SANDBOX Gaming secure a spot in 2020 LCK Summer Split
SANDBOX Gaming became the final team to secure a spot in League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) 2020 Summer Split by defeating Seorabeol Gaming in the summer promotion series this Thursday.
After failing to impress in the 2020 LCK Spring Split, where SANDBOX finished ninth with a 5-13 record, Kim "OnFleek" Jang-gyeom got placed in the LCK 2020 Summer Promotion Series, where they had to fight against Griffin, Seorabeol Gaming and Team Dynamics for one of the two tickets leading back into LCK.
The 2020 LCK Summer Promotion Series began on Thursday, April 28 with a double-elimination bracket, where the four Korean League of Legends teams faced off against each other in a best-of-three (Bo3) format to determine which two teams will earn a ticket into the Korean top-flight and which two will head into Challengers Korea for the Summer Split.
SANDBOX's first fixture of the series came against 2020 CK Spring Split runners-up Team Dynamics, who swept the floor with SANDBOX and won with a clean 2-0. By losing their opening match of promotion series, SANDBOX descended into the Loser's Bracket, where the met with Griffin, who failed to produce much resistance. Although Griffin looked much stronger throughout the series, had a better draft and arguably better players, it was SANDBOX who managed to overcome their adversaries in two maps, thus made their way into the final qualifying round.
In their final fixture of the 2020 LCK Summer Promotion Series, SANDBOX met with Seorabeol Gaming, who had a phenomenal run through CK Spring Split, which they finished well above their opposition with an 11-3 record and 79% win rate. Seorabeol Gaming carried over their momentum into the promotional series, where they edged past Griffin (2-1) in round one, but fell flat against Team Dynamics (2-0) in the second round.
The match between SANDBOX and Seorabeol Gaming took place this Thursday in what proved to be a very one-sided bout, where SANDBOX produced one of the best performances of the season and came out ahead with a perfect 3-0 score.
Throughout the split, SANDBOX could always count on their top laner Park “Summit” Woo-tae and ADC Moon “Route” Geom-su to help the team with their consistency and strong performances and while the duo played well in the LCK 2020 Summer Promotion Series, it was Yoo “FATE” Su-hyeok who took all the spotlight.
FATE has spent most of the split as a substitute, up until the final week of LCK 2020 Spring Split, when SANDBOX Gaming allowed him to take over for Kim "Dove" Jae-yeon in the mid lane. That, however, proved to be a very solid decision on SANDBOX's part, as FATE played the deciding factor in their successful run through the promotion series.
With a fruitful run through LCK 2020 Summer Promotion Series, SANDBOX will now return to the LCK for the Summer Split, where they will look to improve upon their ninth-place finish from the Spring Split and look to repeat their success from 2019 when they claimed bronze in the final split of the season.
