS
Faker managed to keep up in CS with a Gragas in a 1v2 lane and severely outclassed LeBlanc in picking potential. It’s what we expected from Faker: a hard carry.

Game 2

IM2  bans:                                SKT1  bans:   

IM2 picks:            SKT1 picks:     

Winner: SK Telecom T1 MVP: Piglet on Caitlyn, AD – 12/0/8, 240 CS

 KT Rolster Bullets vs MiG Blitz 

 Game 1

MiG  bans:                                 KTB  bans:   

MiG picks:             KTB picks:     

Winner: KT Rolster Bullets MVP: Insec on Shen, Top – 3/3/20, 251 CS

Game 2

KTB  bans:                                MiG  bans:   

KTB picks:            MiG picks:     

Winner: KT Rolster Bullets  MVP: Ryu on Twisted Fate, Mid – 10/1/8, 183 CS

Day 3

Eat Sleep Game vs Xenics Storm 

Game 1

ESG bans:                                XS bans:    

ESG picks:          XS picks: 

Winner: Eat Sleep Game MVP: Repeared on Lee Sin, Jungle – 4/3/11, 84 CS

Game 2

XS bans:                              ESG bans:  

XS picks:       ESG picks: 

Winner: Eat Sleep Game MVP: Roar on Kayle, Mid – 3/1/6, 408 CS

 Hoon Good Day vs CJ Entus Blaze 

Game 1

HGD bans:                              Blaze bans:  

HGD picks:       Blaze picks: 

Winner: CJ Entus Blaze MVP: Flame on Kennen, Top – 4/0/7, 275 CS

After what seems like a failed invasion from both teams as Ambition on Ahri loses Flash and Hoon’s Jayce accidentally blows Barrier with not a single soul around him, Blaze had enough faith in their duo lane of Capt. Jack and Lustboy to pit them against Load and IceBear. Whether it be due to Blaze’s bot lane improving or an underwhelming one from HGD, they managed to push out Varus and Thresh to their tower even with Sejuani coming down to provide aid. However, soon enough Thresh landed a hook onto Helios’s Elise and that resulted in first blood. At the same time, Ambition roamed top to receive a donated kill from Flame’s Kennen on TrAce’s Zac. After picking up a 2nd Doran’s Blade on Kennen, Flame proceeded to bully Zac mercilessly and eventually drew Sejuani to the top lane. Kennen and Sejuani traded summoner spells but this allows Blaze to pick up an uncontested Dragon at 10 minutes. Following after, Sejuani appeared bot lane to gank but Nami successfully thwarts the attempt with an excellent Tidal Wave and Aqua Prison combo. Once again Sejuani’s appearance gave Blaze the ability to make a heads up play as Elise came top and along with Kennen, they get another kill on Zac. At the 14 minute mark, things looked dire for HGD as they were down in farm in the top and bot lanes, 40 cs and 30cs respectively. With Kennen having picked up a bit more gold, Flame was now able to solo TrAce and picks him off at the 15:40 mark. In the middle lane, Ambition showed his technical prowess on Ahri as he flash-Charmed Jayce to his death and on another skirmish was able to charm him again that lead to a 2-1 skirmish in favor of Blaze.

At the 20 minute mark, Blaze proceeded to take down HGD in a calculating fashion by catching them sleeping on rotations which led to free inner top and middle turrets. With Blaze’s map advantage they abused it to litter HGD’s bottom jungle and after taking down the inner bot turret, Flame was able to flank from the side that concluded in a 4-0 fight in Blaze’s favor. At 27 minutes, Blaze’s top and bottom lane had 100 cs leads on their lane opponents. With their massive item advantage, they chose to skip Baron and instead sieged the middle inhibitor turret. Once again, Flame initiated with a Flash-Slicing Malestrom-Zhonyas that resulted in 3 deaths for HGD and the turret. HGD surrendered at 29:07.

MVP: Blaze’s Flame, Top – 4/0/7, 275 CS
Once again, Flame was able to outcs his lane opponent by at least 100 and provided Blaze with excellent teamfight initiations.

Game 2

Blaze bans:                              HGD bans: 

Blaze picks:       HGD picks: 

Winner: CJ Entus Blaze MVP: Lustboy on Nami, Support – 2/2/12, 26 CS

Standings:

Group A

1-MVP Ozone   1-0-0 (2-0)
1-Eat Sleep Game  1-0-0 (2-0)
3-  Xenic Blast  0-0-1 (0-2)
3-  Xenic Storm  0-0-1 (0-2)

Group B

1-CJ Entus Blaze  1-0-0 (2-0)
2- Chunnam Techno University  0-1-0 (1-1)
2- Najin Black Sword  0-1-0 (1-1)
4- Hoon Good Day  0-0-1 (0-2)

Group C

1-  SK Telecom T1  1-0-0 (2-0)
2- MVP Blue  0-0-0 (0-0)
2- Najin White Shield  0-0-0 (0-0)
4- Incredible Miracle 2  0-0-1 (0-2)

Group D

1-  KT Rolster Bullets  1-0-0 (2-0)
2- CJ Entus Frost  0-0-0 (0-0)
2- Incredible Miracle  0-0-0 (0-0)
4- Maximum Impact Gaming Blitz  0-0-1 (0-2)