First week of LCK Spring 2022, recapped

It seems that the first week of every region’s competitive leagues’ is rolling up to an end. After what seemed like an eternity without any action ever since the World Championship came to an end with Edward Gaming taking the ultimate prize, the return to the regular busy seasons seems like heaven. What makes it especially interesting is that the very beginning of the professional year is always a time to experiment!

As the teams go crazy trying to settle within the newly established meta, even the mundane interactions take way more effort as most of the rosters have just undergone sweeping changes. All we have right now is just one week’s worth of results, but, boy, what results are there – and what incredible playstyles are there! Deviating from the popular meme of LCK being a “mere farming fiesta”, the pro athletes fight tooth and nail for week one’s number one spot. In this competition, everything goes – even picking a Singed support! If you’ve missed that pick live, now would be a great time to watch – or read – the series with that unorthodox pick.

The main takeaway from this week: watching different styles of different regions is incredibly satisfying! While LCK junglers have picked up Diana from time to time, it’s interesting that the killer combo of Yasuo + Diana (reminder – they both guarantee each others’ Ultimate abilities to be inescapable) was not picked up in LCK. Meanwhile, LEC is completely enamored with this idea. This can be explained by LCK’s playstyle revolving around the jungler’s intervention around the botlane – making 3 v 3 skirmishes around the Drake side a very common sight over at the Korean soil.

Time to recap all the stuff we saw on the first week – and if you missed it, check out the amazing resource eventvods.com for a spoiler-free experience. Or just read up the TL;DR recap we’ve got here – spoiler alert, obviously!

LCK Week One standings

Rank	Team	Match Standing	Game Standing	Points
1st	Gen.G Esports (GEN)	2-0	4-1	+3
1st	T1 (T1)	2-0	4-1	+3
3rd	DAMWON Gaming KIA (DK)	1-1	3-2	+1
3rd	Nongshim RedForce (NS)	1-1	3-2	+1
5th	Brion Esports	1-1	3-3	0
5th	Hanhwa Life Esports (HLE)	1-1	3-3	0
7th	KT Rolster (KT)	1-1	2-2	0
7th	SANDBOX Gaming (LSB)	1-1	2-2	0
9th	DRX (DRX)	0-2	0-4	-4
9th	Kwangdong Freecs (KDF)	0-2	0-4	-4

Of course, these cold numbers don’t tell the whole story. As Spring 2022 is an extremely competitive season – probably the most competitive we’ve seen in years – some of these teams were moments away from going even with the rest of the competitors. Even the first place giants almost took a destroyed Nexus to their record… So why not check out the full story of these matches? Hop right on to experience the second-best way to know what went down on the rift!

Day One

DRX vs LSB

The very first of LCK 2022 Spring Split started off on a pretty high note – until we hit a 10-minute pause followed by a Rewind Time due to Liiv Sandbox’s Envyy having some technical issues. Still, it’s a good thing we have the Rewind system – as the alternative is much worse than just having to wait around. Plus, finally having a live audience during the events makes the wait much less daunting!

Map one

Even though Deft’s first kill ended up being Rewound on the first map, DRX’s ADC managed to rack up 100% Kill Participation with 4 takedowns before minute 15, amassing a giant gold lead over everyone else. Rift Heralds and Plates all went the way of DRX for an astonishing 5K gold lead pre-15. Despite things looking particularly grim for Liiv Sandbox, a series of positional mistakes from DRX – in particular, DRX Kingen’s Graves getting caught out multiple times without a proper counterplay from his side – allowed LSB to secure two Baron buffs and an Ocean Soul.

LSB Dove’s Tryndamere turned out to be too big of a threat to handle for DRX, winning the map MVP. As a result, Liiv Sandbox kicked off the season with an incredible comeback from a 7K gold deficit. What a crazy way to start off a new split!

Map two

The second map followed a pretty similar pattern – DRX’s bottom duo of Deft and BeryL worked together for a neat mechanical outplay, landing a “solokill” (can you even call it that?) against LSB’s Envyy and Kael. It all went downhill from that point, however, as DRX’s failed Rift Herald call left LSB Clozer with a hefty kill lead on an Akali, as well as providing LSB Dove’s Tryndamere with a level lead over his toplane opponent.

At one point, Clozer and Croco went on to pretty much 2 v 4 against DRX – driving the entire team back all by themselves to secure the first drake of the map. DRX’s attempt to sneak away a Baron while sacrificing Kingen on the botlane turned unsuccessful when the objective got stolen away by LSB Envyy’s Ezreal – and not only that, the entire DRX comp got massacred at the Baron pit, effectively nailing their coffin shut in the series.

T1 versus Kwandong Freecs

The hyped-up confrontation of the two strongest botlanes in LCK was long-awaited by all the fans. However, the series proved to be much more than just the game of two supports and ADCs. Most notably, Freecs immediately paid respects to Faker by target banning the champion he is feared for in the Korean Solo Queue, Vex.

Map one

The first match kicked off with a fierce 3 v 3 confrontation around the bottom lane. T1’s jungle and bot synergy proved greater. Gumayusi’s Ezreal turned out to be completely nuts over the course of the game – T1’s botlaner was sniping crucial Trueshot Barrages like it was nothing throughout the match. After all, there’s a reason why he eventually got the match MVP. But the game wasn’t just Gumayusi 1 v 9 – far from it. T1 demonstrated the ability to play from all lanes at once in this match. T1 Zeus, despite being relegated to a resource-starved weakside role, was an immovable object throughout the entirety of the map. T1 Oner’s Jarvan was a masterful engage tool, while T1 Faker’s Zoe is… well, it’s Faker. And, obviously, T1’s Gumayusi and Keria is considered to be one of the best botlanes in the world at the moment.

Map two

The second match wasn’t any better for Kwandong Freecs. While map number one lasted for 37 minutes, map number two saw KDF lose any semblance of map control in the first 10 minutes of the game. Dominantly closing in the match in under 25 minutes, T1 almost had Faker score a pentakill on Victor – but, unfortunately, T1 Oner (playing Nidalee) “stole” it away as he killed KDF Hoit’s Yuumi in a cat versus cat combat.

Day Two

NS vs HLE

Map one

Name a better duo than Bdd and his Azir. You can’t, and that’s why Nongshim’s midlaner got his golden bird in game number one. Although the early game went the way of RedForce because of Bdd’s oppressive mastery on Azir, Nongshim’s missteps around the 8-minute mark cost them two deaths and almost a loss of Rift Herald.

Still, Nongshim’s Dread and Bdd synergy proved too much for Hanwha to handle, as the following team fights all went the way of NS. A first mass team fight broke out at 24 minutes with Hanwha life finding what looked like a crucial elimination of NS’ AD Carry, Ruler. However, NS quickly turned the team fight back in their favor, once again reminding us that League is indeed a team game.

The desperate attempt by HLE to stop the opposing team’s Baron was crushed by Bdd’s Shurima Shuffle, pretty much turning the ending of the game into a question of time. And, despite Nongshim’s sloppy team fighting after that point, Canna’s Graves bit the bullet: 35 minutes and a game number one going Nongshim RedForce’s way was the answer.

Map two

The second game turned into a bloodbath right off the bat with Hanwha Life picking up 5 kills in a scrappy fight around the Rift Herald. Vsta’s positioning on Karma (as well as the expert usage of the “cool guy Rammus” emote) earned him a double kill! The game then transitioned into a little bit of a lull state with both testing each other out. However, this short break was interrupted by the first appearance of the Chemtech Soul on LCK’s rift – and, as we all know, this places utmost importance on that botside of the map objective.

A controlled series of fights around Drake resulted in HLE picking up a free Baron – and the opponent’s jungler – at the cost of a single Drake. Dread’s attempt at stealing away the Baron off HLE was fruitless, and Hanwha Life were able to close up the game at the 32-minute mark.

Map three

Game map three had already become interesting in the champion select with HLE reviving the unorthodox Sett support pick. An aggressive three-man dive onto Nongshim’s botlane opened up the game, with Hanwha Life giving out the First Blood for OnFleek’s Xin Zhao 4 minutes into the game. Aggressive positioning from Bdd has the match hang on a razor’s edge, as his team went even in a scuffed Blue-side jungle fight – all the risk for little reward.

A huge team fight around Rift Herald was cut short by HLE OnFleek’s massive find on Bdd’s Syndra, removing Nongshim’s midlaner off the rift before he could get to his teammate’s protection together with SamD’s Jhin’s Curtain Call. A series of brilliant team fights from Hanwha’s side lended them full control over the match, having empowered Baron Buff just in time for the Dragon Soul point, as well as a 13K gold lead. RedForce’s desperate attempts to stop the inevitable were crushed as Hanwha managed to pull off a reverse sweep 2:1, finishing the third map in 36 minutes.

KT Rolster vs DWG

When it comes to players the caliber of Deokdam, sometimes their reputation speaks louder than their plays. However, after this series, we can safely say that this was not the case.

Map one

Right off the bat, game one had us dive headfirst into action as DWG.Kia’s botlane went straight into the fray with some hyper-aggressive level one flash plays. Thankfully for KT Rolster, no casualties here! But, even though the start was quite explosive, we then transfer into the good old LCK style early game lull. A couple of skirmishes break out around the 10th-minute mark, ultimately resulting in no kills – but gaining map pressure for DWG. Finally, we get a treat as KT’s Rascal solo-kills his opponent, Hoya, scoring his team first blood at minute 13.

And then once again at minute 20! DWG continues with the slow and calculated pincer gameplay, only taking the fights they will clearly win. Also, ShowMaker’s Orianna acted like a vacuum for the CS, scoring a Flame horizon over the opposing midlaner at 27 minutes.

A tiny bit of hope KT Rolster fans felt when Rascal managed to steal Baron Nashor off DWG was quickly dashed as KT were severely punished for even coming close. Fun fact: ShowMaker held his ultimate, Command: Shockwave, for 38 minutes. And when he finally used it, he immediately obliterated three of KT Rolster’s players, and functionally ended the game then and there. Talk about efficiency! And even though it took DWG another 4 minutes to proceed with the formalities of destroying the enemy Nexus, the game was long over by that point in favor of DWG.Kia.

Map two

Second map started off eerily similar to the first: with DWG.Kia’s absolute botlane dominance. KT’s Aiming and Life were put in the worst possible situation as DWG’s Canyon made sure they’d be getting no gold and even experience for the first 4 minutes of the game. The next 16 minutes of the game were nothing spectacular, as DWG’s Hoya committed a series of tactical inting, buying his team more map control elsewhere but top, but with little actual action happening.

All that ended on minute 20 as KT Rolster seemingly scored a perfect engage with Life hitting Rakan’s R on three enemy carries. However, it wasn’t enough to defeat DWG’s established lead – quite the opposite. It seemed that DWG got drunk on power after getting Baron just 20 minutes in – their push to end the game was ambitious to say the least. KT Rolster were one step away from repelling their opponents’ assault, but DWG Deodkam simply said “No.” and pretty much closed the game out alone fighting against 4 enemies at once. 2-0 and a stylish victory for DWG.Kia!

Day Three

GEN vs DRX

GEN’s first match of the season went as well as any fan could’ve hoped. The Griffin synergy was absolutely a deciding factor in this series, as Doran, Lehends, and Chovy all played under that banner back in the day, and were reunited once again coming into the 2022 Spring Split.

Map one

Game one started off with the classic clang from GEN Lehends’ Thresh, securing an easy first blood for the Gen.G duo. The first 15 minutes of the match were the classic slow and careful gameplay we all know and love LCK for. Eventually, the tension exploded in the midlane teamfight, with Gen.G decisively turning what looked like a good pick on Lehends into a four-kill victory. A couple of scuffed skirmishes later and DRX found themselves completely outdiffed by the side of GEN, losing all control over the map as early as minute 25. And when you’re 10K gold and 4 Drakes behind a world-class team like Gen.G, you know it’s all over – and it was over in under 30 minutes.

Map two

The second game started off with an unusually early First Blood given away by Gen.G’s midlaner, Chovy. Gen.G’s botlane and jungle weren’t going to let that one slip, however, as they pulled off a 3-man dive just a minute later. Ruler and Lehends continued to dominate the botside. Not just the botlane, as Lehends’ oppressive presence on seemingly every lane at once landed his team on a comfy 4K gold lead at minute 15. A messy team fight around the Infernal Drake ended up going in Gen.G’s favor.

Another team fight at the 20th minute completely shut off DRX’s chances to ever come back into the game as GEN’s gold and map control spiraled out of control. Now the time was the only question – and the answer to that question was minute 25 and a decisive victory for Gen.G.

Fredit Brion versus T1

Friday brought us the long-awaited matchup of the two teams who came into 2022 with the least roster changes out of the entire LCK cast. T1’s first match of the season performance in the game versus Kwandong Freecs quickly put them into the “giants” category, making them the favorites coming into their second matchup. Of course, it was more than just one match influencing the analysts’ sway in favor of T1 – the organization has quite a bit of history of success in the LCK region and worldwide. Some might even go as far as to say that they’re pretty good at video games.

Map one

BRO were heading into the match as the catching up team, but their game plan and draft sure didn’t look that way in game one. Having picked incredibly aggressive engager champions, Fredit made T1’s lives hell – especially Zeus’ – with the deadly combination of Camille and Galio. Even though T1 managed to briefly regain control over the game with a clean teamfight victory near the Dragon pit, BRO’s comp and aggressive playstyle eventually proved too much for the T1 to handle.

Map two

The second game was probably the biggest nailbiter of the first week of LCK. An unusually aggressive game by the Korean region’s standards, this match was a true rollercoaster of emotions for the T1 fans out there. Having lost the smite battle three times – losing two barons (and one of them was to a Jhin 4th Ultimate shot of all things) and a Drake, it seemed that T1 were at their wit’s end. Thankfully for the T1 fans, Gumayusi’s incredible Aphelios – and T1’s scaling composition – allowed the boys to close out the game without tilting out of it.

Map three

The first match to actually go to map number three so far in the LCK, T1 opened up with a treat for the fans. Faker’s Vex has been a dominant force on the fields of Korea’s high rank Solo Queue, and this game was Faker’s professional debut on the gloomy yordle. In a flash of absolute dominance, T1 finally played just as well as the analyst desk expected them to play. Gumayusi and Keria proved exactly why they’re considered one of the best, if not the best, botlanes on the professional scene.

Together with Oner’s attention towards the botlane and his incredible Jarvan engages, T1’s botlane seemed unstoppable. Meanwhile, Zeus was playing out of his mind even though he was on the team’s weakside – once again reminding why Gwen is such a dominant force. A full AP deathless frontline champion? Yep, that does sound like Gwen.

Day Four

NS vs LSB

In a surprising turn, the news about Nongshim’s roster swap appeared right before this game. NS Effort was replaced by a new rising talent, Peter, who previously garnered attention when playing in the NS academy tournament. The player’s personal growth was rapid enough to place him directly into the main event, to much of a surprise to all Effort’s fans, and joy of the LCK caster lineup as the Spiderman-related puns soared tenfold on that day.

Map one

As far as the first match goes, Liiv Sandbox were comfortably in the driver’s seat for the first 15 minutes of the game. Seemingly omnipresent and omniscient, LSB Croco was everywhere at once, securing his team two Drakes uncontested, as well as demolishing NS Dread’s Talon camps and even taking a kill on him. The fight that broke out around the Rift Herald was the first misstep by LSB which allowed NS to regain control over the map with a 4k gold swing and an objective taken. Everything past that was a slow but sure squeeze by Nongshim RedForce. The game ending at the 30-minute mark was pretty much inevitable as NS denied every bit of farm and information from LSB at every step of the match.

Map two

While the first map was going well for LSB until around the 20 minute mark, the second game had Nongshim RedForce jump straight for Liiv Sandbox’s throat as both Dread and Bdd casually solo-killed their opponents at the first minute in a perfect sync. NS mid and jungle duo continued their dominance against their counterparts at LSB. At around 12 minutes, Nongshim had already scored a comfortable 7K gold lead, pretty much sealing away any chances for LSB to come back.

Liiv misread Dread’s pathing around the map far too many times, resulting in NS’ jungler having nearly 100% kill participation on his Diana. While the first game was a slow squeeze, map number two was a sudden crush as NS scored an astonishing 10K gold lead at min 20. LSB’s desperate teamfight attempt at 25th minute ended completely fruitlessly, as Nongshim RedForce convincingly closed out the game immediately after.

KT Rolster vs Freecs

Map one

Not sure about you, but I actually double checked whether I was actually tuned into the LCK broadcast and not a SaltyTeemo stream when KT Rolster managed to grab a cheesy First Blood on Freecs FATE’s Lissandra before minions actually spawned in. KT then proceeded to abuse Freecs botlane with the unorthodox pick of Sett (well, as far as being unorthodox, he’s probably on the orthodox side of unorthodox picks, but still). It never gets easier for Kwangdong Freecs as they fail to punish KT’s daring Rift Herald pickup.

A period of peace is sometimes interrupted by KT Rascal’s solo kills on his Tryndamere, as well as that same Tryndamere sneaking in a whole Baron Nashor on the 20th minute together with KT Cuzz’s J4. KT Rascal played a pivotal role in breaking down Kwandong Freecs’ midlane open at the 28th minute. KDF’s dance around the Baron pit proved to be their last, as their last ditch-effort to contain KT’s map dominance was quashed, and their Nexus destroyed on 32nd minute.

Map two

Once again, KT Rolster force Freecs’ Teddy to play from behind with their 3-man collapse on botlane which secured them a First Blood. KT Rascal picks up a few kills together with Cuzz, making his Gragas an absolute force of nature very early in the game – perhaps he got nostalgic about his Season 3 days. The fight for the Hextech soul (that is, if KT Rolster were to get the last hit on the Drake) seemed completely over after KT Life’s insane 4-man ultimate, yet Kwandong Freecs were able to stave off the beast for the time being. Though it didn’t matter as KT confidently take the victory in the Elder Drake teamfight, taking away Freecs’ chances of winning and soon closing out the game in 32 minutes.

Day Five

BRO vs HLE

Map one

Game number one started off with a bit of strategic trickery from BRO’s side. Fredit’s botlane made sure to make their fake buff leash as believable as possible by even using up some of their mana, ensuring that the level 3 gank from UmTi was completely unexpected – but still, it didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. First blood was given away by HLE OnFleek’s overzealous invade play – what we commonly refer to as the “Lee Sindrome”. HLE Karis’ Sylas midlane plays were more than enough to make up for his colleague’s mess up, however. Also, this map was the second time we saw our beloved Chemtech Drake for the first time in LCK!

Karis’s efforts to 1 v 9 Fredit at the Drake Pit fight were a little questionable, as he failed to prevent BRO from getting to the Soul point. Fredit Brion’s slow and methodical approach left no avenues for HLE to come back into the game, closing out the match in 33 minutes after grabbing the Chemtech Soul, Baron, and Elder Drake buff – talk about being prepared!

Map two

The first action to actually happen was Hanwha’s four-man collapse onto Fredit’s botlane, after which Karis walked up with First Blood gold in his Akali’s pockets. HLE’s OnFleek looked terrifying on his Viego in the first 10 minutes of the game. A massive teamfight around Fredit’s Red Buff ended up being relatively bloodshed-less as Morgan ended up being the only casualty. Still, it didn’t stop Hanwha Life from claiming a 5K gold lead 20 minutes in. Only increasing the pressure, HLE win one fight after another – but a misstep by DuDu cost his team 4 lives and a Baron buff going the way of Fredit. Not satisfied with the gold being just tied, BRO kept pushing, scoring a nearly 10K gold Baron power play.

Morgan’s Gragas went from being a toplane tank to a toplane assassin, as he pulled off two incredible flank plays twice in a row. It looked it was all over for HLE as Fredit regained complete control over the game, but an unfortunate overextension spelled doom for BRO as a single teamfight loss resulted in a game over in a favor of Fredit.

Map three

A relatively slow start to game three was cut short by Fredit Brion UmTi’s timely intervention on the botlane, securing a first blood on HLE SamD’s Caitlyn. HLE retaliated by a pretty common practice of collapsing onto BRO’s toplane, Morgan, as 4 and securing the kill. A bold engage from BRO’s Xin Zhao and Rakan obliterated HLE, stopping their attempt at securing a midlane turret. HLE continued desperate attempts to wrestle midlane control, but despite HLE DuDu’s 3-man Gnar ultimate, they kept getting shut down.

A couple of teamfights around midlane made the caster talent lose their mind as massive confrontations ended up with absolutely 0 casualties. HLE couldn’t do much about BRO’s massive 10K gold lead – especially since Fredit chose a slow and methodical approach at ending the game. BRO UmTi’s Xin Zhao earned him an MVP of the match.

DK vs GEN

The match went full 0-100 as soon as the pick and ban phase started. DWG managed to pick up a very contested pick of Twisted Fate, as well as getting Deokdam an unusual pick of Samira. GEN.G retaliated with the pickups of Yuumi and Gwen – a very powerful duo with great synergy.

Map one

Right off the bat, the game was destined to be a banger with both teams rocking powerful comps. GEN counter DK’s botlane dive attempt to the tee, catapulting themselves to a 2K lead right off the bat. In the meantime, GEN Doran picks up a comfy solokill – can’t let himself be left out of the action. The third drake of the game and the third drake for DK also spelled ill news for Damwon – despite picking up the objective, they lost 4 members of the team in the process, giving away a 3K gold lead to GEN.G.

The dominant lead of GEN was trimmed away as the team overcommitted on their ambitious midlane engage, giving away the gold lead as well as the Hextech soul to DK. A series of teamfights going GEN.G’s way seemed to spell the end of DK until DK Deokdam to pull off a game-saving 4 kills on with Samira’s Inferno Trigger around the baron pit. Five minutes later, what started off looking like an absurdly reckless play by DK Hoya turned out to be a genius-tier engage that netted DK a clean victory.

Map two

Game number two opened up with a nice bonus for ShowMaker’s Kassadin as Canyon delivered an amazing mechanical gank on the midlane which resulted in the first blood going the way of DK’s midlaner. Canyon seemed to be everywhere on the map yet again, delivering kills for his team left and right – assisted by Kellin’s heat-seeking Death Sentences. What GEN.G thought was a good pick on DK’s Thresh turned out to be a death trap for them – giving away three kills to enemy mid just to pick up a singular kill on the support is never a good look.

Still, GEN.G’s Morgan and Peanut work together to break up DK’s fighting formation, lining their pockets with some of that takedown gold – and a Baron on top. DK Kallin’s hooks were simply insane throughout the entire match – nothing too fancy, just solid 100% accuracy. Saying that a couple objectives were being traded doesn’t do the match justice at all – but, in the end, that’s what was happening.

GEN Chovy’s Corki powered up with the Elder Dragon buff turned out to be way too much for Damwon to handle. One shotting Kallin with a single Big One opened up the way to grab DK’s Nexus – and it being exposed for 15 minutes by that point surely didn’t help DK’s odds. Game three, here we go!

Map three

GEN Doran picked Ornn in game 3. GEN Lehends picked Singed Support. No elaboration needed. The sussy pick was masterfully countered by DK Deokdam’s Arcane Shift buffering expertise, however, as Lehem gave up FB after an unsuccessful all-in attempt. DWG.Kia kept up ramping the pressure, punishing GEN’s unorthodox picks. DK seemed like an absolute hydra in this game – knock Ezreal down – ShowMaker’s Viktor delivers; delete Viktor and Ezreal – Canyon’s Viego still strikes you down. But having all these threats doesn’t matter for GEN.G: all that AoE damage from Samira lets you kill any hydras regardless. Game 3 ends in favor of GEN in 35 minutes – with a Singed support, no less!