The 2022 League of Legends Champions Korea summer season is well underway, with games happening five days a week. For fans that don’t have time to watch all the action but want to know what is going on, we at Upcomer are here to provide a daily recap of each day’s games. Here is what happened today in the 2022 LCK summer season.
T1 defeat Gen.G
The two best teams in the LCK faced off for the first time in the 2022 LCK Summer season with first place on the line. Gen.G came into the series as the slight favorite, thanks to them being undefeated at this point in the season; however, T1 are still the reigning LCK champions with a 5-1 record, so no one was counting them out.
Are we sure Chovy's soldiers are made of sand? 😳 #LCK pic.twitter.com/8OCSrD83ko
— LCK (@LCK) July 8, 2022
Gen.G took control of Game 1 early. Although first blood didn’t come until nearly the nine-minute mark, Gen.G captured it and just a few minutes later, Gen.G’s superstar Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon got to work with a gank in the bot lane, allowing Gen.G to secure a couple of more kills. With the early game in Gen.G’s favor, they easily pushed their advantage — at the 20-minute mark, Gen.G already had a 6k gold lead. With a 27-minute Infernal Soul, Chovy was just way too much to deal with; T1 could no longer contest anything Chovy was doing and Gen.G picked up a decisive Game 1 win.
PROVIEW: Ruler's cross-map Ashe arrow! 😳 #LCK pic.twitter.com/hX4YHbc4hs
— LCK (@LCK) July 8, 2022
Game 2 saw a war in champion select, as a couple of off-meta bot laners were picked by both sides. Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong picked up Draven while Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk looked to Ashe. T1 were the early aggressors in the second game as they were the ones who made the first move towards the bot lane and before five minutes, first blood was theirs. Ruler was not to be outdone though, and with a clutch cross-map Ashe arrow, Gen.G found a good engage which evened up the game 13 minutes in.
FAKER SMITE STEALS BARON!⚡️ #LCK pic.twitter.com/EwN9agajTa
— LCK (@LCK) July 8, 2022
T1 still managed to keep their head above water as they held a small lead for the next several minutes, picking up small wins throughout. But the biggest was when Gumayusi managed to finally secure his first kill of the game on Draven with a Whirling Death snipe, which allowed him to cash in on his passive, generating an extra 1115 gold. However, even with that, T1 had a misstep 27 minutes in that cost Gumayusi and Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok their lives. Gen.G looked towards Baron, but as the other members of T1 stalled for time, Faker respawned and decided that the game was over; a Baron steal into a clean 5-0 team fight shortly after tied up the series at 1-1.
Fight INSANA da T1 vs GEN.G! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/ONUf5YZoR0
— Mais Esports (@maisesportsbr) July 8, 2022
Game 3 saw both teams pick meta compositions as both teams went at each other head-on. Gen.G struck first with first blood on the top side near the 4-minute mark. Although T1 answered back, Gen.G was the one with a small 1.5k gold lead around the 14-minute mark. But T1 found a skirmish around the second Rift Herald which erased the deficit. Feeling like they were the team ahead, T1 played like it as they took aggressive fights around the map which resulted in a gold swing in their favor.
Gen.G simply could not play off the backfoot as T1 were always one step ahead. That was until the 30-minute mark when another misstep by Gumayusi appeared to allow Gen.G into the driver’s seat but T1 had the gas pedal pressed down and despite being down in a four versus five-member team fight, T1 found a way to win it. A 31-minute ace was enough for T1 to push for the win, take the series and take back first place in the 2022 LCK summer standings.
KDF take down KT
In the day’s second series, Kwangdong Freecs took on KT Rolster for sixth place. A win by either team would bode well for their playoff chances heading into the second half of the season.
Game 1 of the KDF KT series was a battle of the bot lanes. Park “Teddy” Jin-seong on Kalista and Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram on Ashe put on a show as both players managed to end with impressive stat lines. Both players had five kills to just one death but it was the assist department that came into play. Although KT’s bot lane did good, even getting Ashe all five kills before the 20-minute mark, the rest of the team did not so much. KDF’s mid laner Yoo “FATE” Su-hyeok was making play after play on Taliyah which facilitated kills and objectives for his team. And in just over 29 minutes, KDF took Game 1.
Game 2 saw Aiming go berserk after being denied in Game 1. Now playing the hyper-carry champion Zeri instead of the support-centric Ashe, Aiming dismantled KDF but not before KT fell behind 4-1 in kills just 7 minutes in. Barely a minute later, that kill lead was erased; Aiming picked up a double kill in the bot lane, and the onslaught began. At the 24-minute mark, Aiming already had three items completed and five kills in his pocket. One last team fight sealed the game as KT pushed KDF to Game 3.
BIG Triple for Kiin and BIG Double for FATE to END game 3! #LCK pic.twitter.com/s7or5zoyqu
— LCK (@LCK) July 8, 2022
Game 3 played out a lot like Game 1. Aiming again was good in the bot lane but his team’s woes elsewhere cost them dearly. KDF managed to secure a 4k gold lead just 10 minutes in with a 5-1 kill advantage. Starting down nearly a 10k gold deficit just 25 minutes in, Aiming managed to win a team fight by picking up a triple kill but it hardly made a dent into the massive hole KT were in. KDF were simply too far ahead; they secured the series win after only 33 minutes, bringing them back to an even season.
What’s Next
The 2022 LCK summer season action continues with Week 4, Day 4 on Saturday, June 9. Nongshim RedForce take on Liiv SANDBOX, while Hanwha Life Esports go up against DWG KIA. Matches start at 4 a.m ET.
