Flash Wolves vs Afreeca Freecs

For our first match of the day we have an incredibly interesting clash between Taiwan's perennial champions Flash Wolves, and the second seed from LCK - Afreeca Freecs.

The Wolves were able to outclass PVB from the very get-go with some fantatic proactive play from minute one. Moojin's Taliyah proved to bee too much to handle as he was incredibly impactful throughout the map. PVB simply couldn't find a solution for the Wolves' tanky frontline (Aatrox and Sion for Maple in the mid lane, echoing some early 2018 meta vibes). In the end it was an incredibly dominant performance, spearheaded by some fantastic macro. It was a statement game, and they're entering today's match with quite a lot of hype, especially considering the fact that Afreeca Freecs didn't manage to have the start they wanted.

Afreeca had a pretty good start against G2 with a quick first blood on Jankos in the top lane. However, G2 were faster on the map. They dispalyed better macro, they were more proactive with their decision-making, and perhaps most importantly we saw Wunder on Camille - often a win condition for G2 - and Perkz back in form. They failed to go blow-for-blow with a team that struggled pretty much in the Play-In stage, and was only barely able to lock down their ticket to Worlds at the very end of the regular season. It was perhaps a bit of a strange game, and in the end Afreeca were just one of the many teams that failed to find a solution for Hjarnan's Heimer.

Furthermore, even if yesterday's loss to G2 Esports was a fluke, they didn't really perform that extraordinary well. They're all rookies to the big stage, and this time around they're up against an even tougher opponent - a team far more cohesive, more in-sync, and capable. While they don't exactly have a crazy off-meta pick like Heimerdinger in their sleeves, the Flash Wolves should be able to take Afreeca down.

Not to mention the fact that the Flash Wolves always were Korea's kryptonite. They rarely won when it mattered - the numerous Best of 5s, the international tournament deciders, etc. - but when it came to group stages, they almost always managed to take LCK down. Since they often managed to best far stronger teams than Afreeca (SKT T1, Longzhu/KingZone, etc.), they should be the favorites coming into this match.

That said, we witnessed multiple upsets in just the very first day of the group stage, so betting with caution is highly advised!