Can DWG KIA Return to Their Best Form?
Looking back at the 2022 LCK Spring Split regular season, it’s crazy to think that DWG KIA managed to snatch 1 game away from T1 in their first encounter. It was mostly due to their situation in the top lane that they didn’t look that great during the first few weeks of the tournament, though the rest of the team was looking pretty decent, at least Canyon and Showmaker..
During the first couple of weeks in the summer split, DK hasn’t looked that hot, even though they have lost only 1 of their 3 series. The thing is that beating Fredit BRION and Liiv SANDBOX is not a huge feat. Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon was considered to be the best top lane to ever play in the LCK, though that seems to be a thing of the past now.
In their series against Gen.G, Nuguri was far from being a relevant factor as he played Sejuani, Gragas, and Gnar. At his prime, Nuguri would be seen playing champions like Jayce, Camile, and Fiora. I know, some of these champions might not be the absolute best in this meta, but we’ve seen different top laners consistently play a more carry-oriented champion pool.
Last year, Nuguri was playing for the LPL team FunPlus Phoenix, and while the team saw a good amount of success, he was far from being the same Nuguri we saw in 2020 Damwon. We still have hope that he will be able to return to his godlike form very soon, because if he fails to do so, we might end up having a 2-team battle for the title between T1 and Gen.G, just like we did last split.
There Might be a Gap in the Jungle
While Nuguri isn’t looking that great, Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu might end up being DK’s ultimate weapon in this match. The 2020 Worlds MVP and LCK 2022 Spring Split Player of the Split is undeniably one of strongest carries we’ve ever seen in the jungle role, at least in Korea. Even if this summer split hasn’t been the best for DWG KIA, Canyon is still looking much better than his counterpart Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun.
He’s played 6 different champions throughout 7 games, and most of his stats are looking pretty good, considering that he played against a team that remains lossless. I mention this because some teams like DRX and T1 have only played against opponents sitting at the bottom of the standings that are considered the weaker teams in the league.
Canyon is sitting at the top of the rankings in Damage Per Minute amongst junglers with 327, which is quite high for his role. While there are other junglers that excel at things like KP% and FB%, Canyon knows that his role in this specific lineup is one of a carry. Right now, the rest of his team hasn’t been able to perform as expected, except for Showmaker, who is also looking like one of the best mid laners this split.
On the other side we have Oner, who is below Canyon in almost every single stat. But Oner’s case is a very different one as he has the best ADC in the league, Gumayusi, whose performance has been out of this world this entire year. He also has Keria to back him up at all times, and Faker, who is functioning as more of an enabler mid recently. This matchup is turning out to be a very exciting one as it’s going to be a clash of two very different playstyles.
DWG KIA vs T1 Game Information
- Date: Saturday, June 25th
- Time: 4:00am ET
- DWG vs T1 Live Stream: LCK – Twitch
DWG KIA vs T1 Predictions
I have mentioned before how when it comes to league of legends betting, draft is a huge deal, though I don’t think that this specific match is going to be the case as both teams have very clear weaknesses and strengths. Also, T1’s drafting phase has been atrocious as of lately, which is exactly what made them lose key matches in the 2022 MSI.
T1 also struggled against KT Rolster in their first game, which they ended up losing, precisely because of their disrespectful draft where they picked Kassadin and Diana. With all of this said, I still think that T1 is going to come out on top in this matchup.
DK is far from being a strong contender for the title right now, though this might change only if they greatly improve as the season progresses. They are clearly having identity issues, and until they figure out how to unleash Nuguri’s full potential, they are going to have a tough time against the top teams in the league.
That’s it for our 3rd LCK Summer Split match of the week. We’ll keep covering the league for the remainder of the split and be sure to check the rest of our esports picks as we also cover other leagues like the LCS, LPL, and LLA!
