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The LCK 2024 Summer Split continues, but will soon go on pause. The first half of the split is coming to a close, which will summarise a long week of important and not so important matches.
Closing out the first half of the LCK Summer 2024 Regular Season will be Kwangdon Freecs and DPlus KIA. The match, by the way, is a very The International match, as both clubs are playing a very good summer split.
Let's see which team will be stronger and go to the week's rest with an extra win in their pocket.
Let's go.
Form DPlus KIA
We open the match analysis with an analysis of DPlus KIA's form. In this match they play the number one with odds to win at around 1.4.
In the season before last, Dplus were still DAMWON, but it does not change the essence of the matter. Back then, Korea's top team finished top 3 at LCK Spring 2022 and top 4 at LCK Summer 2022.
Thanks to a win at LCK Regional Finals 2022, the team went to Worls 2022. The World Championships ended with a play-offs loss in a colourful match against Gen.G with a score of 2-3.
After rebranding, Dplus put together a new roster. There was an attempt to make some sort of "super" team, but that story doesn't work too well in LCK.
- Dplus roster: Kingen, Lucid, ShowMaker, Aiming, Kellin.
Reigning world champion Deft didn't help Dplus much at the first tournament after the rebranding. At LCK Spring 2023, Dplus finished in the top 5, which is not good.
At LCK Summer 2023, Dplus made it to the play-offs in 4th place, 11-7. That's better than T1.
However, LCK Summer 2023 Dplus KIA did not stay in the play-offs for long. In the first round of LCK Summer 2023 Playoffs Dplus Ledge and T1 with the score 1-3, leaving the main stage of the prestigious championship early.
The team made it to Worlds 2023 thanks to a second place finish at the South Korean regional finals. To do so, they first outplayed DRX (3-0) and then HLE (3-1).
Dplus opened up Worlds 2023 with a match against G2 Esports. The titular Koreans were weaker than the best team in Europe and went into the set 0-1.
There, Dplus played their fellow countrymen from KT Rolster. And again Worlds 2022 champion Deft and their distinguished colleagues lost: now Dplus had 0-2.
After falling into the relegation zone, Dplus finally got their act together and showed their game. They knocked BDS out of the tournament and now continue the arduous march to the play-offs. They later outplayed GAM Esports and came out on top 2-2, but in the final match Ledge or KT Rolster, thus forfeiting their chance at the play-offs.
After a slightly dismal Worlds 2024, DPlus KIA took the top 5, closing out the LCK Spring 2024 regular season with a score of 9-9.
In the first play-offs match, DPlus pulled off a mini-sensation. They defeated their more title contender KT Rolster in a very difficult bo5. Next was a match against Gen.G, which Dplus almost won, but still fell short on the fifth map and as a result lost 2-3. Dplus KIA finished in the top 4, which is pretty good.
LCK Summer 2024 is going very well for DPlus KIA. Before the last match of the first half of LCK Summer 2024, they are on the 4th rank with a score of 4-1.
The most popular champions of DPlus
On the top line the team picks KSante (4 matches, 50% wins), Renekton (3 games, 33% wins), Gnar (3 matches, 66% wins).
In the forest all the same, more or less standard: VI (7 games, 57% wins), Maokai (3 games, 66% wins), Poppy and Sejuani 2 matches and 0 wins each.
On the centre line with no deviations. There are Azir (4 matches, 50% wins), Ryze (4 games, 50% wins), Syndra (2 games, 50% wins), Cassiopeia (2 matches, 50% wins).
The championship among shooters is held by Lucian. Champion appeared 5 times, but won only 2 matches. Tried to Zeri, but failed: 0-3 in three appearances.
Among the supporting champions, Nami was a success. She was picked up 5 times, and her winrate was 40%. Yummi (3 games, 0% win rate) and Ashe (3 games, 66% win rate) were also picked.
Kwangdond Freecs Form
We continue our match breakdown with an analysis of the Freecs' match form. Here they are playing as a number two with win odds in the region of 3.
Freecs are one of the weakest teams in South Korea, although they are one of the oldest. They have been playing on the LCK since 2016, but they have not been able to achieve any performance.
The most successful year can be called 2018, when Freecs were twice in the top 3 at LCK (2nd place LCK Spring 2023, 3rd place at LCK Summer 2018) and made it to Worlds 2018. And there managed to reach the play-offs, but Ledgeili Cloud9, finishing in the top 8.
In the following years, they managed to reach the top 4 of LCK series tournaments four times. They finished Top-4 at the 2019 LCK Regional Finals, LCK Summer 2020, Top-3 at the 2020 LCK Regional Finals, and Top-4 at the 2022 LCK Spring.
In 2023, the Freecs failed in both LCK splits. First, they finished in the top 7 at LCK Spring without making it out of the group, and then they finished in the last, 10th, place at LCK Summer 2023.
- Freecs roster: DuDu, Cuzz, BuLLDoG, Leaper, Andil.
Freecs decided to strengthen Cuzz in the new season. The other four played for the club last season and the season before that.
Freecs will make their debut at LCK Spring 2024 with a match against T1. Obviously, they simply have no chance of winning there. Next up is HLE. Freecs have a busy calendar, nothing to say.
However, a difficult Long Corner did not prevent Freecs from reaching the LCK Spring 2024 play-offs. It was difficult, but they took 7 matches out of 18 played, took the top 6 and got to the main stage. However, we didn't manage to go further than the first round: as a result - LCK Spring 2024 TOP-6.
At LCK Summer 2024 Freecs are very pleasantly surprised. Before the Long match they are right below Gen.G, i.e. in second place with a score of 4-1.
The most popular Freecs champions
The most frequent guest is KSante (10 games, 8 wins). Gnar (6 matches, 50% wins), Sion (2 matches, 100% wins) and Renekton (2 matches, 50% wins) appear less frequently.
The ubiquitous Maokai is ignored in the forest (he appeared only once and lost). But Vi (6 games, 100% wins), Elise (6 games, 60% wins), Sejuani (4 games, 75% wins) get quite a lot of attention.
The centre line is occupied by Syndra (7 games, 85% wins), Ryze (4 games, 0% wins), Talliyah (3 games, 66% wins).
From shooters like Lucian (5 matches, 80% wins), Varus (4 games, 75% wins), Zeri, Sivir and Caitlyn appeared 3 times each and only Sivir didn't win a single game.
Sapports: Nami (7 matches, 85% wins), Ashe (4 matches, 50% wins), Yummi (3 matches, 33% wins).
History of head-to-head meetings between Freecs and DPlus KIA
Freecs have defeated DPlus KIA twice in 2024, both times by a score of 2-0.
Predicted result of DPlus KIA vs Kwandgong Freecs at LCK Summer 2024
I expect a very close fight in this match and hope to see a full-fledged Bo3. It will be The International interesting to see which of the evenly matched rivals will move even closer to the top 3, earning a 5th win in the standings. Bet on a full-fledged bo3.
Bottom line: total +2.5.
