On the afternoon of August 25 (Vietnam time), Dplus KIA will have an extremely important match against DRX. This will be one of the two matches that will determine the entire season for ShowMaker and his teammates, if they can overcome DRX. Therefore, the DK players need to be especially focused. Especially since DRX boasts the “genius” BeryL, who has been a former teammate of 3 out of 5 core members of DK currently (ShowMaker, Canyon, Deft).
With an opponent who knows him too well, ShowMaker likely understands that he needs to differentiate himself. Recently, many have noticed that ShowMaker is experimenting with a “unique” item build for the champion LeBlanc. In fact, this isn’t too surprising as not long ago, Hiro02 from Team Secret applied it in a match against CERBERUS Esports. This is the “creep score hacking” playstyle using the LeBlanc of Trinity Force – Lightning Blade. This playstyle features an extremely fast wave clear but is not suitable in team fights. However, LeBlanc will have an excellent ability to push towers, suitable for situations requiring backdoor plays.
However, this playstyle is only situational, in moments when the player feels that team fights will not be beneficial or cannot engage in team fights. This is because Trinity Force is geared towards physical power while Lightning Blade is for magical power. If both items are built but backdoor plays cannot be executed, the champion will effectively be “sacrificing” one item and placing the entire team in a dilemma.
But in any case, this could be a surprising strategy that DK uses to counter DRX, as well as ShowMaker’s way to face off against his old teammate who knows him too well – BeryL. This match will be extremely important for both teams and surely, ShowMaker himself does not want to miss the World Championship at home, especially since 3 out of the 4 most illustrious Mid Laners of LCK are all present.