Rather than the drawn out, no-action matches that usually takes place in the LCK, the action-packed teamfights in the match between Liiv SANDBOX and Afreeca Freecs made the fans cheer loudly from the stands. While there was a winner and a loser, it was a very memorable match, at least from the fans’ perspective.

On day 17 of the 2021 LCK Summer split, Hanwha Life Esports defeated DRX in the first match of the day, while Liiv SANDBOX defeated Afreeca Freecs in the latter match.

For HLE’s mid laner and adc, Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu, they were playing against their former teammate and head coach, Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon and Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho respectively. Both Chovy and Deft were named Player of the Game [PoG] in game 1 and 2, proving that the gap between 9th and 10th is much bigger than people think.

It was clearly evident that DRX was suffering from a lot of fundamental problems. There were multiple instances where DRX’s mid laner and support were caught out, and seemed incredibly helpless overall. Before the split, cvMax were talking about going to Worlds; after tonight’s series, that goal seemed very far away.

In the second match between AF and LSB, the teamfights in the series made the fans stand up from their seats. Despite the numbers disadvantages they had at multiple points in the game, both teams did not shy away from taking the fight to one another, and continued to maintain their focus until the very end. LSB took game 1, while AF took game 2; it all came down to game 3.

Game 3 came down to whose support player was able to group with their team faster. AF had an early lead with a successful dive; a 3 vs 3 took place shortly after in the top lane, and Lee “Effort” Sang-ho’s Alistar was able to turn things around for his team. LSB then won the dragon teamfights twice, which snowballed into LSB’s victory.

2021 LCK Summer split day 17 results

Hanwha Life Esports 2 - 0 DRX

Afreeca Freecs 1 - 2 Liiv SANDBOX

2021 LCK Summer split standings

1st Gen.G 7-0 (+9)

2nd DWG KIA 4-2 (+3)

3rd NS RedForce 4-2 (+2)

4th Liiv SANDBOX 4-3 (+2)

4th T1 4-3 (+2)

6th Afreeca Freecs 4-3 (+1)

7th Fredit BRION 3-4 (0)

8th kt Rolster 2-5 (-1)

9th Hanwha Life Esports 2-5 (-6)

10th DRX 0-7 (-12)