LCK Summer Week One Wrap-up

The LCK is a staple competition to watch when studying the highest level of gameplay. All teams look at Korea to find picks, bans, and strategies to implement themselves. Who are the players to look out for? What can we expect from Week Two?

End of Week One LCK Standings

End of week One LCK standings from lolesports.com

As week one of LCK wraps up, Gen.G and Griffin are the only two teams at 3-0. Both teams executed their victories cleanly and quickly. On the other side, SKT, bbq, and Jin Air are still struggling to pick up their first best-of-3 victory.

The games themselves, with few exceptions, ended under the 30 minute mark. There were a very small amount of reversals, one done by Gen.G themselves as one of the leading teams. This solidifies the snowball meta that League is currently under.

Players to Look Out For

Ruler (left) and CoreJJ (right) from Gen.G esports

Gen.G’s bot lane, Ruler and CoreJJ, are becoming one of the strongest bot lanes in League at the moment. They have shown multiple times that just because some ADCs are seemingly out of meta, like Ashe or Xayah, does not mean that they are unplayable. Ruler’s positioning is outstanding, enough to make more traditional laners work.

From Griffin, Tarzan is able to consistently snowball his lanes from the jungle with powerful picks like Camille, Trundle and Xin Zhao. In order to make bruisers and mages work, support from the jungler is essential. Tarzan does what is necessary but constantly applying pressure and contesting the enemy jungler.

What to Look For in Week Two

Gen.G and Griffin are dominating the games they play. Even if a team drops a game, they are able to bounce back and try a different strategy. The best-of-three format is more representative of a team’s ability to adapt, rather than teams being flushed out after a poor performance. In such a snowball-based meta, best-of-threes are a great format to practice in.

Something interesting that is being seen in not only LCK is the return of crit-based ADCs. While they are not first picked and clearly weaker than before, the bot lane diversity is greater than any season before. Mage bot lanes, or “wizards” as the community calls them, are difficult to play and require more thought than viewers think. Establishing pushes and playing safer early can be very punishing as a mage, and the jungler plays a huge role in determining if the bot lane succeeds.

Next week, we can expect to consistently see ADCs and mages in the bot lane. Gold funneling strategies are being countered often, and finding less success as teams understand what is going on. However, the best way to counter a strategy is to ban the champions, and teams usually opt out to this.

How will the LCK respond to the removal of Banner of Command? Is Taliyah still going to be pick or ban? Find out when week two begins this Tuesday!

Featured Image courtesy of Riot Games.

For more esports news and coverage, follow The Game Haus on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to keep up with my posts or myself, come check out my twitter:@DmitriyKizhikin.