The LCK kicked off the 2021 season yesterday with a decisive win by Gen.G over KT Rolster and a great performance from T1 over Hanwha Life Esports. What did we learn from these games though? Can we already make predictions about the end of the season standings?
The game to start off the LCK season was Gen.G vs KT Rolster. One team had played together for an entire year before, skipped the KeSpa Cup to get rest, while their opponents were a newly formed team of players who are still somewhat unfamiliar with one another.
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The series started off with Doran getting solo killed in the top lane by Rascal only to teleport right back to his death only moments after. This set the tone for the rest of the series. Sure, Gen.G didn’t stray from their usual slow and methodical playstyle, somehow managing to drag on games even with a 10K Gold lead.
Rascal when Doran said he's the best toplaner in the LCK at the moment pic.twitter.com/pf0G7xYjmp
— epoteu hwaiting (@unbelviso_o) January 13, 2021
What was obvious to see though was the difference in experience. Throughout the series, Gen.G showed off their synergy with well-timed roams and ganks – though Clid had a few overly aggressive moments – while KT Rolster looked like a team still trying to learn how to play together.
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There were some bright moments from them though, Ucal and Zeus showed great moments throughout the series, while Doran who had once been hailed as one of the best up-and-coming Top Laners will have to find his stride since this performance just wasn’t it.
In the end, Gen.G took the easy 2-0 win over KT Rolster with incredible performances from Rascal and Ruler.
The average age of this roster is 18.6
— Ashley Kang (@AshleyKang) January 13, 2021
The second game of the day was T1 vs Hanwha Life. There had been rumors that Faker wouldn’t be the starter for this match, which was confirmed once the lineup was shown. No Faker. No Teddy. No Cuzz. The average age of the T1 squad? 18.6 years.
This is the first time in Faker’s history that he won’t be starting in the first game of the LCK for his team. Even legends get old… But the young talent of T1 started off strong in this series against Hanwha Life.
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Hanwha Life, known as being a rather average team throughout previous splits had stocked up this year by picking up Chovy as well as Deft to complete their roster of rookies.
The remarkable thing during the series was the determination shown by all players. T1 decimated Hanwha in the first game, not giving them a single kill, only for Hanwha to take a breather and come back in game 2 to tie the series up at 1-a-piece.
A QUADRAKILL for Gumayusi closes out the end of this series! #LCK pic.twitter.com/RuDud9Omue
— LCK Global (@LCK_Global) January 13, 2021
This shows the determination of such young players on both sides. Sure, Chovy has played a while in the LCK, but two of his teammates haven’t and to come back and win after having been blanked the game before shows true grit.
The final game of the day went to T1, with Clozer on his famous Irelia solo killing Chovy in the mid lane. The game was filled with back-and-forth action, showing the lust for skirmishes both young squads have, but in the end, T1 came out victorious taking the series 2 - 1.
Overall, the first day of the LCK showed off lots of promising rookie talents, as well as veteran smooth gameplay. We’re excited to see what is in store for the rest of the spring split!
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