Melany M. March 23, 2019
The Gen.G squad has saved itself from relegation with a victory against Afreeca Freecs.
Gen.G added another win to its record and will be avoiding the Korean relegation tournament. After a rough start to the spring season, the squad is securing the needed points to earn a summer split seed.
Game one started with jungler Lee “Dread” Jin-hyeok pressuring Han “Peanut” Wang-ho out of the jungle. Peanut has been struggling throughout the season and is widely considered to be the weakest point of the team.
Peanut would redeem himself with a dramatic baron steal that put Gen.G back in the game. Gen.G opted for a more standard and safe composition made to protect Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk on Ezreal. The strategy paid off and Gen.G won game one.
Game two had a different start, as this time Peanut pushed Dread out of the jungle with early invades and aggressive routing. Ruler picked Vayne, while Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin surprised the enemy with a Neeko in the top lane.
At 20 minutes, Afreeca Freecs had a small gold advantage that Gen.G would turn around just 10 minutes later. During the mid-game, Afreeca kept pushing and going for hard engagements. Afreeca was thusly able to delay late-game scaling by Gen.G, but after 30 minutes Gen.G was fully online and ready to go.
The first baron of the game went to Gen.G despite both junglers being dead. Gen.G later pushed Afreeca away from the pit for a second baron and used it to open the Freecs’ base.
Afreeca was counting on Kim “Kiin” Gi-in to be the team’s win condition, but 40 minutes into the game the top laner was irrelevant. Ruler’s Vayne was lethal and his outstanding performance gave Gen.G a second victory and the series.
With one more week to go, Gen.G is in seventh place and safely away from the relegation threat. Afreeca Freecs on the other hand can’t afford to drop a single match.