KT vs DK: playoffs fight intensifies! – LCK Summer Preview

With one last series left for the two teams, who will be getting the sweet end between KT and DK in the LCK summer split? Let’s break down the odds of the two squads in this series.

KT vs DK – a crucial series for the seeding

While the LEC and the LPL are already well into the final stages of their splits, the LCK is still finishing the regular split with its week 9 action. After their loss against DRX, Kwangdong Freecs has been eliminated from playoffs contention, leaving BNK FearX the last seed to still fight for Worlds 2024.

That said, the seeding is still yet to be finalized as KT and T1 are still contending for fourth and fifth place. KT made the incredible feat of defeating Gen.G last week in true “KT Rollercoaster” form, not allowing them to end with a perfect split. Despite the win, however, KT fans must still be aware that the team is one of the most volatile in the LCK, and going into the match against DK, there is still a lot of uncertainty. Let’s see where those uncertainties lie.

Match breakdown

KT’s win against Gen.G was mainly thanks to great draft adaptation by the team over the course of the series. In every game KT was able to pinpoint some of the most vital Gen.G comfort picks, forcing the enemies into some drafting shenanigans. While I think Gen.G was already preparing and testing new stuff for the LCK summer playoffs, KT did play well according to their team composition. Now that teams are heading into Bo5s, this might be an important element for future series.

With DK already locked in third, I might expect them to be a little bit risky with their drafts as their eyes should already be toward playoffs. In particular, Lucid’s jungle pool might need a new evolution as he has been often struggling to play carry champions. It’s not DK’s key strength to play with a jungle carry but mastering this type of playstyle will allow them to reach new potential and put opponents at a disadvantage during the draft.

The focus of this series, however, will likely go to the mid and bottom lane. Both teams are quite reliant on their double carries to win games so the matchups and champion picks will be crucial. I would say KT is slightly favored in the bottom lane if Aiming is not on his comfort pick (Zeri). In the mid lane, instead, Showmaker should have a small advantage over Bdd.

Overall, I’m expecting KT to take the win as it would keep them in the run for fourth place. A loss would confirm them in 5th place and it would be problematic as they would face either DK or T1 in the first round (and potentially face direct elimination). Considering the result is pretty much irrelevant for DK, the most important thing is to see in what kind of form they are showing up in the series to understand their chances against the other top teams of the league.