With favorable results, DWG KIA has already secured a spot in the playoffs even though their start and journey in the LCK Summer 2021 wasn’t truly optimal. However, currently, everything seems to be in order for DK, and the remaining matches will only serve as practice for them before officially entering the important playoffs to defend their LCK championship title and secure a spot at the upcoming World Championship in China.
In a recent interview after their victory against Fredit BRION, mid laner ShowMaker shared his thoughts on the team’s situation after reuniting with coach Daeny, the remaining matches of the season, and particularly, he couldn’t overlook the comments made not long ago by Mikyx – a member of G2 Esports regarding the current state of the bottom lanes in the LCK.
Accordingly, not long ago, Mikyx made quite harsh remarks about the quality of the current LCK bottom lanes, claiming that worldwide, only the LPL is really strong, and the bottom lane of LCK is even weaker than that of the LEC. Mikyx stated that he wasn’t particularly impressed with any names in the LCK at the moment and noted that the bottom lane duos of top teams like DK or T1 only play adequately when they are in good form, with G2’s Support also stating that only Gen.G is the best currently.
Naturally, Mikyx’s comments certainly “touched a nerve” with quite a few “big names” in the current LCK region, especially with a team that just won the LCK Spring 2021 and was the runner-up at MSI 2021 like DK. In fact, G2 was previously defeated by DK when the duo Ghost – BeryL completely overwhelmed the European representatives at last year’s World Championship.
When asked by reporters about Mikyx’s statement, ShowMaker responded candidly: “I don’t watch LEC much, and perhaps right now we are behind LPL, but I don’t think we are weaker than LEC. I don’t rate LEC that highly. It would be reasonable to compare the bottom lanes of LCK with LPL, but LEC… There aren’t many teams worth comparing. Maybe Rogue or Misfit? But I don’t think they are that good.”
In reality, looking specifically at DK, this team has built a playstyle that leans heavily towards the top lane with the excellence of ShowMaker – Canyon and Khan (previously Nuguri). Therefore, the duo Ghost – BeryL often do not have as much opportunity to shine as their teammates. Moreover, DK frequently picks champions for Ghost that allow BeryL the time and space to support other lanes, so sometimes, Ghost’s contributions in a match are less prominent compared to others. However, it’s difficult to say that this means the bottom lane of LCK in general or DK in particular is weaker than LEC. Because when engaging in skirmishes, Ghost has proven his exceptional positioning ability, and during the laning phase, there are very few names that can farm better than the AD Carry born in 1999.
And importantly, DK has soared with this bottom lane duo since Summer 2020 until now. Therefore, to assess the quality of DK’s bottom lane players specifically or the LCK in general, we will have to wait until they face off in the upcoming international arena. As for now, perhaps as ShowMaker said, only LPL is comparable to them, and besides that, LCK does not rank below any other region.