Match Recap: Chiefs vs Kanga
This recap proudly presented by Energizer
With just two weeks left in the regular season for LCO Split 1, our squad is already locked for playoffs but the job isn’t done yet. With first place not yet secured, the all-important playoff seeding is still on the line, with a slot in the Winner’s Bracket ensuring a double chance for the boys in the hunt for our first championship title since 2016. Standing in our way in the first game of the week was Kanga Esports, who were looking to snap a four-game losing streak with an historic upset.
Coach Cuden handed the team plenty of tools to work with in the draft, with Raes returning to his Aphelios while Tally locked in his Ahri, a pick he’s used twice already this split to great success. Kanga responded by picking up Akshan, Viego and Vex, three of the newer champions in the game.
A full-on Level 1 teamfight in the bottom lane yielded no fruit but Dragku on Thresh was able to score first blood onto Lionel minutes later. Shortly after, the floodgates opened and both sides were trading kills back and forward, but crucially Arthur’s Lee Sin was able to ensure that our squad always just inched ahead. This was especially apparent in toplane as timely ganks ensured Topoon’s Kennen was able to create advantage after advantage against Lived’s Akshan.
The highlight of the early game (and indeed the rest of the match) was an incredible one-vs-one eleven minutes into the game between Arthur and Kanga’s jungler SCOTT, as Lee Sin danced all around SCOTT’s Viego before flashing away from the attempted counterengage from Kanga’s midlaner fighto to score the cleanest solokill you’ll see this week. Take a look below at Arthur’s crisp mechanics in our Energizer Play of the Game.
In the words of @kiittwy "Korean Lee Sin"
— The Chiefs (@ChiefsESC) March 14, 2022
📺 https://t.co/jyaBggH3j9 | #WeAreChiefs | #LCO pic.twitter.com/ajzMlPsnt1
The pace of the game refused to let up, but by the fifteen-minute mark we’d carved out a 5.5k gold lead and it didn’t grow any smaller as we slew dragons aplenty and demolished towers all across the map - culminating in a Baron secure 21 minutes into the game. A few hairy teamfights threatened to let Kanga back into the game but our gold lead stayed steady.
A pick onto fighto 28 minutes in handed us our second Baron buff and sensing victory was near, the boys launched a full-on assault onto the Kanga base with the Nexus in their sights. Despite a split fight, Topoon was able to halt fighto’s Vex flank in its tracks before Raes dished out damage onto the rest of the Kanga side, swinging the fight in our favour. The teamfight won, the whole team stormed into the base, cleaning up the remaining members of Kanga and taking down the Nexus just past 31 minutes to secure our thirteenth win on the trot.
Speaking to Arthur after the game, who won himself a well-deserved MVP for his Lee Sin heroics, he said that he was proud of the coordination the team showed today, also saying that "we played as a team which is great. We didn't play as well as we normally play together but we were still able to win and outperform our enemy - which is the most important part”.
The win gives our boys important momentum heading into the top-of-the-table clash with PEACE later today. With the defending champs responsible for our only loss this split, a win would both wrap up the trilogy and lock us into first place — which includes automatic seeding into the second round of the winner’s bracket come LCO Playoffs in two weeks time.
A win in our third matchup against PEACE would be extra sweet as it would send the boys into the record books for one of the most dominant regular seasons in Oceanic League of Legends history. An 18-1 scoreline would tie the previous record for most wins in the regular season, with the current record being held by our Chiefs squad from 2019 who swept through OPL Split 1 with a regular season scoreline of 18-3.
Be sure to tune into the LCO later tonight as we take on PEACE at 8pm AEDT/10pm NZDT.