Gumayusi and Zeus Reveal HLE’s Two Unexpected Picks
With their recent win over T1, HLE officially secured the No. 1 seed from the LCK region to attend MSI 2026, hosted on home soil in South Korea. Notably, in HLE’s winning games, they used several surprising picks that caught the audience off guard, especially in the Bot Lane where Gumayusi played Ziggs, Kog’Maw, and Senna. Even more shocking to fans, both Zeus and Gumayusi admitted that Shen and Kog’Maw were picks they used for the first time in their careers.
In reality, Shen and Kog’Maw can be considered “pocket picks,” meaning they are choices typically reserved for games 4 or 5, or when the player needs a guaranteed win. Among these, Kog’Maw is used even less frequently. Despite having long-range attacks and scaling strongly into the late game, Kog’Maw is a traditional AD carry with no mobility and is very vulnerable to burst damage.
Meanwhile, Shen is a versatile champion but the key is to time his ultimate properly. Shen also facilitates easier tower dives or multi-man ganks. However, he is not an easy champion to play since his ultimate is very important, and Shen requires specific item builds to be effective.
HLE Makes History with Gumayusi
With the victory over T1, Gumayusi and HLE officially secured the No. 1 seed from LCK to MSI 2026, held on home ground. However, the real challenge now begins. Naturally, Gumayusi and his teammates are eager to achieve the championship on their debut appearance in the tournament in the team’s history.