With only one week remaining in the group stage for Champions Winter, SK Telecom T1 K is the first and only team so far to clinch their spot in the round of eight.
The third week of Champions Winter 2014 was the first week on the 3.14 preseason patch. With notable exceptions, namely Shy's Dr. Mundo and the near constant banning or first picking of Evelynn, the patch didn't result in any significant changes to champion hierarchy or strategy yet. This, naturally, did not detract from the quality of the games.
The first set came from Group A between Team NB and SK Telecom T1 S. In the first game, Team NB attempted to run a Soraka and Lucian lane to answer Lucian's mana problems, but they ultimately ended up losing out in a 2v1 situation due to jungle pressure, and SKT T1 S's overall stronger picks—including our first glimpse at 3.14 Evelynn—and control gave them the game. The second game in the set saw the battle of more standard teamfight compositions, but Team NB still could not come out ahead, and they gauranteed themselves a spot at the bottom of Group A.
The next series was much closer between Najin Black Sword and KT Rollster Bullets. The first game featured a near masterful series of plays by KTB, and the second game looked like it would split the series, as has been the case for all Group B matchups so far, but several missed engages by Song's Sona allowed KTB to take Group B's first 2-0. Najin Black Sword will yet again miss out on Champions Winter's round of eight.
Due to Team Dark's disqualification, CJ Entus Frost vs Jin Air Greenwings Falcons was the only best of two on Friday. The first game featured Shy's Dr. Mundo top, whose abuse of the Perserverance mastery drew a lot of attention. He even managed to steal baron with Sunfire Cape. In the second game, however, the Falcons banned Dr. Mundo and had considerably more success to pull out the win, though the game was still close. Both games, Reapered played Tryndamere mid with very little success, and his announcement that he would be taking a break came shortly after the series. Unfortunately, splitting even was not enough to keep the Falcons in the running to make it out of the group stage.
The final day of Champions Winter round of sixteen this week featured two highly anticipated matchups. The first series was between SKT T1 K and CJ Entus Blaze. In both games, SKT T1 K showed off their world championship flair, complete with Faker's Gragas plays, and found two more wins, making them undefeated in the entire group stage. By failing to lose a game to Blaze, SKT T1 K also kept their sister team, S, in the group stage. If CJ Entus Blaze loses a game to Team NB next week, SKT T1 S will be the second team to escape groups. If CJ Entus Blaze 2-0's NB, which is likely since the team has yet to find a win, this will force a tie-breaker to decide who joins SKT T1 K in the round of eight.
The final best of two this week featured Samsung Galaxy Blue and Incredible Miracle 2, both rising teams in the Korean spotlight. In the first game, IM2 used the double threat of Dr. Mundo top and Annie support initiation to find the win. In Group B tradition, however, Samsung Galaxy Blue found a successful comeback strategy for the second game. They banned Annie and chose a surprising Katarina mid lane pick. PawN's Kat managed to throw herself into fights and simultaneously soak and do damage while Deft's Caitlyn cleaned from afar. This draw left KT Rollster Bullets as the only proud holder of a three point series sweep in Group B so far.
Despite Team Dark's disqualification and the inability for Team NB, Najin Black Sword, and Jin Air Greenwings Falcons to advance into the round of eight, all groups are still relatively close going into the final week of the round of sixteen. SK Telecom T1 sit at the top of Group A, and it is impossible for them not to advance to the bracket stage, but no other bracket has a sure leader. The games next week will decide who will join them and who will drop into NLB.
