Starting from June 6th and going until the 9th, a total of 12 teams from LCK, LPL, and LMS will compete in ‘Rift Rivals’. Taking place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the top 4 teams of Korea who delivered stellar performances during the ‘LCK Spring Split 2017’, took the flight to Taiwan as the representatives of their country.  


As the theme of the tournament highlights the rivalry between regions, the 4 teams will need to band together and aim to defeat Taiwan and China as one entity. As their nation’s pride is at stake, the LCK teams are most likely analyzing the opposing teams for key players and tactics as we speak.


The 8 teams facing off against Korea are EDG, RNG, OMG, and We for China; and FW, AHQ, J Team, and Machi for Taiwan. By analyzing and understanding these teams, as well as their key players, we hope to enhance the experience that this bout will bring.

▣ Our Friendly Rival, China's LPL

1. 'World Elite': The team’s ace player, Jin “Mystic” Sung-Jun

During MSI 2017, WE was a team that climbed to the semi-finals of the event. The team has been a part of the LPL scene for a long time; they have proven to the fans all over the world that China is still a strong region. At the time, WE’s  playstyle centered around their ADC player, Mystic, and relied on his playmaking potential.

 
Even during the ongoing ‘LPL Summer Split’, they showcased similar strategies. Through that playstyle, they have earned a record of 5-2 and are currently ranked 1st in the leaderboards.

 
As seen from the recent MSI event, as well as the current split of the LPL, Mystic is the core player of WE. Kog’maw was banned 68% in all of the games that WE played, and this alone shows the impact Mystic had. The team’s playstyle revolves around other players in the team supporting their ADC and making sure he is granted the advantages necessary to carry the game.

He frequently plays Caitlyn, Ashe, Kalista, and Kog’maw. All of the mentioned champions have a winrate higher than 50%, but out of them all, Kog’Maw is by far his best pick, currently standing at a 100% win rate. Knowing this, other teams try their best to keep Kog’Maw away from him.



2. 'Royal Never Give Up': The substitute for Uzi, ‘Y4’

One famous player that comes to mind when we think of China is Uzi. Despite his shaky performances shown on the international stage, those who have scrimmed against Uzi all acknowledge his ability. The moment Uzi gains an upper hand in a game, he completely abuses his lead to completely dominate the game. Perhaps that is the reason why the teams that went against him in the past made sure to keep an eye on him at all times.


Currently, Y4 is doing a great job at playing in place of Uzi. As Y4 joined RNG from his debut in the challenger scene, he’s been showing great plays. His KDA ratio currently sits at 5.5, which is the same as ‘Xiaohu’, the speculated best midlaner in China.


Y4 has a unique side to him. Despite the popularity of Ashe and Caitlyn, he tends to stay away from them. His most picked champion is actually Kalista, a champion that is no greater than a pocket pick for other ADC players. His other picks include Varus and Jhin, which are more used for their ability in chaining CC and initiating. He prefers champions that give an edge in teamfighting through various means over champions with high damage output.


Although Y4’s style is very different to Uzi’s aggressive playstyle, he blended well into the team’s roster. As he is continuing his success in the LPL scene, the fans are waiting in anticipation to see if he will bring more new methods and picks to the ADC role.



3. 'EDward Gaming': ‘Meiko’ the pusher, and ‘Scout’ the lifter

In EDG, no matter how you look at it, the ace player is Scout. He does more than just fill the role of a midlaner, as he capitalizes on his advantages in the mid lane by roaming and helping other lanes snowball. By helping other lanes, he allows his entire team to dominate their opponent. His impactful plays have been consistent all throughout his time in the LPL. There is also another key player that needs to be mentioned: EDG’s support, Meiko.

During the Summer Split of this year, EDG received lots of bans aimed towards Meiko. Currently, the most banned champion for EDG is Tahm Kench and Thresh. Through this, we can see that the other teams don’t take Meiko lightly. As the team’s ADC, Zet, relies on his support to do well, other teams do their best in keeping Meiko from his best picks. With a kill participation higher than that of the team’s jungler, Meiko impacts the game throughout the whole map. It is not an exaggeration to say that the team revolves around this player.

Meiko pushes the team upwards while Scout does his best to help lift it. He usually picks champions with high carry potential as well as those who are strong in skirmishes such as Corki, Leblanc, and Cassiopeia. He is also known to play champions that contribute to teamfights, like Galio and Taliyah.

We can see what Scout is doing for the team by looking at his stats and champion choices. He constantly applies pressure to the opposing laner and eventually affects the other lanes through his dominance. In all the games where Scout performed well, EDG won.



4. 'OMG': ‘icon’, the idol of LPL

It doesn’t take much to see that the most fan-favored team in China is OMG. Although there was a time when OMG lost a big portion of their fans due to underperformance, their recent increase in performance, synergized with the “good looks” of the players, brought their fans right back.  The midlaner of the team, ‘icon’, possesses both skills and good looks, and is receiving the most attention from the fans.

‘icon’ has been playing for OMG since 2015. This player’s playmaking potential is phenomenal, especially when he gets his hands on Kassadin, with whom he has a 100% win rate and a 9.4 KDA ratio over 4 games played.

There is a popular saying being passed around from fan to fan. “Wherever ‘icon’ goes, deaths occur.” He holds the highest kill participation rate on the team, even surpassing both the jungler and the support. The team plays around this player and the team’s success relies on his performance.

‘icon’ is strongest when picking aggressive champions and snowballing. His performance on Ahri and Cassiopeia is also nothing less than superb. This player prefers picking these early-game centric champions over other picks like Taliyah and Galio. So it may be wise for his opponents to ban his favored picks over the two.

▣ The Dark Horse, Taiwan's LMS

1. 'Flash Wolves': The consistent jungler, Karsa

The player that comes to mind when we think of ‘Flash Wolves’, is the team’s jungler, ‘Karsa’. This player stands toe-to-toe with Korean junglers and has even surpassed them in multiple cases. If you ask Korean players for their opinion on the strongest jungler outside of the country, most will mention Karsa.

When Karsa was suspended from the team due to unprofessional behavior recently, FW struggled. It was quite a blow for FW to lose a player that is basically a necessity for the team.


Karsa is known to many for his early game aggression. Through counter-jungling and ganking, Karsa slowly builds an advantage over the enemy. Then, he utilizes the lead to easily crush the enemy team in teamfights. When Karsa returned from his suspension, his skills remained the same, as if he was never suspended in the first place. Currently, in his local league, Karsa is showing some of the most jaw-dropping plays on Gragas. Over 4 games played, his Gragas has a KDA ratio of 38.0 and a 100% win rate.

The fans wait with bated breath, eager to see if Karsa will unleash the beast that he has shown to the world in the past.

2. 'ahq': The carry of the toplane, ‘Ziv’

Although the meta of the toplane is evolving towards damage-heavy champions, Ziv still has the 2nd highest damage share in the team. Only below his midlaner by a small margin, this player surpasses his ADC when it comes to damage.

He also has the 2nd highest KDA ratio on the team. Although the team’s aggressive playstyle led them to a below average KDA, Ziv never dies in vain, making sure to do whatever he can before he bites the dust.

Ziv is known to favor Kled and play him well. As a matter of a fact, despite the meta shifting towards other champions, the Cantankerous Cavalier remains his best pick. He has also pulled out Jax once and won. As Jax is starting to see more play in competitions, we can fully expect Ziv to send him out during ‘Rift Rivals’.



3. 'J Team': Alongside ‘BeBe’, is the midlaner, ‘FoFo’

In truth, the most popular player in the LMS scene is BeBe. It was he who held the trophy for the ‘World Championship’ in season 2. He is also the player that made the “Blue Ezreal” build mainstream. Throughout his career, his performance has remained consistent overall. But if we look at overall performance and pick out an ace player from the team, we certainly cannot overlook FoFo.

FoFo was a part of TPA until 2016. From there, he moved onto J Team, where he quickly gained popularity due to his skills, on top of his good looks. He currently holds the highest damage share in the team, making him arguably the ace player.

Known for playing current meta champs with considerable fluency, his win rates on Victor, Karma, and Orianna rest above 50%. Karma is by far his best champion, as FoFo’s KDA ratio on her is 48.0. His Victor is right behind Karma with a KDA of 11.0.

Although his performance with the recently rising pick, Corki, is underwhelming, his ability to play traditional AP mages to their fullest potential is definitely a danger to his opponents. He should be the player to watch out for if you are going against J Team, as BeBe tends to perform well if FoFo is left unchecked.


4. 'Machi': The man of potential, ‘Apex’

FW, ahq, and J Team have placed themselves as the top 3 teams in LMS. Due to the gap in skill level, no other teams had a chance against these reigning teams. But among those who constantly try to, Machi landed themselves as the 4th best team in LMS. And among the players of Machi, Apex stands out the most.

The biggest strength of Apex is his large champion pool. Although Machi has a poor record compared to the other mentioned teams, we simply cannot look down on their perseverance. More than that, we cannot look down on Apex’s constant attempts at trying out new tactics. He has used a total of 9 different champions during the current split, and out of those 9, there were off-meta champions like Malzahar and Zilean.

From within his large champion pool, Apex’s Cassiopeia is by far his best performing pick. With a relatively high KDA and win rate, he is currently on a winning streak with her. As the holder of the highest damage on the team, he is definitely the player other teams need to watch out for when facing off against Machi.