Team of the Week: OPL Split 1, Week 4

This column looks to name five of the highest performers across the competition each round, from a hyper-carry performance from the mid lane to a rock-at-the-top outing from a top laner or a perfectly played supporting role.

Mimic

Ju-seong Min – Bombers

The Bombers are soaring to open the first split of the Oceanic Pro League, neck and neck with the Chiefs Esports Club in the battle for first place, and Min “Mimic” Ju-seong has been right in the mix as one of the leading lights of Oceania’s ‘super-team’.

Opening his weekend with a 5/1/3 performance on Urgot – the sixth time the Korean solo laner has played the Headsman’s Pride in his first eight OPL games of the year – Mimic swept aside the defending champions alongside his team’s carries.

Then came Mimic’s first outing on a tank in 2019, as he led an unstoppable onslaught against playoff hopefuls Avant Gaming, chalking up a 1/1/13 game on Sion in a game that nearly saw AV deliver the Bombers their second defeat of the season, before the leading squad back from a 3.6k gold deficit to eventually close the clash out in 31 minutes.

BalKhan

Hyun-jin Choi – Bombers

One of the OPL’s newest faces is the second Bombers addition to Team of the Week 4, as the Korean jungler showed he’s a crucial element to the high-flying super-team in their early charge to the top.

After a 1/0/7 run on Karthus in their clash against the Dire Wolves that saw him play a key role in securing the game’s lone Baron, Choi Hyun-jin locked in the Blind Monk to leave Ryan “Swathe” Gibbons in his dust as he contributed to 80 percent of his team’s kills and scored a 4/2/12 statline. Although he stepped back to let Victor “FBI” Huang and Tommy “ry0ma” Le carry in the late-game, BalKhan’s early pressure against Avant Gaming led the strong early game, and his end-game engages changed the team fights his Lee Sin pick was involved in.

Claire (MVP)

Brandon Nguyen – Chiefs Esports Club

The Chiefs Esports Club’s dominant mid laner Claire is one of two players to continue their red-hot run of form by locking in back-to-back Team of the Week performances, with Brandon Nguyen dishing out 24.9k damage across his two games against Legacy Esports and the Dire Wolves.

Claire opened the fourth weekend of the split with a performance on Ryze, as his support Bill “Eyla” Nguyen providing the entertainment on a 100 percent kill participation Jarvan IV in the bot lane, and the Chiefs mid laner finished the 27 minute game with a 6/1/3 scoreline.

The Victorian representative then backed up his Friday performance with a 2/2/4 game on Akali, keeping the Dire Wolves’ mid laner down as the Chiefs retained their control of first place off the back of another vital 2-0 weekend.

K1ng

Calvin Truong – Mammoth

Mammoth have been one of the most talked about organisations in the OPL in early weeks, as one of the two ‘super-teams’ of the region collected mixed results to land on a 3-5 record four rounds into the year.

For a roster dripping with talent, it was only a matter of time before one of them clicked and lined up a massive game to secure a victory, and for the squad that came against Legacy Esports when k1ng returned to the form of old to dominate the trees alongside Stephen “Triple” Li.

Truong had fallen on Kai’sa the evening before against Order, collecting a 2/4/3 finish against the Melbourne team in the 34 minute defeat, but the same pick the next day scored them a far superior result – k1ng dolled out 13.8k damage as he climbed to a deathless seven kill, two assist record and reminded OPL fans why he’s considered one of the best ADCs in the region.

With Mammoth still a stone’s throw from the playoff positions, they will need Truong to deliver more of the Team of the Week performances he regularly coughed up in the Dire Wolves roster if they want to make the run back into the postseason and aim for their first objective – the Oceanic championship.

Jayke

Jayke Paulsen – Order

After an MVP performance in Week 3 of the OPL, Jayke “Jayke” Paulsen is the second player to claim another back-to-back nomination this week, as Order’s support ruled the Rift in his Friday game on Morgana.

Combining with Ronan “Dream” Swingler on Xayah, Jayke provided major impact on the Fallen Angel as he collected fifteen assists for Order, missing out on the participation of just four eliminations across the 34 minute victory. As well as providing a respectable 7.8k damage on Morgana, Jayke made sure Mammoth felt his presence all across the map, landing key Dark Bindings and leaving his enemies under the shadows of the Soul Shackles.

A personal highlight also came for the 22-year-old as he denied Leo “Babip” Romer an escape from the bot side of the jungle with a flash to break the Dragon Pit blast-cone, sending Mammoth’s jungler right back into the waiting arms of Samuel “Spookz” Broadley to kill the invading Olaf and claim back his red buff bonus.

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The Oceanic Pro League returns on Friday afternoon, when the Chiefs Esports Club and Legacy Esports clash in the competition’s fifth week.

Disagree with the list? Feel another player had a stronger performance and deserved the recognition? Feel free to voice your concerns to @everin_oce – he loves chatting about the best players of the week.