One of Korea’s youngest pro League of Legends teams defeated defeated a former World Championship team to win the KeSPA Cup.
Griffin swept Gen.G to capture the squad’s first major trophy. The annual tournament finals took place on New Year’s Eve at the Sejong University Convention Hall in Seoul.
Griffin took the LCK by storm in the summer split of 2018, finishing in second place. The team failed to qualify to the 2018 Worlds Championship after losing a tight series to Gen.G in the regional qualifier. At KeSPA Cup, Griffin took its revenge in three clean games.
In game one, both teams got off to a decent start. Griffin tried to impose an aggressive style and Gen.G was quick to respond. Gen.G found picks in the top lane and Griffin found their own in the bottom lane.
The teams exchanged blows leading up to a tense mid game. It all came down to a final team fight, as Son “Lehends” Si-woo separated Gen.G carry Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk from the rest of his teammates at a critical moment. Without its main damage dealer, Gen.G couldn’t keep up and Griffin took a sudden and dramatic victory.
In game two, the star of the match was Griffin mid laner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon. The youngest member of the team took over with an aggressive Irelia. Gen.G’s Song “Fly” Yong-jun struggled to keep up with his opponent and soon became irrelevant on the map as he fell far behind.
Gen.G stood their ground for as long as they could, but Chovy’s snowballing led to another Griffin win.
At match point, Griffin continued to surprise the enemy with off-meta picks like Jayce in the bottom lane and Sejuani in the jungle. The pressure was too much for a Gen.G squad that fell apart in the middle game.
Griffin’s young team members thus became champions at KeSPA Cup 2018, and this taste of success could be a sign of things to come.
Griffin and Gen.G will meet again at the 2019 LCK Spring Split, set to start on January 16.
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