A few days ago, former professional player and LCK commentator Cloud Templar had a stream lasting about two hours to share his views on the strength of teams in South Korea. In addition, he delved into the playstyles of mid lane players and asserted that the ranking of a team largely depends on the strength or weakness of their mid lane.
First, CloudTemplar presented his ranking of LCK teams as follows:
1. DragonX.
2 – Damwon Gaming, T1, Gen.G.
5 – Afreeca Freecs
6 – Sandbox Gaming
7 – Team Dynamic
8 – KT Rolster, SeolHaeOne Prince, Hanwha Life Esports
CloudTemplar explained that he ranked Sandbox Gaming high because this team only loses when facing much stronger opponents (top 5 and above), while their three wins have all been against teams lower in the standings. He is confident that Sandbox Gaming will secure the 6th position as they are the strongest team in the bottom group.
Returning to the main issue – analyzing the mid lane position, CloudTemplar divided mid lane players in LCK into two groups: those who dominate the lane and those who do not. The first group includes Chovy, Showmaker, and BDD, sharing a common trait of high skill and a playstyle that allows them to dominate the mid lane, leveraging that advantage to carry their teams.
In Faker’s case, CloudTemplar believes that the “Demon King” is a unique case among current mid laners. Faker does not necessarily play in an aggressive and oppressive style like the three aforementioned names; however, he does not let himself be bullied in lane. CloudTemplar describes Faker’s playstyle as “like water flowing with the clouds,” adapting to all opponents, and the stronger the enemy, the better Faker performs.
Therefore, Faker performs better in international tournaments because in such large competitions, the skill level of players increases, making it very difficult to completely dominate the enemy’s lane. And Faker’s aforementioned “water flowing with the clouds” playstyle helps keep T1 within the top 4 of the LCK at the moment.
Among the mid lane players who do not dominate the lane (the remaining players), CloudTemplar rates Fly from Afreeca Freecs as the best. This group will be dominated in mid by players like Chovy, BDD, Showmaker, and somewhat Faker, so they will lose when facing teams with these players. However, when this group plays against each other, the mid lane is often in a neutral state, and the outcome will depend on supporting the remaining carry (usually the AD Carry) or creating pressure in team fights.
With Afreeca Freecs winning against KT Rolster last week, CloudTemplar considers Fly the best player of the non-dominating mid lane group. However, teams with mid laners from the non-dominating group will struggle to compete for the championship as they cannot seize control of the mid lane.
All four top teams, DRX, DWG, Gen.G, and T1, have top-tier mid laners from South Korea, and with what CloudTemplar analyzed above, we can understand that the LCK championship and beyond, the ticket to Worlds this year is only a competition among these four teams.
