(+145) Hanwha Life Esports v Nongshim RedForce (-185)

The LCK proceeds into the qualification match of the regional gauntlet. Yesterday, Hanwha Life Esports narrowly passed Liiv Sandbox in round one of the qualifiers, however, they now face off against Nongshim RedForce: a far more formidable team relative to the Sandbox they faced on Tuesday, with a massive carry in Deokdam and an MVP jungler in Peanut. It’s up to Chovy to force his team to worlds after having an embarrassing regular season.

Captain - Hanwha Life Esports
Chovy ($15,900)
There’s literally no other option (again). HLE live and die by the Chovy, he’s one of the best- if not the absolute best mid laners in the LCK, despite being saddled with an underpowered team. He’s versatile, consistently performs on a champion ocean, and by far the best player on HLE. Your only other remotely close option is flipping the coin that is Deft, but Nongshim’s bottom lane looks extremely powerful.
Alternatives to consider: Deft ($14,700)

Captain - Nongshim RedForce
Peanut ($14,400)
No surprise here- Peanut was the MVP of the regular season LCK split, and he gets to run a worlds qualifying match against the new blood of HLE in Willer. While the young jungler is by no means bad- in fact, he’s not even a liability most of the time, it’s often that Willer can become encumbered by the faster pace of the professional stage and lose track of what his laners need from him. Peanut is a seasoned veteran who has been on the worlds stage countless times, which he can leverage to his advantage against the inexperienced Willer. My other suggestion would be Deokdam, although he comes at a massive price tag, he’s one of the best ADCs in the LCK.
Alternatives to consider: Deokdam ($16,500)

Flex - Hanwha Life Esports
Willer ($9,000)
As stated before, and yesterday too, Willer can potentially have great things ahead of him. He has already shown tremendous promise in his short first season of LCK, where he replaced two underwhelming junglers and performed relatively well despite being so young. While Peanut has a massive advantage, Willer has shown he can be capable against the toughest opponents the LCK has to offer, and I expect him to hold his own.
Alternatives to consider: Deft ($10,600)

Flex - Nongshim RedForce
Deokdam ($11,000)
Finally, we have Nongshim’s Deokdam, the star carry on the squad with an aggressive support to back him up in Kellin. Without a doubt in my mind, Deokdam is deceisively the best team fighting ADC in the entire LCK, which is much to the benefit of Nongshim in a matchup like HLE, a squad who is known for having poor team fights and weak set ups. Team fights are where ADCs farm points, and I think Deokdam is primed to set up a clinic on HLE’s weaker components past Chovy.
Alternatives to consider: Gori ($10,400)