LCK Spring Split Finals Predictions
By Joshua Wilkerson
The LCK spring split reaches its climax Tomorrow, Saturday April 10th at 3 am CST, with reigning LCK and world champions Damwon Kia (Formerly Damwon Gaming) going up against Gen. G.
Match History
Damwon and Gen. G has a head-to-head record of 5-5 starting from the spring split of 2019. In the current split they are again tied with a 1-1 record. Both wins were won with a 2-1 win in a best of three. Gen. G have yet to win their first LCK title and Damwon are looking to keep up their streak of dominance having won every tournament they have been in since the 2020 LCK summer split. Gen. G comes into the match with an overall match record of 13-5, while Damwon retains an impressive 16-2, with one of those 2 losses being at the hands of Gen. G. Based on all of this, we will be giving the edge in match history to Damwon Kia.
Lane Matchups
Top Lane – Rascal vs. Khan
Gen. G’s Rascal has played primarily tank champions, while Khan typically plays champions in an off-tank role. Unless either team has a specific counter planned in the top lane we can expect to see Rascal on his Cho’Gath, Sion, and Ornn. Khan will likely be on Sion, Gnar, and possibly Gangplank. Based on the history between these two players, we can expect to see a tank vs tank matchup, in which recent performance gives the edge in the top lane to Rascal and Gen. G
Jungle – Clid vs. Canyon
Expect to see Clid playing aggressive junglers like Udyr, Olaf, and Nidalee. Canyon also plays a very aggressive game, and along with Udyr, we can expect to see his Hecarim, Graves, and Nidalee. While Clid has a reputation for his early game pressure and control, he often lags behind his opponent in CS difference. Canyon on the other hand, is typically higher in CS over his jungle opponents and also consistently puts up performances with both a high number of kills and assists. Due to the higher impact Canyon tends to have in his games, as well as his experience in a best-of-5 scenario, we will be giving the edge in the jungle to Canyon and Damwon Kia.
Mid Lane – Showmaker vs. BDD
Showmaker and BDD are all-star caliber players who can completely dominate games once they get ahead. BDD is likely to be put on Syndra, Orianna, and Azir in this series, while Showmaker is much harder to pin down. Showmakers diverse champ pool makes him naturally hard to ban out and predict in champ select. BDD is one of the driving forces behind Gen. G’s early game success, and if he gets ahead it will be incredibly difficult to stop him with his incredibly high skill and safe champion pool. However, Showmaker has a strong history of never truly being out of a game. We expect that BDD will likely take an early lead in the Laning phase going into the mid game, but you can never really count Showmaker out, and with Gen. G regularly relying on early leads, we will be giving the edge to Showmaker and Damwon Kia.
Bot Lane Duo – Ruler and Life vs. Ghost and Beryl
Ruler is an absolute force for the side of Gen. G. We can expect to see him on Jinx, Senna, Tristana, and Kalista. Paired with him on support is Life, who will likely be playing Thresh, Sett, and possibly Rell. His performance, especially on Sett, is nothing to laugh at. On the other side we have Ghost and Beryl. Despite her range being an issue in the current meta, Ghost has a strong likelihood to play his Kai’sa. He also is expected to play Senna, Tristana, and possibly Ezreal. His support is Beryl, who we will likely see playing Leona, Tahm Kench, and possibly Rell or Braum. Ruler’s aggressive playstyle along with Life’s strong support pool and particularly notable performance on Sett gives the edge in the bot lane to Ruler and Life of Gen. G.
Conclusions
For the side of Gen. G, Expect early game aggression leading into mid game and around the 25 minute mark. After this point it is often that Gen. G can be seen to struggle and make mistakes that can end up setting them back. Expect BDD and Clid to try applying a lot of pressure and snowballing the game into a quick win before their opponents can catch up.
As for Damwon, expect a mid to late focused composition and play style, where individual performance and their team fighting prowess begins to shine through. Showmaker and Ruler are the players to watch as their performance will be instrumental to Damwon’s success.
Both teams will likely be looking to build a front to back composition for fighting, as their previous series have shown these teams to be the one who wins the game.
Due to the more consistent win conditions for Damwon and Gen. G’s recent late game mistakes we will be giving the edge for this match to Damwon Kia