LCK takeaways from League of Legends in 2023

After the success of LCK at Worlds 2022, the fans were excited to see what was in store for the coming season. T1 stood by their roster for the second year in a row hoping that this year they will overcome the final step and bring home the Summoner’s Cup, while Gen.G, Damwon and Hanwha Life Esports went through huge changes. The results have been exciting to say the least, and we will be taking a look at some of the biggest takeaways from the first few weeks of LCK.

5- Liiv Sandbox might be the DRX of 2023

 

In the Cinderella story of League of Legends, DRX was able to surprise everyone and went on to win the Summoner’s Cup at the end of 2022. It was something that no one saw coming, as the players never stood out individually the whole year, but it was their coordination and synergy in the later half of the season that allowed them to become a dominant force and a team that no League of Legends fan would forget for a long time. Liiv Sandbox have been showing those same traits so early into the season and it’s refreshing to see a team centered around similar play styles rather than individualistic talent do well in the most competitive league around the world.

The start of the season was quite a challenge for Liiv Sandbox as they came up against a rejuvenated Dplus KIA. They were absolutely annihilated and their ADC, Envy, was at the heart of a lot of criticism from the fans. The fans thought that Envy didn’t deserve to be in LCK if that was the level of performances he would bring to the team and the likes of Teddy and Ghost who are currently free agents would have been better choices. However, the team and especially Envy, turned the tide and shocked the world when they defeated Hanwha Life Esports and KT Rolster in consecutive games. The most surprising thing about these victories was Envy, and Sandbox’s new support Kael, went ahead and won the laning phase against two of the strongest bottom lane duos in the world. It reminded fans of how Deft and Beryl played last year, especially with Kael playing Heimerdinger, a champion Beryl has become famous for.

Clozer, the mid laner of Sandbox, has also been performing at the highest level of his career and has won the lane 70% of the time this season despite coming up against the likes of Zeka, Showmaker and FATE.

It would be wrong to put the onus on Sandbox and expect them to go ahead and be a top three team in LCK, but even if they are able to get top five, they would defy a lot of expectations and a team consisting of two rookies would definitely be heading into the right direction for the summer split, where they can contend for that fourth and final spot for World’s qualification.

4- Superteams don’t work anymore

We have seen the idea of super teams popping up around the world in the last couple of years and this year LCK followed it too. Damwon Gaming and Hanwha Life Esports, set up rosters where in each position they have a player that can be the best in the world if they are on the top of their game. However, both these teams have failed to perform against the likes of T1 and Gen.G who have structured their roster in a way that the individual skill sets of the players complement each other.

Hanwha Life Esports looks completely out of place, especially with both Viper and Zeka preferring a very carry oriented style of play putting the burden on Clid, who is also a player known for his carry potential rather than being a utility player. The team composition is very awkward and it’s clear that Clid isn’t comfortable playing the style Hanwha Life Esports expects him to play. They managed to pull a surprise victory against T1, but that seemed more like a result of T1 mistakes, rather than Hanwha Life Esports own decisions in the game.

Damwon on the other side has shown glimpses but it seems like they still need some time to get into form, and the surprising thing is that their best player, Showmaker, hasn’t been really performing well. This could be due to the fact that Canna and Deft are also carry players who like to be the primary damage dealers of the team on most occasions, and Showmaker might be trying to change his playstyle. If Showmaker isn’t able to adapt to this new roster, then Damwon might struggle to reclaim the World Championship once again.

 

The idea of Superteams should be abandoned after watching so many high profile teams at this stage completely blow up, and if Hanwha Life Esports or Damwon fail to win a title this year, then it could very well be the catalyst that changes things up for good.

 

3- KT Rolster finally have a team

 

The moment everyone was waiting for finally came true this off season. Kiin finally left Kwangdoo Freecs after spending his whole career with them and joined a team that could allow him to compete for the titles: KT Rolster. KT has been a shadow of their former selves but slowly but surely have been heading into the same direction and have assembled a roster around Kiin with talented players from top teams.

Bdd, the former Gen.G and DragonX mid laner had a difficult season last year at Nongshim Red Force, and many speculated that it was due to him not recovering from Covid 19 properly. Lehends, the former Gen.G support who was eliminated at the semi finals of World Championship last year also had offers from teams but ultimately decided that he wanted to play with Aiming down in the bottom lane, and they are already showing their class. Aiming has been averaging 10.3 CS per minute this season, however some fans argue that he always loses the lane which is technically true, but doesn’t give the whole picture.

Aiming is playing weakside which means he isn’t getting much attention from his jungler and mid laner for any potential roams. Additionally, Lehends spends most of his time roaming around the map with jungler, Cuzz, to seek opportunities for invades or any potential ganks in the mid lane.

The way KT has been playing is classic LCK style, with controlled aggression and scaling for the late game. Kiin hasn’t shown his best performances yet, but that’s understandable as we are early into the season and this is the first time he is playing in a different environment than he is used to. The future looks very bright for this KT Rolster side, and it won’t be surprising if they manage to sneak a Top 4 finish ahead of Hanwha Life Esports or Damwon by the end of Spring Split.

 

2- Keria is the best support in the world

 

After a disappointing finals performance at World’s 2022, Keria was left distraught and fans speculated his mental health coming into the season. There were all sorts of arguments about how Keria would be under pressure to perform and won’t be the same player we have seen. They were right. Keria isn’t the same player because he has expanded his skill set to a whole another level and is unarguably better than ever.

Keria was always known for his vast champion pool, but this year he has gone completely bonkers. He has been bringing out weird champions out in the support role since the start of the season. We have seen him play the likes of Caitlyn, Kalista and Jhin, and these champions have never played in the support role before this season. In fact, Keria is the only one who played Caitlyn and Keria, and it doesn’t look like anyone else can play those champions at the same level. What these champions allow T1, is the fact that Gumayusi and Keria can always play the laning phase on the front foot and there is no one stopping them.

A good question to ask here would be why these champions work and why Keria is the only one that could possibly play them at the highest level? The answer lies in the history of support players. Historically, support players have been often regarded as the brains behind the scenes, and not the players who are mechanically talented to pull out flashy plays. However, Keria has been regarded as one of the best mechanical players by analysts around the world, and some have even recommended him to role swap to a role that allows him to show his potential at it’s full might. A good example of this is Kalista. The Spear of Vengeance is probably the most difficult marksman to play in the game but Keria played the champion like he has been playing it all his life. It was an amazing achievement, and showed how powerful the champion can be in the right hands.

 

Keria is undoubtedly the best support player in the world right now, and T1 needs to start playing around him as soon as possible because he is undoubtedly the best player on this team.

1- Peanut is taking more responsibility than before in this roster

 

Peanut has always been known as a jungler with flash plays and insane map awareness highlighted by his ganks. He is regarded as a role model for young players who want to learn how to have a strong early game and the ability to quickly shut down enemy carries. In recent years, Peanut has had his ups and downs, but it looks like he is finally playing at his best once again.

The Gen.G jungler is currently leading the stats in both kills and assists among all junglers and this is a refreshing sight to see considering how he was bashed as the weak link after a disappointing performance at Worlds last year. The thing that stands out the most is how he has been helping his new rookie ADC in the bottom lane. There have been times Peanut has intentionally left clearing his camps for a cheeky gank down in the bottom lane, just so he can take some pressure away from the young guys down in the bottom lane and this has rewarded Gen.G massively.

Their new ADC, Peyz, is getting better and better every game and Peanut is a major part of that. Chovy has also contributed from this as he can focus more on his own game, and this was on full sight in Gen.G’s games against Hanwha Life Esports this season where he absolutely annihilated Zeka, who he had a tough time against during World Championship 2022, and many speculated what went wrong with Chovy. The answer is simple, Chovy was under a lot of pressure as Peanut was underperforming, but now since his jungler is back to his best, he can also play more aggressively and keep the enemy mid laner in check.

The future looks bright for Gen.G and despite many ranking them as the fourth of fifth best team in early season rankings, they are currently sitting in the first spot and have already played their direct rivals!