OGN round of 8: KT Arrows vs Najin White Shield; the rise and fall of rookies.

Last week turned out grim for CJ Entus as both of their teams did not manage to qualify for the round of eight. This also resulted in a lack of group tiebreakers for the first time in the history of OGN Champions and the ability to draw the match-ups right after the last match.

The first match will be take place between the two biggest hit or miss teams: KT Arrows and Najin White Shield. Kakao’s team is turning out to be a new prodigy as it qualified for the round of eight for the second time in a row. On the contrary, Najin White Shield got literally carried out of the group on the back of its sister team: Najin Black Sword. The runner-up of OGN Champions Spring did not amaze with its play in the current meta-game during group stages by going 1-1 in all three games.

On the other hand, KT Arrows is shining as bright as sun itself, the team’s AD carry is scoring ridiculous KDAs each game and he seems to be extremely good at Kog’Maw, who is the current go to marksman for almost every professional AD carry in Korea. It is also worth noting that KTA’s jungler as well as its most famous player: Kakao is having a great split so far as he has been the main contributor to his team’s overall success. However, KTA also lacks consistency in longer runs and it was showcased a few times during the spring season. This time, the team seems to be on an upward swing and it looks like the meta-game is really working in its favor for now.

However, things don’t look so well for Najin White Shield, especially for its star midlaner: Ggoong. Ever since the changes to LeBlanc and Nidalee, he could not find his place and was left to play Orianna and Ziggs almost all the time. Additionally, with the recent nerfs to Twitch, it looks as if ZeFa is having trouble finding his go to marksman. White Shield’s jungler seems to have lost some confidence in his Evelynn as well. Generally, the entire NJWS roster has been struck by the changes that were directed at the lane swapping meta-game. Last split, White Shield seemed great at this particular playstyle, however it looks like its players are just not up to par when it comes to the standard lane match-ups, which often results in it giving up a big lead to the enemy team.

Prediction: KTA wins 3-2

In my opinion, the result will vary drastically depending on which KTA shows up. If it arrives in the same form as it did during the group stage, I can risk saying it will take a clean sweep victory from Najin White Shield. However, if Arrows arrive in its weaker state, in which it tends to throw games on a regular basis, I believe Shield might take the opposing team down with a score of 3-1. All things considered, it is hard to make a clear judgement considering both teams are extremely inconsistent in their playstyles, however in the very end, I give a small edge to KT Arrows.

The first match starts at 6 p.m CST, 7 p.m KST, 3 a.m PDT and 12 p.m GMT on July 16, check out the coverage on OGN’s official stream.