LCK: DWG KIA

Spring Season Record: 16-2 (33-10)

It seems only fitting that the team I start with are the defending World Champions (formerly known as DAMWON Gaming) who seem to be in the same stride as they were last October. They have the Spring Split MVP in Canyon and some of the most gifted players in the LCK surrounding him. They have constantly refined their playstyle and have tried some unique strategies throughout the split. Coming into the tournament as the defending World Champions means they will have a BIG target on their back.

Lane Breakdown

In this section I am going to go lane by lane (or position by position) and grade out each player and set some expectations for what we should see from them in the group stage! Obviously playing on stage in an actual tournament can give us some pretty special moments but I will outline what should be the most likely outcome.

Top Lane (Khan): Khan has been pretty consistent throughout both the split and the playoffs in the LCK. You should expect him to be an immovable force in the top lane that just doesn’t really die. In the regular season he was almost unkillable with 2.26 deaths per game in the regular split and 3.17 per game in the playoffs. This may seem like a lot but he played heavy engage top laners likeOrnn, Sion, and Gnar who initiated fights as well as side lane split pushers like Gangplank and WuKong and for the majority of champions didn’t give up more than 3 deaths per game. Look for group stage to have him a little more loose on his champion selection with possible Gangplank picks but as they transition to the Rumble and knockout stage look for him to move back into his more frontline role. 

Jungle (Canyon): This is the king of the jungle right now. If 10 analysts made jungle power rankings, 9 of them would put him as number one and the last guy would be wrong. Does Canyon benefit from his teammates on DWG? Yes. Does DWG benefit more from having Canyon in the jungle? Absolutely. He breezed through the LCK playoffs with a 6.8 KDA and a total of 157 kills in the Spring split. This is the difference maker on this team and he pulls out serious ban attention in draft. I think if anyone allows DWG to draft any easy hard crowd control (stuns) and let Canyon draft Nidalee… watch out. 

Mid Lane (ShowMaker): While ShowMaker didn’t top the kill chart in the spring playoffs (2nd most with 29 total kills), he did have a KDA of 7.7 and a 80.2% team kill participation. ShowMaker’s best quality as a mid laner are in the small things he does. He has a wide champion pool but for each champion he plays he finds creative ways to be safe and gain advantages through winning out on trades, quality farming, and following up on aggression by Canyon. I love his Zoe play where during the Spring Split he went 6-2 on the pick and averaged 4.6 kills, 0.75 deaths, and 7 assists. He will control the mid lane and put a ton of pressure on other mid laners, I cannot wait to see the rematch between him and Perkz (Cloud9) in the first group stage!

Bot/AD Carry (Ghost): Because of teams like T1, NS RedForce, and DRX who put so many resources into their AD Carry while DWG don’t normally emphasize Ghost as much; Ghost tends to be more forgotten when discussing the tools DWG have. Make no mistake, Ghost can carry DWG if needed. He led the LCK in playoffs in most kills (27), fewest deaths (8), and highest KDA (8.4). In the regular season Ghost racked up a whopping 204 kills which is almost 20 more than the next ADC. DWG will most likely put him on something that will scale heavier into the late game like a Kai’Sa or Xayah but he does have more off meta picks like the Ezreal and Varus that he can pull out as well. 

Support (BeryL): It really goes unnoticed how good BeryL is compared to the other supports in the LCK, and realistically the world. He is the king of engage and has a champion ocean to choose from including very off meta picks like Jarvan IV, Hiemerdinger, and Cho’Gath. As the primary engage for DWG he averaged 3.4 deaths per game in the Spring Split and even fewer (2.1) deaths in playoffs. Expect the tanky champions in this tournament for him though with picks like Tahm Kench, Alistar, and Leona most likely rising to the top of his priority. My expectation is that outside of maybe RNG’s Ming, there won’t be many supports who can generate the advantages he can. 

Cann’s Final Thoughts

I started with DWG KIA because this is your most likely team to win the Mid Season Invitational. They are a complete team top to bottom and there aren’t many teams that I would label as a major threat. Any loss in this initial group phase would be an absolute shock and even more than 1-2 losses in the the Rumble would be a major upset. The cost on these players will be very high throughout the tournament so be selective about which players you choose to pick up and in which matchups you choose to do so. 

Cann’s Record Prediction: 21-4
Cann’s Final Placement Prediction: Tournament Champion