After a long wait, the LCK Spring Split has finally begun. With an opening that was filled with some great action. Going into the second week, what are some things to keep in mind going forward? It’s time to take a look at three thoughts from the opening week of the 2020 LCK Spring Split.
Surprise Filled Week
With some great series through the week, there have been some surprising results. From the surprising underperformance of Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong to the early struggles of DAMWON Gaming there has been a lot of issues the league has gone through. However, one of the bigger surprises in the first week has not been a struggle. Instead, it’s been the early success of Hanwha Life Esports that has been the most surprising.
With former support Oh “Vsta” Hyo-seong slotting into the roster as the ADC, the team picked up a great win against T1 and lost a hard-fought series against the currently undefeated Afreeca Freecs. While they weren’t able to pick up the victory against Afreeca, Hanwha has shown that they’re a team that could be competing for a playoff spot further down the road. It’ll heavily depend on the play of top laner Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin, who continues to have issues with consistency. But for now, the future is looking good for Hanwha.
Three Teams on Top
After a week of action, three teams sit on top with a 2-0 record in Gen.G, the Afreeca Freecs, and DragonX. For each team, it has been a collective group effort as everyone has been playing some great League of Legends, but there have been some standouts for each team.
For Gen.G, support Kim “Kellin” Hyeong-gyu has been a huge surprise after being mostly unimpressive previously on Jin Air Green Wings. On top of that, the usual suspects in jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min and ADC Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk continued to dominate the game.
For Afreeca, the play of top laner Kim “Kiin” Gi-in and ADC Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun have been as expected as the two make strong cases to being the best top laner and ADC in the LCK. The biggest surprise, however, has been mid laner Song “Fly” Yong-jun who continues his amazing play and doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.
Lastly there’s DragonX. Despite many expecting ADC Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu and Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon to be the most impressive, it has been the story of youth. Instead, through the first week, the ones that have impressed the most on DragonX has been jungler Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon and support Ryu “Keria” Min-seok.
With all three teams looking amazing, it’ll be entertaining to see which team will stay undefeated for the longest, especially as all three teams will face each other in the coming three weeks.
Missing Hype
Due to the current risk of the Coronavirus, the LCK has been played in LoL Park without the cheer and hype of fans watching. While it’s unknown how long this will last, it has made the experience very different. While the plays have continued to be amazing, the hype simply doesn’t feel as high without the cheer and craze of the fans at LoL Park.
Case in point, the amazing two-versus-five by Fly and Mystic against Griffin. While the cast did an amazing job as always, the lack of background cheers and screams just made it feel different. While it’s still unknown how much longer this ban will be, the fans of the LCK are dearly missed at LoL Park and the day they return will be an amazing day for some League of Legends action.
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 LCK Flickr.
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