As the off-season rolls on, three more LCK teams have completed their roster as they look to dethrone T1 and become the new champions of Korea. Of these teams, which made huge upgrades? Which teams made downgrades? Will any of them become true contenders? No matter what their fate may be, this is where the race will start for everyone. So how prepared are these teams for the 2020 LCK season? 

Players that likely won’t see any playtime won’t be included in rosters listed.

DAMWON Gaming

Top: Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon (previously Lee “Flame” Ho-jong as well)

Jungle: Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu (previously Son “Punch” Min-hyuk as well)

Mid: Heo “ShowMaker” Su (no change)

ADC: Sin “Nuclear” Jeong-hyeon (no change)

Support: Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee and Ryu “Hoit” Ho-seong (no change)

There’s not much to say about DAMWON’s roster. For 2020, DAMWON will be bringing back the whole squad that took the team to the quarterfinals after extending the contracts of Canyon and Showmaker. As the only team to keep the entire team together expect DAMWON to continue to be a contender, especially early on in the season. While the loss of players like Flame and coach Kim “Kim” Jeong-soo will be a big hit to the development of the players, it could be argued that they’re at the level where that level of focus on development isn’t as needed as previous seasons. To reflect that change, DAMWON picked up coach Lee “Zefa” Jae-min, which will be a huge boost to the team’s drafting. 

As long as the team can maintain or even improve on their performances of 2019, expect them to continue being a threat in 2020.

KT Rolster

Top: Jeon “Ray” Ji-won and Kim “SoHwan” Jun-yeong (previously Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon and Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho)

Jungle: Kim “bonO” Gi-beom and Kim “Malrang” Geun-seong (previously Go “Score” Dong-bin and Eom “UmTi” Seong-hyeon)

Mid: Lee “Kuro” Seo-haeng (previously Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong)

ADC: Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram (previously Kim “PraY” Jong-in)

Support: Park “TusiN” Jong-ik (previously No “SnowFlower” Hoi-jong)

Despite a great start to the new roster, KT Rolster couldn’t quite stick the landing and ended up with a roster that has a lot of questions it will need to answer. Overall, the bottom side of Kuro, Aiming and TusiN will be great, especially considering their past history as teammates on Afreeca Freecs. However, their choices in the top lane and jungle leave a lot to be desired. While Ray is still a solid player, he has seen better days and will need to prove that he can keep up against the likes of Nuguri. Along with that, the acquisition of SoHwan is questionable especially when Kingen is a better top laner and would still have room to develop. Additionally, KT will need to finally bring out the potential that Malrang has shown from time to time and finally help him become a top jungler in the LCK. 

Luckily, with a new coaching staff made up of the former DragonX team, this could happen. But on paper, KT Rolster will have an uphill battle to make it into the playoffs and will likely barely miss out. 

DragonX (previously Kingzone DragonX)

Top: Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon (previously Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee)

Jungle: Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon (previously Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan)

Mid: Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (previously Yoo “Naehyun” Nae-hyun)

ADC: Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu (no change)

Support: Ryu “Keria” Min-seok (previously Park “TusiN” Jong-ik)

DragonX will be coming into the 2020 season with a very new roster. Luckily, it will still be Deft leading the way for the team. Apart from the acquisition of Chovy, the new DragonX roster will comprise of players who are all still rookies (Doran) or completely new for most (Pyosik and Keria). However, that doesn’t mean this team should be slept on. While Chovy and Deft can always be the some of the best players in the world, Doran has shown that he has a lot of potential as a player while Pyosik and Keria have both been hyped up to be amazing players. If any coach is able to continue the development of these players, it will be Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho. 

Overall, if this team wants to make a deep run, it will be heavily reliant on Doran, Pyosik and Keria showing they’re capable of taking on the veterans of the league and holding their own. With how some teams are shaping out, it may not be enough for Deft or Chovy to drag the team to the top on their own.

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.

Follow Us

You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles

Follow Rui on Twitter @ruixu38