SK Telecom T1 #2 are the first to advance to OGN Spring's semi finals after straight on erasing NaJin Shield in a rather one-sided series. They shall await the winner of KT B and MVP White, who's to be determined tomorrow.
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Barely making it out of the group stage by shoving out AHQ Korea with mere 0.005 points of KDA lead, Shield readied themselves to meet one of their biggest challenges yet - Impact's SKT Telecom T1 #2, the second best team in all of OGN.
There would be no draws and no fooling around - a best of five series to determine the first semi finalist for the spring split.
GAME ONE
A quick ban/pick phase painted a clear picture of what the game would look like, with Shield opting for a late-game oriented team composition while SKT secured a low damage but high on AoE line-up.
Although their main goal was to live past the mid game to make the most optimal use of their picks, Shield ended up making strange, even downright wrong decisions. Having NoFe gank early with Hecarim backfired horribly and allowed SKT to establish control of the laning phase - a control that would later evolve into a mid-game domination. Shield might have preferred a late-game scenario but SKT were determined to not give them any room to breathe.
By the 15th minute mark, the scored had grown up to 8-3 and 4K gold lead for Telecom. A minute later, a four for zero team fight broke out near the dragon pit and the lead of SKT doubled. Virtually in a checkmate position, NaJin Shield couldn't do anything except put up a final resistance, followed by a surrender at 20.
GAME TWO
Despite starting on the wrong foot in game two, giving SKT two kills by the 4th minute, Shield were a bit better composed this time around and managed to deliver some kills to Locodoco and Expession. And then, in the course of ten minutes everything changed as:
• At 19th minute, SKT traded four for one to get a humongous lead
• At 21st minute, a three for one team fight gave SKT the middle inhibitor turret
• At 23rd minute, another three for one engagement was the death of Shield's mid inhibitor
• At 26th minute, SKT grabbed an ace near the baron pit, giving a triple kill to Impact and double kill for Piglet
• At the 19th minute, Shield were cleaned up for the final time and had to admit defeat once again.
One of the rarer times when SKT did not vaporize the entirety of Shield
GAME THREE
The pick/ban phase of game three looked a bit similar to that of the first but there was an extra twist: While Shield had again gone for a late game composition with a Kog`Maw and Karthus and SKT had secured the AoE of Kennen, Jarvan IV and Orianna, the latter swapped Varus/Thresh for a blood boiled Caitlyn as to be equally as potent in the later stages.
This was also the only game that offered any kind of intrigue. Granted, Shield still made several mistakes in the early game and gave free kills to Save or surrendered towers uncontested but overall their coordination had tangibly improved.
For the better part of the game, the two teams went head to head in kills and while SKT maintained the tower advantage, Shield weren't visibly dead like in the first two games. Or at least that was the case until Piglet's triple kill at 18th minute.
Giving such a hearty gold boost to Caitlyn was the first step towards Shield's downfall. Although Locodoco was slowly approaching critical mass of item farm, he couldn't dish out enough damage to melt SKT fast enough. Behind the AoE punishment from Kennen, Jarvan and Orianna, the blood-boiled Caitlyn rained terror through her Bloodthirster and Zephyr. At minute 26, SKT were already knocking on Shield's doors and ten minutes later after another clean team fight they battered down the purple inhibitor for the flawless 3-0.
