KeSPA Cup 2018 has already been filled with some surprising results and great matches. While some solid teams like Hanwha Life Esports have already been eliminated, there are still a lot of amazing teams in contention to qualify for the playoffs. As such, let’s take a look at a two of the upcoming qualifying matches that are set to take place.

Gen.G vs SANDBOX Gaming

Courtesy of: Invenglobal

One of the biggest free agents of the offseason was jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho. Now he’ll make his official debut with his new team Gen.G against SANDBOX Gaming, the team formerly known as Team BattleComics. As the first preview of how LCK teams will do against each other, this match will surely be exciting to watch.

On the side of Gen.G, it’ll be a fairly different roster. With former support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in and mid laner Lee “Crown” Min-ho leaving for NA, we’ll be seeing some new faces on Gen.G in support Kim “Life” Jeong-min while mid laner Song “Fly” Yong-jun will have the mid lane all to himself. Along with the addition of Peanut, the team come into the tournament as one of the more exciting teams to watch on paper. With the aggressive and proactive play of Peanut, the team will be one of the top contenders to win it all.

Meanwhile, the newly promoted SANDBOX Gaming come into their match against Gen.G looking fairly shaky after their 2-0 victory over Winners in the first round. While mid laner Kim “Dove” Jae-yeon continues to have solid performances, the team greatly benefited off big mistakes made by Winners throughout the series. As such the mistakes made by SANDBOX were not as important. However, it is a troubling result for the team going into LCK if they’re unable to fix their mistakes.

Prediction:

While we have yet to see Gen.G in action I’ll be giving this series to them 2-0. With the talent on the Gen.G roster it’s hard to see SANDBOX Gaming beating them, especially with the mistakes they’re making throughout the game. While it’s possible to see SANDBOX taking a game, it is very unlikely to happen.

Jin Air Green Wings vs GC Busan Rising Star

Courtesy of: Invenglobal

While the first match of the qualifying round will be a LCK preview, this match will be a preview of the CK instead. With both Jin Air and GC Busan having solid showing in their elimination matches, this could be a future match for first place in Challengers. So who will draw First Blood?

For the newly demoted Jin Air, they fielded two completely different rosters for both games against REVERSE Gaming. While it’s clear they’re still testing out players, the 2-0 result off of fairly quick games should be a reassuring sign for fans of the gladplane. Some key stand-outs in their first match were mid laner Choi “CheonGo” Hyeon-woo and top laner Heo “Lindarang” Man-heung. While it’s still unknown as to what roster they’ll be fielding against GC Busan, based on the performance of the two squads, it shouldn’t be a huge issue.

Meanwhile GC Busan come into KeSPA Cup with a fairly new roster. Leading the way are top laner Lee “SoaR” Gang-pyo and jungler Lee “Ryan” Jun-seok, two solid players who could be considered some of the best in CK. While the team faced a fairly weak MVP roster in their first round. However, the team had a fairly good showing against MVP and looked solid for most of the series. Now they’ll face a bigger challenge in Jin Air which will give fans a better idea of how well this team will do in CK.

Predictions:

While both teams looked solid in their initial matches, I still give the edge to Jin Air this time around. With their ten man roster, it’ll be a good test for GC Busan to adapt to different playstyles. This time around, however, it’s hard to see GC Busan pulling it off. As such, I believe Jin Air will win the series 2-1.

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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