In recent years, LCK has been regarded as one of the strongest regions in the League of Legends scene. Although they haven’t won the World Championship (Worlds) consecutively, and their performance at MSI is still slightly behind LPL, it cannot be denied that LCK teams have performed very well in international tournaments. Since 2020, LCK has consistently had at least one team reach the finals of Worlds. As for MSI, the LCK representatives have also made it to the final match.
However, in the 2023 season, LCK teams do not provide the same sense of reassurance as in previous seasons. Any team has revealed critical flaws, from Gen.G, KT Rolster, T1 to Hanwha Life Esports and Dplus KIA. Although, aside from T1, the other teams have undergone some personnel changes compared to last season. Yet, it’s clear that issues still persist.
Recently, YamatoCannon also stated that the current LCK is a region where “each player looks outstanding, but when put together, there are countless issues.” The Chairman of FNC provided some examples to support his argument. He noted: “As a regular viewer of LCK, I see they are not complete. Like Peanut, I feel he is not performing at the same level as last year. Or T1 has revealed too many issues when Faker is absent. As for Chovy and Bdd, they may be the best Mid Laners currently and give off an “unstoppable” vibe. But both still have shortcomings that anyone watching LCK can recognize. It will be tough to determine which LCK team will win this Summer.
It cannot be denied that T1’s victory over KT showed that the “undefeated army” also played very poorly. Among those, overconfidence and a dismissive attitude towards the opponent might be KT’s biggest flaws. They had an excellent record leading up to the match against T1. Thus, when facing an opponent with numerous issues and just having exerted themselves in the match against DK, KT couldn’t foresee the bleak outcome ahead.
In the upcoming Worlds 2023, LCK will face both representatives of LPL that defeated them at MSI 2023 (JD Gaming and Bilibili Gaming). Given their performance in the Summer, many LCK fans have begun to fear that the championship will have to return to the rival region after the conclusion of Worlds 2023.