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The teams of the League of Legends Oceanic Pro League have duked it out and we’re down to the final two. The Chiefs Esports Club go up against their rivals, Legacy Esports. Here’s what you need to know about the OPL grand finals and the two teams competing for the lion’s share of the $32,000 prize pool!
The Finals:
The grand finals will be played in a Best of five format on the fifth of April. The best of five format is simple, the two teams will play against each other until one team reaches three wins.
The implications of winning:
As explained in our OCE prize pool story, the split has a prize pool of $32,000. While the exact figure for the winning team is unknown, it’s a huge sum of money for whoever takes the finals. Money is not the only thing on the line for the Chiefs and Legacy.
The winner will also go on to represent Oceania at the International Wildcard Invitional Finals, going up against wildcard regions such as Brazil, Japan, South East Asia, Turkey, Latin America and CIS (Eastern Europe). The winner of this tournament will book a spot at the Mid-Season Invitational, where they will compete with teams from the world’s elite regions, including Korea, China, North America and Europe.
For the Chiefs and Legacy, making it to MSI is the second best thing, second only to securing the Wildcard spot for the World Championships. The chance to represent Oceania on the world stage gives them access to the proving grounds, to showcase what our developing region can do.
The teams:
The Chiefs and Legacy have a rivalry that spans almost the entire history of the OPL. Legacy finished the split in first place, but were handed their first split loss by the Chiefs, who ended in second.
Legacy Esports:
Lineup –
Top: Tally
Jungle: Carbon
Mid: ChuChuZ
ADC: k1ng (Grand final replacement TBA)
Support: Regret9
The team made a huge move this split when they announced that the team purchased a gaming house, with assistance from ASUS, their major sponsor.
After their amazing run in 2014, they were within arms reach of representing Oceania and the Wildcard region but were defeated in the grand final by Turkey’s Dark Passage. The team improved over time and after losing to the Dire Wolves in the first split playoffs, they stormed their way to the second split grand finals, where they were defeated by the Chiefs in front of a huge crowd at Luna Park. The team almost had an undefeated run through the first split of 2016 until they were defeated by the Chiefs again 2:1.
Legacy will be without star player k1ng, who was suspended by Riot Games for five games due to offenses in-game and on social media. This comes as a blow to the team as k1ng’s aggressive style often puts the team on top. However, the team is considerably stacked in each position, who have all showed that they are capable of carrying the team when needed.
While the team finished the season in first place, the team comes in as relative underdogs. Legacy have only defeated the Chiefs on two occasions since the inception of pro play by Riot Oceania. One win was when Legacy was known as Avant Garde Ascension (the Chiefs were under the Team Immunity organisation), however, only two current Legacy players, Carbon and ChuChuZ were a part of this squad. The second win came in the 2014 Oceanic Regional Tournament when they went 2:1 against the Chiefs.
The Chiefs Esports Club:
Lineup –
Top: Swip3rr
Jungle: Spookz
Mid: Swiffer
ADC: Raydere
Support: Egym
Considered the best team in Oceania, the Chiefs had a bit of a slow start to the split. Mainstay mid laner Swiffer took a sabatical so they brought in a midlaner by the name of Cheese in. While they remained a strong team with Cheese at the helm, they seemed a bit shaky at times without their stalwart midlaner.
Last season, the team were completely dominant, except for a 1-1 draw versus Team 4Not and a map loss against Legacy in the OPL grand finals, where they won 3:1. Strategically and mechanically, the team look to be the strongest in our region. With only one roster swap in recent memory (EGym replacing the departed Rosey in the support position), the Chiefs line-up has grown a strong team synergy, from their time as Team Immunity until now.
From an analysis point of view, it’s near impossible to beat the team in Pick and Ban phase as they’re all skilled with different flex picks and manage to make it work regardless of what is banned away from them. Each of the players are effective shot callers, so it’s up to Legacy to play around misplays and mistakes from the Chiefs.
Where can I watch it?:
The finals will be broadcasted at Riot’s Twitch channel and here.
Hoyts and Riot have also reached an agreement to broadcast the finals live. The locations can be found at: http://promo.oce.leagueoflegends.com/en/hoyts-viewing-parties/. Each attendee of the viewing parties will earn in-game bonuses (3-Day IP boost), as well as prizes by the hosts of the viewing party.