At this moment, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Gen.G is the strongest team in the LCK Summer 2024. No matter the opponent or the strategies employed, Chovy and his teammates can always find a countermeasure. Not to mention, even when trailing against a top team (like Dplus KIA in the match on July 20), Gen.G remained calm and collected, finishing the game with a 2-1 victory. As for their “arch-rival” T1, Chovy and his teammates have achieved a streak of 9 consecutive wins across all competitions – a feat that even Dplus KIA during its golden era or Samsung Galaxy, CJ Entus, KOO Tigers… in the past could never accomplish.
However, T1 is not Gen.G’s favorite rival; in fact, Dplus KIA is the team that poses the most concern whenever they face the reigning MSI 2024 champions. Specifically, it has been 1077 days since DK last managed to defeat Gen.G, which was during the group stage of LCK Summer 2021 – a time when DK was still the ruler of the LCK while Gen.G was an unstable team. Since Gen.G began forming their “superstar” lineup, DK has been on a decline with the departure of several key players, while ShowMaker and Canyon have also lost their peak performance. As of the loss on July 20, DK has lost to Gen.G 15 consecutive times across all competitions.
Among these matches, Gen.G’s victory over DK at Worlds 2022 is particularly special as it was the win that allowed Gen.G to reach the semifinals of the highest international tournament in League of Legends for the first time. Unfortunately, Gen.G later lost to DRX, who played extraordinarily well.
In recent seasons, Gen.G’s victories over DK have become quite familiar. And while T1 could still find victories against Gen.G until 2023, DK has seen a completely different situation. It seems that ShowMaker’s ambition to defeat his former teammate Canyon is still a long way off, as his current roster is simply incomparable to Gen.G.