Melany M. July 4, 2019
Kingzone DragonX pulled off a major upset at Rift Rivals 2019.
The LCK added another win to the scoreboard with Kingzone’s victory over FunPlus Phoenix. Though FunPlus stand as the LPL’s best, they seemingly didn’t stand a chance against a determined Kingzone.
The teams locked in standard compositions with few innovations. In the top lane, Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee stole Kled from mid laner Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang. This forced him to settle for Corki into Yoo “Naehyun” Nae-hyun’s Azir.
Kingzone kept a high tempo in the early game. Duo Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu and Park “TusiN” Jong-ik established their dominance over the bottom lane with Lucian and Yuumi. The Magical Cat is a high-impact pick in the hands of TusiN. The support landed every single Prowling Projectile, forcing their opponents to play a passive laning phase.
FunPlus gave up the bottom lane, shifting their focus to neutral objectives and picks in the solo lanes. Kingzone was quick to react, coming out on top of the skirmishes that followed.
The LPL team hoped to keep the game slow so they could purchase key items. Kingzone had a different plan and angled for a fight for the second infernal dragon.
Kingzone and FunPlus danced around the baron pit for several minutes. When they finally engaged, Deft scored a quadra kill that allowed Kingzone to take the baron and top lane inhibitor.
The Kingzone squad was on a mission to protect Deft and set him up for success with clean fights. In the end, Kingzone secured a second baron buff, an ace, and the third win for the region.
FunPlus was considered one of the best teams playing at Rift Rivals 2019. The squad is part of the new wave of top tier teams that are dominating the LPL and is undefeated to this point in the summer season. Though the LCK still houses a great number of talented players and world-class teams, few seemed capable of taking down the likes of FunPlus.
Instead, the LCK closed day one undefeated as SK Telecom T1 defeated Flash Wolves in lopsided fashion, DAMWON Gaming bested EVOS Esports, and Griffin took down JD Gaming.