Welcome to the Week 3 of OPL Recap, where I’ll be breaking down the games played this week in the OPL super quickly just in case you don’t have time to watch them. There will be two Recaps for every week of play, so be sure to tune in Saturday and Sunday for updates. Now, sit back and enjoy OPL Recap!
Chiefs Esports Club vs Bombers
Game 1
The Chiefs lived up to their reputation and pulled out another fantastically cheesy composition with two gold-funnelling lanes as Babip and ry0ma took Graves and Braum and Raes and Destiny bagged themselves Karthus and Nunu, both with Smite. The Infernal Drake was secured by 4 minutes to boost the Chiefs’ laning phase even more. A brawl at 7 minutes gave First Blood to Looch’s Irelia but both teams ended up trading three for three, with Babip snagging himself a Double Kill. The first turret race was won by milliseconds and went the way of the Chiefs, who quickly took an Ocean Drake as well. By 15 minutes, Chiefs were up a single turret at 3-2 and had established a 3k gold lead.
The next conflict was at 16 minutes, as the Chiefs fought back against a Bombers initiation to trade 2 kills for 3. A monstrous Pentakill from Raes disrupted the Bombers’ even further flow as they tried once more to make a play and were punished for it, only losing ry0ma and Babip in the process. By 20 minutes the game looked almost over as Raes picked up a Double, and the Chiefs ran to Baron, cleanly securing it as they traded Swip3rR’s life for a Triple Kill onto Babip. Now armed with a 10k gold lead, the Chiefs picked a fight in the Bombers’ base as they shoved in all lanes, destroying the Bombers and eventually demolishing both Nexus Turrets and the Nexus to win the game in 23:50.
Game 2
The two teams played a little more traditional in the second match, the only unorthodox picks being Raes on Vladimir and Swip3rR taking the Darius. Even though Seb and the rest of the Bombers invaded the Chiefs’ jungle and put Babip behind, he was first to the toplane on his Camille and picked up First Blood onto Sleeping’s Irelia. He did it again minutes later as he ganked Looch’s Syndra and gifted ry0ma’s Yasuo a free kill. Again, the Chiefs won the turret race, also exchanging the Infernal Drake for a Rift Herald onto Babip at the cost of his life. A pick onto Seb at 17 minutes allowed Chiefs to equalise the Infernal Drake count and push ahead to a 1k gold lead.
The Bombers weren’t happy, and took a massive teamfight in the river, with Sleeping picking himself up a Quadra Kill with only Tiger dying. It happened again in the 25th minute, with an initiation from the Chiefs looking very good until Sleeping flew around for another 4 kills and the Baron went straight over to Bombers. Roaming around the map searching for an opportunity, they pushed through the botlane of the Chiefs’ base. With the Baron buff, Bombers quickly took the inhibitor and a failed engage from the Chiefs spelled the end of their undefeated Split 2 run as Bombers took Game 2.
Game 3
Game 3 looked like it was going to be relatively normal, but a last minute switch from the Bombers gave Seb the Sejuani while Rosey snagged Taliyah. The first few minutes of the game went in the Chiefs’ favour as Babip on Graves comprehensively counterjungled Seb, doubling his CS at 5 minutes. First Blood went the way of Looch, stealing ry0ma’s Blue in the process, before Destiny and Babip reclaimed it. Kills traded back and forward, with a small gold lead for the Bombers by 10 minutes. The first big fight of the game was all the Chiefs as they traded ry0ma for 4 members of the Bombers in the midlane, using the Rift Herald to take two turrets and a 3k gold lead.
Just past 20 minutes, the Chiefs snuck themselves a Baron, and started growing out their gold lead to 7k. The game fell relatively quiet, with the teams trading kills and turrets. As Baron respawned close to 30 minutes, the Chiefs made their move, and a brain explosion from Seb meant he flashed into the pit with zero chance to steal the Baron, dying and taking the only tankiness the Bombers had with him. Now a member down, the Bombers could do very little as the Chiefs moved into their base via the toplane, and took the ensuing teamfight to win the series and maintain their spot atop the OPL ladder.
Legacy Esports vs Mammoth
Game 1
Legacy through sheer power of farming had created a 1k gold lead for themselves by 6 minutes, before Only’s Taliyah paid a visit to the toplane to pick up First Blood onto Chippys’ Aatrox. It wasn’t the end though, as Mimic got his own kill onto Chippys minutes later, and repeated the feat to be 2/0/1 12 minutes into the game, with a turret to his name. The rest of the team was 6k gold ahead by this time, already up 3 turrets and 4 kills. More kills went the way of Legacy, with Mimic establish a 3k gold lead over Chippys, with the rest of the team being 9k ahead, with 2 Drakes as well. Mammoth couldn’t do a thing as Legacy roamed over the map with abandon.
Mammoth picked up their first kill of the game at 21 minutes onto Decoy, but traded their entire team and the Baron in the process as Legacy’s lead continued to climb. Legacy took their opportunities and bounced around the map, taking kills and turrets and forcing Mammoth further back into their base with every passing minute. An overextension from Mammoth gave Legacy the opening they were looking for, and the second Quadra Kill of the night for an Irelia was simply gifted over to Claire this time as Legacy put the finishing touches on their Game 1 shellacking of Mammoth.
Game 2
First Blood in Game 2 was all Remind’s Irelia, as Juves came into help him kill Claire’s Ryze. Laning phase resumed normal service until just before 10 minutes when Juves moved top to give Chippys a kill onto Mimic’s Jayce. The game threatened to go the opposite of Game 1 as Mammoth had picked up 5 kills to nothing, but Legacy grabbed themselves a turret and the Rift Herald in exchange for a Mountain Drake. Mammoth got too ahead of themselves as they tried to engage onto Legacy in the Baron Pit, starting out the fight well before Chippys and Mash dove too deep. With their top and ADC dead, Mammoth could only watch as Legacy summoned the Rift Herald to take both of their midlane turrets.
Now the gold lead had been equalised, it was anyone’s game. Both teams started positioning around Baron, and as always, the 600IQ captain of Mammoth was the one who secured the buff for his team, Juves smiting it away from an attempt to contest by Legacy. With the buff, Mammoth established themselves a 6k gold lead and starting pressuring Legacy, who responded by taking an Infernal Drake for themselves. As Mammoth shoved in the toplane, they pounced onto Legacy to kill off Mimic and Decoy, with Claire following seconds later as Mammoth took Game 2.
Game 3
Juves was on fire as he took a trip to the botlane, teaming up with Mash and Cuden to kill Decoy for First Blood. Only tried to be sneaky and take away Juves’ blue buff but was scouted out and a 4v4 team fight resulted in Claire going down and Mash getting his second kill of the game. A pause interrupted the flow of the game, but normal service resumed with an equalised gold score, and it remained relatively passive until 15 minutes when a fight in the botlane gifted 3 kills to Legacy after a botched initiation from Mammoth. Legacy went on to take the Rift Herald and dropped it in the midlane, taking all three midlane turrets plus a kill onto Mash to push their gold lead to 6k.
Insane pressure from Legacy forced Mammoth into a corner from which they struggled to do anything. After taking the toplane inner turret, a crafty Ryze portal from Claire teleported him and the rest of Legacy into the Baron pit and they killed the worm without any contest. After picking off Chippys, the rest of Legacy walked up to the botlane inhibitor turret, and took that too. Mammoth half-heartedly committed and lost Remind and Cuden, only to be forced into a full commit seconds later as Legacy stomped that teamfight as well to take the game and the series in a climactic 2-1
That’s all for this week, be sure to check in over the coming days for this week’s OPL Lowdown! We’ve got the Chiefs going up against Tectonic, as well as the Dire Wolves vs Legacy on Day One, with ORDER squaring up opposite Mammoth and Bombers looking to pick up their first series win against Avant Gaming on Day Two.