Preface: The S16 season is about to begin, and most players have been paying close attention to the recent offseason. This time, the LPL and LCK regions start their matches on the same day, indicating that the two major regions are gradually aligning. The overall popularity of the league no longer supports isolated competition between regions; everyone needs to work together to maximize audience engagement. Before the season, the LCK official also launched some playful content, with CrabBro making pre-match predictions, which led to many LPL fans mocking it as a copy of LPL’s idea. Indeed, previously in the Regional King Contest, the LPL region had done a similar Guo Yongzhe prediction.

LCK Official CrabBro’s playful prediction

Most players are quite familiar with the LCK. Recognized as the world’s top region, they have achieved outstanding results in recent years, winning the World Championship for multiple consecutive years, firmly establishing themselves as the number one region. No other region’s teams have been able to shake their position. However, with the decline in the league’s overall popularity, LCK has faced many issues. Financial difficulties have caused many teams to struggle with normal operations, and even this season, the official prize money for LCK was suspended. Therefore, they have had to create a lot of engaging content to attract fan attention and ensure the region’s operations are maintained as much as possible.

Before the matches started, the LCK official set up a rock crab prediction, placing the two competing teams on either side of a fish tank to see which team the crab would choose. The first round was between KT and DNS, and the crab chose DNS to win. The second round was DK versus BRO, and surprisingly, the crab picked the team on the right, BRO. After two rounds, it predicted KT and DK would lose in the opening matches. Netizens joked whether the prediction was reversed since, on paper, DK and KT are top-tier teams with world-class capabilities, especially KT, who were last season’s World Championship runners-up.

When this video reached the LPL region, many people joked that it was copying LPL’s idea. Indeed, LPL had a Guo Yongzhe prediction during the Regional King Contest. However, I feel there’s no real plagiarism between the two regions. The very first time such predictions appeared in traditional sports was probably with Paul the Octopus, whose predictions were legendary and often accurate. If anyone is copying, it would be both LPL and LCK copying Paul. We should view the relationship between the two regions rationally; it’s definitely mutually beneficial and cooperative.

Before the season, Faker also welcomed Scout back to the LCK. Faker said that after many years, Scout’s return to LCK marks his first time playing in the region, so he’s very much looking forward to it and hopes Scout can perform brilliantly. Although Faker is a veteran of LCK, he only knows one celebration move and hopes Scout, as the younger brother, will show off more stylish celebrations. It seems the entire LCK region is paying close attention to Scout. Although his reputation in LPL has declined, within LCK he is seen as somewhat patriotic and is also one of the few mid-laner World Championship winners.

Farewell thoughts

The Guo Yongzhe KR version CrabBro prediction hasn’t gained much popularity, but if the first day’s matches align with his predictions, the LCK region would truly experience a major upset. After all, the two teams he chose are relatively weaker mid-to-lower tier teams in LCK. To exaggerate a bit, it’s like if BLG played WE and BLG lost, there would definitely be suspicions of something wrong.

What do you, the viewers, think about this matter?