LCK Spring 2024 preview

LCK is one of the strongest leagues in League of Legends. It’s arguably either 2^nd or 1^st. Last year, T1 won Worlds, which suggests that South Korea is stronger than China at the moment, but the truth is that overall, Chinese teams are probably a bit better than South Korean ones.

With the new season starting tomorrow in South Korea, the big question is what will happen this time? Who will win the Spring Split? And has anything changed since several months ago?

Great teams in LCK last year

Last season, the LCK was dominated by Gen.G Esports and T1. In fact, the last two years were dominated by these teams, who won all of the regional trophies. Other notable mentions include KT Rolster, Dplus, and Hanwha Esports. The question is: have their rosters remained intact or have they changed?

The new LCK’s 2024 season will start on Wednesday, Jan. 17!

Check out the schedule for the 2024 #LCK Spring Split where new legends will be made!

Stay tuned to the official LCK channels for tickets and on-site viewing information. pic.twitter.com/rFIlfajOWi

— LCK (@LCK) January 4, 2024

The new LCK rosters

For T1, the new year brought absolutely no changes. This means that Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok will be able to fully rely on his teammates, the way he did in 2023. If he plays his usual game, there are very few competitors who can win against T1 in a best-of-three.

Let’s not forget that T1 finished Spring Split’s regular season with an almost flawless record: 17 W – 1 L. And that the Summer Split disaster was caused by Faker’s arm injury.

For Gen.G, a lot has changed at the end of last season. Only two of their former players are left, so the project will need to be rebuilt almost from scratch. Most of the new players come from KT Rolster. We’ll have to see if the new version of Gen.G will be stronger than the former one. There’s a high chance that T1 will finally be able to win another split thanks to this change.

KT Rolster brought in four new players and will attempt to rise to the top using former DRX members like Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon and former Dplus members like Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu. On paper, the roster looks good, but individual strength matters much less than team cohesion and strategic depth at this competitive level.

Dplus changed three players and this is not surprising given what happened in 2023. The team finished both splits in 5^th place and then finished 9^th – 11^th at Worlds. This was not good for a former Worlds champion and finalist.

Hanwha Esports also changed three players in an attempt to go from 4^th to 1^st in LCK this year.

A team like T1 will have major advantages over all of these other competitors simply because of their decision to keep the roster unchanged. But we’ll have to wait and see. By February, we will know for sure.

Header: Riot Games