First Stand is finally here, and its first day of games saw two gripping best-of-fives to kick things off. In the first China-Korea clash of the tournament,
and
kicked off the tournament this Monday, March 16, with a five-game series to remember, which ultimately went the way of LPL’s first seed.
The first game was a one-sided stomp from BLG, in which
showed exactly why he’s been one of the world’s best toplaners for years, going 11/1 on his signature Jax in a whopping 29-kill 29-minute game. BFX struck back in Game 2 with standout play from wunderkind botlaner
, their 18-year old star, who picked up a pentakill with Jinx to secure the win.
The next two games saw back-and-forth action, with plenty of quadra kills coming from both sides. Game 4 saw Bin pick up his 100th international win, a testament to just how much domination he’s dished out for so long. Finally, in Game 5, with a Camille support pick from Luo “ON” Wen-Jun, and a hard-carry performance from
, BLG were able to pick up the close-fought win, the very first win for the LPL against the LCK after an 8-series losing streak.
EMEA’s perennial representative,
, started the tournament in a face-off against the Vietnamese
. It was a unique series, with G2 winning 3-0 despite shaky play. After a convincing Game 1 from the Samurai, the series saw several solo kills from TSW’s
onto
, an ace onto G2 in Game 2, and more back-and-forth shenanigans.
But, nevertheless, G2 were able to sweep the series, setting up an incoming showdown against BLG that will echo the two teams’ years of meetings at competitions. Posting about the TSW series,
, G2’s jungler and Player of the Series, summed it up concisely as a “
bit of a rollercoaster.”
