Ahead of the LCK Spring 2023 playoffs: is there a gun against T1 and can Gen. G can repeat the success of last summer
Yuriy SheremetThe LCK Spring 2023 play-offs begin on March 22 in South Korea. The event is epochal in itself, with the top 6 teams in the most prestigious region battling it out for a combined prize pool of $286,335 and two bids to the Mid-Season Invitational 2023. The titans of the competitive League of Legends such as T1 and Gen.G, as well as the DPlus all-star team and challengers KT Rolster, Hanwha Life Esports and SANDBOX Gaming are among the action.
The aforementioned six will be revealing the strongest team in the region, and hence the world, for 20 days. The formula at the professional League of Legends has not changed: whoever owns the South Korean league title owns the world.
It may sound too pompous, but in fact it is. The region remains the home of the World Champions in 2023, with 2 teams from South Korea playing in the Worlds 2022 final.
Before the start of the LCK Spring 2023 play-offs, let's analyse the state of the competitors and predict the winner of the race.
The numbers don't lie: T1s should take the title lightly
Spring replaces winter and after a dark night comes the dawn. In South Korea, on the other hand, T1s rule the ball, and that has not changed with the arrival of the new competition season.
After their "failure" at Worlds 2023, where the Invocation Cup was stolen from T1, the legendary South Korean five have continued to play in the same roster. It's silly to change what works, and it works well.
In the group stage of LCK Spring 2023, T1 produced a staggering performance as the team finished the regular season 17-1, and 35-8 on the cards. T1 were easy, yes so much so that they frivolously piked Cho`Gath for the shooter position and Senna for the snapper.
T1's level of play was close to prohibitive, and the gap between them and their pursuers was serious, with Gen.G, ranked top-2 in the group playing 13-5. The winner of LCK Spring 2023 seems to be in sight.
The magic of Deft will work: can the Dplus beat T1?
The biggest revelation of last season in the professional League of Legends was DRX's championship at Worlds 2022. The driving force behind the success of the then Cinderella player was competition veteran and LoL legend Deft.
The unexpected success raised the bar for the Championship five and DRX did not manage to win the line-up. However, the desire to strengthen their squad with players of that level was plentiful, and the main star, at least in terms of media, moved to Dplus (until 2023 DAMWON Gaming).
Dplus have assembled a stellar roster for the new season, with Canna, Canyon, ShowMaker and Kellin joining the roster in addition to Deft. They've got a star-studded roster, but not quite a star-studded one.
Dplus finished the regular season on 4th place, which doesn't suit a club with such a serious squad. However, the Dplus performers, and in particular Deft, have made their mark.
Few people believed in DRX last year as well, but the result surpassed all expectations. In the spring split of LCK 2023, history may repeat itself, but there is at least a minimum on the way.
Gen.G as the antidote against T1
The big three in the LCK Spring 2023 playoffs should include Gen.G. The titular South Korean club has lost none of its grip after the transfer period.
Gen.G's "soft" passage to the playoffs was facilitated by minimal changes after the disappointing Worlds 2023. Duo-bot Peyz and Dellight joined the team in November.
The newcomers are difficult to compare with the departed performers, especially if we're talking about Ruler, but they managed to show results. Gen.G finished 2nd in the regular season with a score of 13-5 in the series and 30-13 in games.
Last year Gen.G managed to close out the LCK summer split, which automatically makes them a serious contender and one of the main contenders for a trip to London for MSI 2023.
Where and how to watch the LCK Spring 2023 play-offs
Live battles between the aforementioned three, as well as the underdogs Hanwa Life Esports, KT Rolster and SANDBOX Gaming, can be watched via official Riot streaming: Twitch and YouTube channels of LCK will start streaming from March 22. You can also find LCK Spring 2023: Playoffs matches on third-party sources such as EGamersWorld.
The EGamersWorld website offers a wide range of options for easy viewing of playoff games. From multi-broadcasting in 12 languages and a choice of favourite streams, to detailed match analyses: live scoring, real-time odds, schedules, line-ups, pico-bans of champions and so on.
As an extra feature to make the LCK Spring 2023 play-offs more interesting you can analyse the games with the help of forecasts on the website. The forecasts can be made by any user, who needs a simple verification procedure.
EGamersWorld is a good companion for top League of Legends games during the LCK Spring 2023 playoffs.
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.