The growth of the pink-shirted gang has been tremendous.
It was a proper David vs. Goliath battle in the first semi-finals of APEX Season 2. On one side stood RunAway, with their goofy pink sweaters. RunAway finished in the bottom four of the previous season and have notoriously struggled with their raw mechanics. The team was being led by Dae-Hoon “Runner” Yoon, a Lucio with great mind for the game but lacking in his own gameplay, and fielded carry players no one would consider at the top of their role.
Against them there were LW Blue, champions of IEM Gyeonggi and quarter finalists from season one. A team boasting the DPS talents of Yeon-Oh “Fl0w3r” Hwang and Jong-Ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park, the latter of whom out-Roadhog’d the famed Kyo-Min “EVERMORE” Koo in the round of eight.
As has often happened this season of APEX, however, David proved stronger than Goliath. RunAway and LW Blue sparred for two and a half hours across five games, including a two-point overtime payload push by LW Blue on Route66 to tie the series in game four.
For all the great plays this marathon saw, none came close to the decisive Earthshatter of RunAway’s Sang-Hoon “Kaiser” Ryu. The pink shirts were racing against a practically three-point push by LW Blue, who managed to escort the payload just shy of Eichenwalde’s finish. Where most teams struggle to overcome the final turn of the map, Kaiser came in swinging with a five-man ultimate, wiping the castle floors with LW Blue.
RunAway now are to play either Korea’s best team Lunatic-Hai or the potential royal roaders of Meta Athena who emerged from Challenger League to contest the most prized trophy on local soil. Their clash is set for March 28.
