LCK 2022 Summer – Week 9 Picks and Predictions

DRX v Hanwha Life Esports

The last week of LCK’s summer split is drawing to a close. DRX will face Hanwha Life Esports in the penultimate match of the split’s round robin, before the former head into the playoffs.

Predictions: DRX to win

Odds: 1.29

LoL Betting Site: Odds provided by GG.Bet

When: Sunday, August 14 – 10:00 CEST

DRX

A DRX win is the most likely occurrence, and it will gain some brownie points with their fans, but they need to muster up all the momentum they can before heading into the business end of the tournament. DRX are currently sixth on the standings, the last team to qualify for the playoffs with 9 series wins and 8 losses so far.

They are still licking their wounds from Friday’s hefty defeat at the hands of KT Rolster. DRX were obliterated in under 25 minutes for two straight games, managing 2 kills in the first but not even a single one in the next. Deft dealt the maximum damage on both occasions, but aside from Kingen received no real support.

Last spring they were knocked out of the quarterfinals by Kwangdong Freecs, and their playoffs ended in one game. DRX’s roster needs to rally around and analyze how it all went wrong, because unless they do there’s a repeat looming on the horizon. Given how they started this summer split it seemed like they had it all figured out, but they were soon brought back to reality.

Hanwha Life Esports

HLE’s fixture against DLX will be the wrap of another dismal season. Their evolution into the league’s scapegoats has arisen as a result of their inability to close out games. With just one single series win so far, again Fredit Brion six weeks ago, this split has been nothing short of humiliating and closes out a truly miserable year at the LCK.

This season’s results have been even more tragic than the spring, where they managed at least three wins though they still ended last. They’ve managed a meager 7 kills, and been killed 13.8 times per time, by far the worst in the league across both metrics. Dropping Morgan and Chovy has done little to help their case this past year, and more heads might need to roll if they want to change their results.

⁠Nongshim RedForce v ⁠Kwangdong Freecs

⁠Nongshim RedForce will face ⁠Kwangdong Freecs in the last game of the LCK’s summer round robin. Both teams have nothing to gain or lose from this fixture as the top six are already sealed. KDF have a slight advantage heading into this game, since they’ve performed better overall this season and are one spot higher on the standings.

Predictions: Kwangdong Freecs to win

LoL Odds: 1.62

Betting Site: Odds provided by GG.Bet

When: Sunday, August 14 – 13:00 CEST

⁠Kwangdong Freecs

It’s been another middling split for KDF. They reached the semi-finals last spring but never really had a chance against T1, and were knocked out in the penultimate round. Now there’s no chance of qualification, with them stranded at the seventh position with only 6 series wins so far.

The last time they secured a win was against Hanwha Life Esports two weeks ago, but since then KDF have been dealt nothing but loss. They’ve been clean swept by Gen.G, DRX last week, and the same treatment was meted out by DWG KIA on Friday.

They went down 3 kills to 14 in the first encounter, then managed 15 kills in the next game but lost that one too. KDF have been unwilling to take the attack to their opponents throughout this season, evidenced by their meagre DPM of 1710.

⁠⁠Nongshim RedForce

Nongshim RedForce’s summer wraps up an underwhelming year at the LCK. They couldn’t manage to qualify across either season, and the split has been a near replica of the last. This season they’ve won just four series, and it’s unlikely they’ll make it a fifth against KDF. They had a truly dreadful time in the tournament’s middle stages, undergoing eight losses in a row across four weeks.

They broke the cycle in the seventh week with a somewhat unexpected victory over Liiv Sandbox, but after eight straight defeats their qualification hopes had already sailed out the window. NS began this last week on a slightly more positive note, defeating the league’s punching bags Hanwha Life Esports with relative ease. Ghost and Dread were the standout performers from that whitewash, collecting a combined total of 19 kills between them.

NS did manage to defeat KDF on the last occasion these teams met, over six weeks ago at the start of the split, but a lot has changed since. NS’s confidence has taken a heavy beating since that string of losses, and their opponents will present a certain challenge.