The 2021 LCK Summer kicked off on June 9, and it looks to be the most competitive split to date. Before the start of the split, Inven talked with some of the staff that closely works with the team about scrims. All were in agreement that there was no team that was dominant in scrims, due to the rapid change in meta, and with new champions that could potentially shake up the meta [I’m looking at you, Gwen and Viego], a lot of experimentation was happening among the teams.

With four tickets to Worlds now on the line for the LCK teams, the competition looks to be even more fierce than ever. We at Inven Global decided to ask some of the experts in the scene who they think will win it all, as well as their predictions for the Summer split. Here’s what they had to say.

Gen.G Nemesis

1. DWG KIA
2. GEN.G
3. T1
4. Hanwha Life Esports 
5. DRX 
6. Afreeca Freecs
7. Liiv SANDBOX
8. NS Redforce
9. kt Rolster
10. Fredit BRION

“Teams placed at 6-10 feel very irrelevant to me, and honestly, those are the hardest ones to predict, since I feel like there isn't much difference in their skill level. The only hope I have is for Afreeca to maybe surprise some people, since I have faith that Kiin will outperform the other top laners.”

“I am very confident in DWG KIAand GEN.G being the first two. I think DWG is the most creative, consistent and versitile team in LCK. Even though I think Khan is a downgrade to Nuguri, I still think they're levels above other teams the way they think/play.”

“When I watch GEN.G play, I feel like they suffer from the same problems as the other teams placed at 2nd to 5th, but I think they're just a better version than those teams. I have very high hopes for Ruler; I think he's the number one contender to be the best ADC in LCK.”

“I might regret putting T1 third, since they're very unpredictable. I think they have to really step up a lot in this split. I personally see a lot of flaws from the 4th to 6th place teams, and I still think they have tons of individually insane players, especially in the mid and bot lane, so T1 has the best chance to get third out of these teams.”

“HLE is a team that’ll most likely be "Chovy and friends". I think he will carry many games, but in the end, he won't be able to pass a certain limit, because his role doesn't have enough power in the current meta. I think DRX is okay but haven’t shown anything special; I could see them being higher than 5 if someone underperforms, but I can't see them contending for top 2 in the LCK.”

The other experts that we’ve reached out to, such as the legendary support player Hong “MadLife” Min-gi, and top laner Lee “Flame” Ho-jong have also put DWG KIA to win it all. MadLife commented, “Now that DWG KIA experienced defeat from MSI, I feel that it will motivate them to fix their problems for the Summer Split, and bounce back from their flaws rather quickly.” Flame also put DWG KIA at the top of his list, but also believed that T1, DRX, and HLE have built their teamwork even further for the Summer, so I also believe that they’ll at least be very high on the standings.

While most of the experts that we've reached out to also predicted DWG KIA to win it all and predicted the standings pretty similarly, the caster for LCK Global, Maurits "Chronicler" Jan Meeusen, thought otherwise.

Maurits "Chronicler" Jan Meeusen

1. Gen.G
2. T1
3. DWG KIA
4. HLE
5. NS RedForce
6. Liiv SANDBOX
7. DRX
8. kt Rolster
9. Afreeca Freecs
10. Fredit BRION

“I think DWG KIA still has some issues to work through, but I believe that their ceiling is still the highest. I put Gen.G over T1 for top 2 because they’ve shown more consistency than any other team in the LCK. However, I do think that it has the potential to go either way.”

Which team do you think will become the 2021 LCK Summer split champions? Which four teams do you think will punch their ticket to this year’s Worlds? Will the LCK continue to be ‘The DWG KIA show’ this split? Or will a new contender knock them off their throne? Tune into the LCK to find out more!