With the end of 2018 getting closer and closer, we have finally reached the start of the annual KeSPA Cup. A rare opportunity for LCK and CK teams to play against each other, it’ll also provide fans a first look at all the new rosters. This time around there’s a lot to look at so here’s three thoughts to keep in mind as you watch the amazing matches that will take place during KeSPA Cup 2018.

How will the Super Teams do?

Courtesy of: LoL Esports Flickr

The biggest story of the Korean offseason has been all the super teams that have been created. From the stacked SK Telecom T1 led by Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong to Afreeca Freecs that have made upgrades to their roster and retained Kim “Kiin” Gi-in, this tournament will feature some great matchups as a result. But how well will these teams do in reality?

Of course it’s hard to ignore the fact that this will be the first time these teams play together on stage and as a result the synergy won’t quite be there. Along with that, a new meta thanks to all the offseason patch changes will lead to a lot of experimenting. As such this will likely be a very interesting tournament, that likely won’t mean much in terms of how the teams stack up to each other. But it will give us a good initial idea of how the teams look as it did with Griffin in 2017.

What will all the Final Rosters look like?

Courtesy of: Invenglobal

This goes two ways. The first being how the starting rosters look, as even if teams decide to swap around players, their performance here can give us a good idea of who will be starting the season in game or on the bench. Teams like Jin Air Green Wings and Hanwha Life are good examples of teams to look for in that sense.

But secondly, we’ll also have a chance to perhaps see the final rosters for teams that have yet to fully announce their rosters. The biggest example of this being KT Rolster, who has an amazing roster already, but still lacks an ADC on it. Who will they start as an ADC? With most of the Korean ADCs all signed to a team, the options for KT are becoming limited. Will they be able to find a solid ADC to round out their fairly competitive roster? This is a huge question for KT Rolster right now, which leads us to the last point.

Will KT Rolster defend their title?

Courtesy of: Korizon

Coincidentally, this also can be applied in two ways now. With KT Rolster being the recent champions of LCK and last year’s KeSPA Cup, there is a lot of pressure on them to continue their winning ways. Will they be able to defend not only their Kespa Cup title, but the title of best in Korea? It’s hard to say and it’s mainly due to their lack of an ADC as mentioned before.

On top of that, KT will be facing some great teams that have all upgraded during the offseason, most of the time with the players that left KT recently. Along with that, they’ll also be facing the same problem as other teams as their new roster has yet to play too much with each other. While most won’t consider them favorites to win the tournament at the moment, the expectations are there for KT to have a solid performance even with a fairly new roster. Will they be able to live up to these high expectations? Only time will tell.

Conclusion

This years KeSPA Cup will be very exciting (as KeSPA Cups usually are). For fans, it’ll be the first chance to watch pro teams play on a new patch as we near the start of season 9. For players, it’ll be the first chance for them to play slightly meaningful matches with their new teammates as they begin to rebuild chemistry. How will these teams do? Who will win? Will this be a sign of things to come in Korea? All these questions and thoughts will be answered soon.

To watch League of Legends tournaments, visit watch.na.lolesports.com. For more information on the Split, teams, standings and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Recaps of former weeks and other LoL content can be found at https://thegamehaus.com/league-of-legends/.

Featured image courtesy of KeSPA.

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