GEN got there in the end. Gen.G Esports edged kt Rolster 2–1 in Week 13 of the LCK, but they needed nearly 41 minutes of a tight decider to close it out after KT had taken the middle game convincingly.

Neither win came the same way. The opener was about as one-sided as LCK games get: GEN finished it 13 kills to 2, with a gold advantage of roughly 13,600 and two Barons to none. KT's reply was just as emphatic, 18 kills to 6 and 11 towers to 2, in a game that lasted under 29 minutes. The third was a different animal entirely. KT actually ended it with more kills, 14 to 13, and the dragons were split three apiece. GEN's edge came from two Barons to KT's one and a gold lead of under 5,000.

Ruler holds the line

The common thread in GEN's two wins was Ruler. He finished the opener 6/0/5 on Yunara and the decider 8/0/1 on Caitlyn, leaving him without a single death in either victory. His Game 3 numbers stand out even in a 40-minute game: 481 CS and 38,500 damage, the highest damage total on the map. Around him, Canyon's 85% kill participation on Skarner and Duro's ten assists on Lux pointed to a team built around keeping their marksman alive and fed.

The flip side came in Game 2, when Ruler's Ziggs went 0/5/3 and Canyon's Jarvan IV died six times. GEN failed to take a single dragon in that game, and it was arguably their worst outing of the series.

KT made them work for it

KT deserve credit for turning what looked like a quick sweep after Game 1 into a real contest. Jiwoo was the standout on their side, going 4/0/9 on Ezreal with 28,638 damage in the win and then nearly matching Ruler's damage output in the decider with 37,723 on Varus. Bdd chipped in 6/2/8 on Syndra and 6/2/3 on Ahri, finishing positive in both of KT's competitive games.

Still, the series leaves KT with a loss to show for it, and GEN with a win that was harder-earned than the opener suggested. For GEN, the open question is how much they can lean on Ruler when the rest of the lineup has an off game like the second one here; for KT, it is whether a performance this close against GEN can be turned into a result next time.