Amid DWG KIA’s decline, Gen.G Esports has emerged as the strongest contender for the LCK Summer 2021 championship. As of now, they are also the only team maintaining an undefeated record in the group stage, even though the tournament has just entered its third week.
Recently, the team had an impressive comeback against Liiv SANDBOX – the team that had just defeated T1 not long before. In an interview with Kukmin Daily of South Korea after the match, Clid – the star of Gen.G, expressed confidence in his and his teammates’ chances of winning the championship this season.
“In the first game (against LSB), we lost quite helplessly, but in the second game, we had a champion advantage and won. The final game was really difficult, with many mistakes occurring, but we still fought until the end and secured the victory.”
For Clid, the victory against LSB means more than just points. The fact that Gen.G Esports could win while being behind is quite rare in previous seasons, but it has occurred more frequently this season. Clid believes this is a sign that he and his teammates have addressed their weaknesses, while captain Ruler continues to demonstrate impressive carrying abilities in the late game.
Speaking about the season’s goals, Clid confidently stated: “I’ve finished second twice already; it’s time to claim the championship title. Everything is progressing very well, we won a match in which we were at a disadvantage in every aspect, which is a positive sign. We believe in a favorable result this season.”
In fact, Clid has won 2 LCK championships while wearing the SKT T1 jersey in 2019, but since leaving SKT and transferring to GEN in a relatively noisy deal (due to comments comparing the new and old teams), Clid has yet to fulfill his stated goal of winning greater glory than what he achieved with SKT. With GEN, Clid has reached 2 LCK finals (both in spring), but in both matches, they were mercilessly crushed by T1 (Spring Finals 2020) and DWG KIA (Spring 2021).
With both of these formidable opponents having declined, this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Clid to conquer the LCK championship for the third time in his career, and for the first time since leaving the SKT jersey.