Korea has named its first team heading to this year’s League of Legends World Championship. DRX took down Gen.G in a close 3-2 series during the semifinals of the LCK Summer Split to qualify for the international stage later this year.
Mid laner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon popped off, winning with three different champions in Lucian, Ekko, and Sylas. His impressive carry performance allowed DRX to come back from huge deficits and take over the series.
The series began with a huge statement from DRX. They popped off early on, securing gold leads all over the map. This allowed them to capture Rift Heralds and keep snowballing the game, slowly suffocating Gen.G. After being in control for more than 30 minutes, DRX finished the first game with a dominant teamfight victory.
In the second game, Gen.G did a complete 180, annihilating DRX members all over the map early on. They had a much more dominant performance compared to DRX in the first game, equalizing the series in 25 minutes.
Gen.G replicated their second game success and locked down another clean 28-minute win, putting the series at match-point for the first Worlds qualification spot.
A bug occurred, however, and players were unable to continue playing on the tournament server. As a result, they had to move the rest of the series onto the live servers on a different patch for the second time in League’s history. The first time occurred in LPL in 2019 during a match between LGD and JDG.
DRX popped off in the fourth game, equalizing the series after an impressive performance from Chovy in the mid lane on Ekko. He finished the game with a 7/0/3 scoreline, topping the damage standings. His recklessness was rewarded with kills everywhere on the map.
In the last match of the series, both teams brought out their best picks. Gen.G looked in control for most of the game, securing the Ocean Dragon Soul after a good early game control and setting their sights onto the victory.
But a bad Baron call by Gen.G destroyed their hopes. DRX capitalized on this mistake and finished the game after winning the teamfight. Chovy’s Sylas was crucial in the last win for his team, and his swift moves in the teamfight were impeccable.
While Gen.G have been eliminated from playoffs, they can still make the World Championship in two ways: hope that DRX wins the LCK Summer Split, or win the Regional Qualifiers, which will begin shortly once the playoffs conclude.