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If you’re looking for fast paced, high quality League of Legends game play, then watching LCK may be a good fit for you. LCK is known to be the host of some of the highest quality teams and players and is regarded as the top level of League of Legends competition. I’ll be breaking down these teams and helping give you an advantage when these matches begin.

Let’s start with not just the LCK 2020 Summer champion, but also the 2020 Season World Champions DAMWON Gaming. If we’re doing top to bottom power rankings, it’s impossible not to start with these guys. DAMWON had a game record of 16-2 during their time in the Summer 2020 LCK Season only going on to lose 1 match each to teams DRX and Gen.G. Their exciting roster changes for the 2021 Season have earned them our #1 power ranking spot. Be sure to watch Chasy, Khan, and Ghost as the new additions to this powerhouse roster. Gen.G gets the number two ranking not just because of their 14-4 record in the 2020 season, but also because they are one of the few LCK teams that replaced one or fewer members on the roster. Kellin, who was the previous support, gets replaced by “Life” who was promoted from their academy team. If you’re at all familiar with the league scene, then seeing this team ranked this high should not come at a surprise. Clid, Bdd, and Ruler have proven to be some of the best in the scene time after time. Gen.G has massive potential after adding a rookie to their lineup of experienced talent. Gen.G’s players to watch are Bdd, Life and Ruler. Moving on to a close third is DRX, who was another one of two teams that managed to take a game off of DAMWON Gaming. Ending their 2020 Summer game record of 15-3, this team is home to world-class jungler Pyosik. He’s one of the leading players in the league with the highest KPAR, and the team’s success counts on him continuing his consistent play. This team moved four of their academy players to their main roster which bring many to question whether they’ll be able to continue similar success, but one undeniable truth is that watching these games will be entertaining. Players you should keep an eye on: Pysoik, Becca, Destroy.

Going into upper mid-tier we start with T1 (formerly SK T1.) This season they have taken risks on the coaching staff they have hired, and this can lead to either massively positive results or somewhat disappointing results. Regardless, T1 is home to Faker, who needs no introduction, and puts on a show for all viewers who tune in. With that being said, the players to look out for are Zeus, Faker, Teddy. Liiv SANDBOX (previously SANDBOX Gaming) earns our number 5 spot with their new roster variation. Not only have they brought in a new face to the scene in Croco who is being looked at as a player who incredible potential, but they’ve secured themselves a veteran support in Effort. In this team, I’m really looking towards the bot lane who will be the backbone of success for this roster. Liiv SANDBOX has two ADC’s in Route and Leo. While both have proven themselves to have the mechanical prowess needed to dominate the competition, Leo and Effort have history of playing with eachother on SK T1 in 2019. I believe this will bring consistency and success to an already great roster. Look for the synergy in Effort and Leo. Finally we end the upper middle tier with Afreeca Freecs. Ending their 2020 Summer Season run with a 10-8 record, Afreeca Freecs managed to 2-0 the majority of teams in the LCK. They struggled to compete against the top competition of Damwon, DRX, Gen.G and T1. During the off-season they kept strong performers in Dread, Fly, and Kiin, but also added up-coming talent in Lehends and Trap. This leads me to believe Afreeca Freecs has an opportunity to cause many upsets and potentially end much higher then they did in seasons prior. When watching this exciting roster compete, look out for Bang, Dread, and Lehends.

Moving on to the lower mid-tier teams has both some new organization names and some familiar faces. Starting with KT Rolster, they ended their season 7-11 during Summer 2020. The reason I have them listed this low is due to their roster being entirely different then who played previously. While I enjoy seeing fresh faces, it makes me question what type of success we’ll be seeing from this team. Regardless, keep an eye on fresh faces in HyBriD, Zzus, and Blank. Next up is Hanwha Life Esports who had previously went 2-16 only taking games off the last and 8th place teams in the LCK. This ranking may come as a shock considering their history, but they’ve put in the effort to rebuild not just their player roster but their coaching roster as well. For this reason, they have earned the #8 spot. Look out for Morgan, CaD, and Deft on the rift!

Finally, to our bottom tier teams, who still manage to host players that breathe some life into their potential to be great. My early prediction is we will not see these teams be the 2-16 and 1-17 teams that we saw in previous seasons, but they’ll still manage to be last place. Kicking it off with NS RedForce (previously Team Dynamics.) Despite the rebrand, we will not forget their 5-13 run in the Summer 2020 season. However, we’ve seen them put together an entirely new roster with well known players such as Peanut. My concern with this roster is whether their bot lane will be good enough to compete with the rest of the teams stacked rosters, considering Kellin has struggled to perform on many of the teams he’s been apart of. Regardless, players to keep an eye on are Peanut, Kellin and Rich. Finally we end our power rankings list with Fredit BRION who is an entirely new organization in the LCK replacing 2020’s team SeolHaeOne Prince. Many of their players originated from LCK Academy teams which gives me some hope that these players will be ready for this type of competition, but I don’t see enough veteran talent to feel comfortable rating them any higher then 10th. If you’re interested in watching some new faces make their mark, then look out for Hena, Crescent, and Hoya.

Final Rankings & Players to Watch:

  1. DAMWON Gaming: Chasy, Khan, Ghost
  2. Gen.G: Bdd, Life, Ruler
  3. DRX: Pysoik, Becca, Destroy
  4. T1: Zeus, Faker, Teddy
  5. Liiv SANDBOX: Effort, Leo
  6. Afreeca Freecs: Bang, Dread, Lehends
  7. KT Rolster: HyBriD, Zzus, Blank
  8. Hanwha Life Esports: Morgan, CaD, Deft
  9. NS Redforce: Peanut, Kellin, Rich
  10. Fredit BRION: Hena, Crescent, Hoya