Afreeca Freecs Upsets T1 in LCK Summer 2020 Playoffs

The impossible has happened. Afreeca Freecs defeated T1 in the Wildcard of LCK Summer 2020 Playoffs. The match ended with a score of 2 – 1 in their favor. This was a huge upset because T1 had defeated them twice in the Group Stage and was expected to make a deep run in this stage. But it wasn’t to be.

How Afreeca Did It

The match took 3 games to complete. The first two ended in less than 30 minutes, while the 3^rd needed 35 minutes to finish.

Game 1

This was one of those games in which nobody wants to risk anything. It started from the drafting phase. T1 picked Lucian, Olaf, Zoe, Caitlyn, and Leona. This was in line with many of their Group Stage drafts. Their opponent went for some surprising picks. Among them, Akali was probably the highlight. At this level, this kind of champion is quite risky, but Afreeca made it work. And against the odds, they won this first game. The action was slow. In fact, it was so slow that for more than 20 minutes, there were only two kills on the map and the net worth difference was just around 1-2K in favor of Afreeca. With a dead-even game, a few clashes decided everything.

Game 2

In the second game of the match, T1 decided to go with a Kalista lineup against an Aurelion + Aphelios combination. This was a smart choice that landed them a quick victory. By minute 15, T1 had already amassed a 3K gold lead and were also leading in kills (5 – 1). At that point, it felt as though the game was already over. And indeed, the next team fight took the score to 9 – 1. It was just 16 minutes in and it was now just a matter of time. The game ended in 25 minutes.

Game 3

Both teams entered game 3 with high expectations. The Wildcard match is Bo3 instead of Bo5, so this was T1’s last chance. The same games for Afreeca. To be fair, everybody expected Afreeca to win. But T1, in spite of playing with Faker, did not manage to pull it off. The superstar was actually the first one to get killed in the game, giving away first blood around minute 5 and a huge gold lead. The second kill of the game was a snipe from downtown. We rarely see this in professional LoL at this competitive level, but Mystic landed a ridiculous shot with Ezreal, killing Cuzz in the process. By minute 12, it was 4 – 0 for Afreeca and everyone had the same thought: “It’s over.” Overall, the match wasn’t very eventful (just 17 kills in total) and was dominated from start to finish by Afreeca.

Next Match

Afreeca’s next match will be against Gen.G Esports, a team they went 0 – 4 against in the Group Stage. In my opinion their LCK Summer 2020 Playoffs run ends here.

 

Photo credit: Riot Games