Peerless earns its third win of the season after a hard-fought battle with Nongshim Red Force.
Peerless took down Nongshim RedForce 2-1 in the first round of the League of Legends Champions Korea Spring 2024 at the Grand Seoul LCK Arena in Jongno-gu, Seoul on Monday. After winning the first set with Song “Clear” Hyun-min, the team was in danger of losing the second set and conceding an early lead in the third set. However, the team was able to capitalize on their strengths in the laning game to pull off the upset and secure their third win of the season.
In the first game, Peerless used their top carry game to take the win. Peerless set the tone early with back-to-back kills on the bottom lane, but it was balanced out by the top lane’s ‘Clear’ Song Hyun-min’s jax, which thrived on ganking. This was followed by a solo kill on top when Song’s jax was timed with a ‘holy trinity’, spurring his growth.
After the team took down the first turret on the opposing tower, Song Hyun-min joined the main squad and gave the team a boost. Benefiting from Song’s first kill in the 17th minute, when he took out two opponents, Fnatic continued to build on their momentum in the 23rd minute mid-kill, using the Jacks’ firepower to secure the win. With back-to-back engagement wins, Jax’s growth overwhelmed Nongshim’s, with peerx destroying both the bottom and mid inhibitors. After that, peerx spent some time fighting off the opponent’s strong resistance, but eventually broke through around Jax’s side play to win the game in 39 minutes.
In game two, Fnatic couldn’t maintain their early momentum and fell behind. Utilizing unorthodox picks such as Mid Irelia and Jungle Rumble, Fnatic started the game off with a bang. After picking up an invade phase kill and taking an early laning phase lead, Fnatic was unable to solidify the game at a favorable time and couldn’t break through their opponent’s solid combinations in the mid and late game, ultimately losing the game.
In the final set, after losing the early momentum, Fnatic managed to turn the tide with their engagement focus. In the early game, Lee “Closer” Ju-hyun took the initiative in the mid lane, but was caught twice by his opponent’s ganking and lost the initiative. On top, the tide turned in PeerEx’s favor when Song “Clear” Hyun-min lost the initiative to the opposing Yone.
Peerless found their footing in the small-scale engagements, picking off the opposing jungler in the deep lane and taking the dragon. In the 18th minute, while pressuring the turret in the mid lane, Fnatic picked up a kill on his opponent’s initiative to keep the scoreboard ticking over. The momentum continued to build in the 23rd dragon skirmish, as Fnatic took the win. In the 25th minute, Fnatic picked off an opposing laner deep in the friendly jungle, taking three kills and securing the Baron buff. With the Baron buff in hand, Fnatic never let up from there, scoring a series of kills to secure the win in 35 minutes.
With the win, Peerless maintains its position in sixth place with 3 wins, 2 losses (+0). Nongshim also lost, dropping to 1-4 (-5) and remaining in eighth place.