LCK Power Rankings: Pre-Spring 2022

LCK puts an exclamation point on expertise League of Legends last season by sending three of its teams to the semifinals of the World Championships. And while none of those representatives have won the Summoner’s Cup, the LCK’s overwhelming presence as a tournament is hard to ignore.

Although a representative of the league has won only one Summoner’s Cup in the past four seasons (DAMWON Gaming in 2020), the LCK has remained a constant threat in international arenas throughout pro. Tournament of History. And now, entering 2022, Korea has once again assembled a series of teams capable of winning international glory.

However, before the Summoner’s Cup started the conversation, there was still a full domestic season to get through. LCK was once one of the professional leagues in history Tournament of the deepest regions, the most competitive, and 2022 is shaping up to be another intense season for the historic league. Moving on to the Spring Split, here’s how the Korean teams played against each other.

So much to prove: Liiv Sandbox, Fredit Brion, Hanwha Life Esports

The offseason disturbance leaves the LCK relatively heavy, with teams like Liiv SANDBOX, Fredit Brion and Hanwha Life Esports battling for their freedom. Hanwha Life has lost two of its biggest and most successful players in Chovy and Deft, while Liiv SANDBOX has replaced four of the five starting from last season’s playoff qualifying team. Fredit Brion, who finished last and finished second in the Spring and Summer Split respectively, will bring back four of the five starting lineups for 2021, adding more depth in the top lane with the former’s signing. Hanwha Life top laner Morgan and former Griffin top laner Sw0rd.

For each of these three teams, it will most likely happen a year of rebuilding and growing. However, the LCK has been known to lead the underdog chaos in the past, with the likes of Fredit Brion and others posting incredible wins throughout the last year. In fact, six of Fredit’s 10 wins last season were against playoff teams. If these three teams can harness a bit of giant killer magic again, they absolutely have the potential to act as spoilers again in 2022.

On the fence: KT Rolster, Kwangdong Freecs

KT Rolster and Kwangdong (formerly Afreeca) Freec weren’t strong enough on paper to make our top 5, but they still don’t have enough weaknesses to place them in our top 3.

The top five teams in our table look strong in terms of talent, but if KT and the Freecs can find a way around, win a few games they shouldn’t, and become contenders. playoffs as nasty as they have been. In 2021, one of these potential threats could disrupt the top half of our standings. Even though established players like Life, Kiin, Teddy, Aria, and others don’t have the star power behind their names like some of the top LCK talents, they’re still strong enough to make a splash echoing. The teams at the top of our rankings simply have more depth than these two. In particular, teams like Gen.G and T1 boast proven superstar-level talent in every position, while KT and the Freecs have only a few respectable names, it’s best to go around. While these two teams didn’t make it to the deeper sections of the knockouts easily, they weren’t necessarily the pushers either.

Genuine Threats: Nongshim RedForce, DRX

While these two teams don’t have enough star power to cement their positions at the top of the league from the leap, both DRX and Nongshim RedForce have plenty of impressive players on their roster. their way to keep them in the playoff conversation throughout the year.

As for DRX, the seasoned bot lane duo of Deft and BeryL, two pro veterans with a total of 13 competitive seasons, make up one of the most compelling player combinations of the 2022 season. The key players of this tournament are coming together to form one of the most experienced bot lane duos in the world. As of 2018, Deft and BeryL are two of the most successful LCK players in their positions internationally. Deft has won 21 internationals over the past four seasons, and BeryL has won 59 individual games at both MSI and Worlds since debuting in 2019. If DRX enters the international scene in 2022, the pairing The team’s bot lane is sure to have the experience against all the enemies from opposing regions.

Nongshim’s addition of Bdd and Ghost as carry represents a new direction for the team — one that favors a “win now” approach as opposed to a rookie-packed, growth-focused roster. last year. Both of these teams are likely to go through at some point in the season and make their way into the top three on their own. But for now, the final spot of the top 5 seems like a good starting point for these two contenders.

Start of the trip to Worlds: Gen.G, T1, DWG KIA

Despite some roster turmoil, Gen.G, DWG KIA, and T1 have found a way to enter the 2022 season as the strongest teams in the LCK. The representatives of last year’s LCK World (sans Hanwha Life) are poised to lead Korea once again in 2022, with Gen.G and T1 placing first and second in their power rankings, respectively. I. Judging by the strength of the roster and the combined past achievements of the players on these two teams, our one sure bet is to bring Gen.G and T1 into the LCK Spring Split Finals. T1’s young core team is sticking together after arriving in a Worlds match, while Gen.G has built on the AD carry Ruler franchise, adding legendary names Other legends like jungler Peanut and mid laner Chovy have, among others, entered this season’s roster.

In the case of DWG KIA, the dynastic lineup that took the organization to two consecutive World Championship finals ended up breaking in different directions, but the team found a way to hold the two pieces together. Its most important pairing: Canyon and ShowMaker. The jungle-mid duo are two of the most effective pro players League, with two of them having won LCK MVP awards consecutively throughout the 2020 Summer Split (ShowMaker) and Spring 2021 Split (Canyon). Last season, ShowMaker ranked first in the world among all mid laners with a KDA of 6.5, while Canyon was second among all junglers with a score of 4.9, according League Statistics website Legendary game. Any team that just sports their talent is good enough to win a spot in the upper echelons of any domestic league.

If pedigree has proven to be valid in 2022, surely these three teams will be not only among the best in Korea but also the best in the whole world. As the season begins and we finally hit the international portions of the schedule, look out for T1, DWG KIA and Gen.G to all be not only present, but thriving.

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