LCK delivers a feel-good story! Faker’s junior teams up for a plot twist, HLE ends up the unlucky victim, facing a two-month break

Hello to all LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners, this is Tianxia Game Hub.

In the previous LCK cup, an unbelievable scenario occurred where HLE was eliminated outright after losing to GEN, making it one of the most gratifying stories of this year’s LCK, and the manner of HLE’s elimination was highly theatrical.

Editor

It can be said that HLE’s elimination during the 10-to-9 phase was caused by a combination of several factors.

LCK’s feel-good script: teaming up to take down HLE

Many viewers may still be unclear about how exactly HLE was eliminated, so here’s a brief explanation: The first stage of LCK is a group stage with two groups, Dragon Group and Ancient Dragon Group, each containing five teams. They play cross-group matches, and the group with the higher points wins; all five teams advance, but the last place in the losing group gets eliminated.

Editor

It’s important to note that the LCK format was adjusted this year to give strong teams a high margin of error, yet once again a do-or-die scenario for a top team appeared — last year T1 was eliminated in sixth place, and this year HLE was knocked out in tenth.

To reach this outcome, HLE’s own poor form was the biggest factor, with a 2-3 record in the cross-group matches; additionally, the Ancient Dragon Group could not have any very weak teams to bottom out the group; finally, various score conditions in cross-group confrontations had to be met to make this possible.

Editor

By reviewing the team selection and group stage results, viewers identified the “culprits” behind HLE’s elimination: NS teamed up with T1, and together with GEN, they exerted pressure, which from the audience’s perspective seemed like a setup to take HLE down.

NS sweeps HLE but loses to DRX and KT

The main contributors here were NS, where the junior Scout plays, Faker’s T1, and Ruler’s GEN. They only needed to apply extra effort when facing HLE; Faker’s team showed some mercy with a 2-1 win, but GEN swept them 3-0 decisively.

As for NS, during the group stage team selection, NS chose DNS instead of BFX, which made the Ancient Dragon Group’s overall strength more balanced, avoiding any very weak teams.

Then, in the cross-group matches, NS lost to DRX and DK, and gave BFX a large score advantage, but swept HLE to lower their score. In the match against KT, NS was leading 2-0 but was pushed to a fifth game, which KT won, giving KT a high score advantage.

This put enormous pressure on HLE in their final match. If HLE had managed to win a game within the time limit, they still had a chance to advance, but GEN cleanly swept HLE, leaving HLE with a 2-3 cross-group record, tied with DRX and KT, but eliminated due to inferior score tiebreakers.

Meanwhile, BRO from the Dragon Group advanced to the playoffs despite a 0-5 record, leaving HLE as the only unlucky team, who after just over twenty days of competition, were forced into a two-month break.

Overestimated raw strength and poor team synergy

HLE’s elimination is an extremely rare event in the history of all League of Legends regions, yet it happened this time, causing most viewers to feel satisfied and relieved, mainly because many do not favor the HLE team.

LPL viewers dislike HLE mainly due to their aversion to players Homme and Kanavi.

In Korea, T1 has many fans, and after Zeus left, HLE became T1’s rival. Both fanbases hoped their teams would dominate the other. When Gumayusi joined HLE, T1 fans were even more eager to see HLE eliminated.

On GEN’s side, there is tension between Ruler and Kanavi, so Ruler’s fans also dislike Kanavi.

In summary, HLE has almost become the biggest villain team in the LCK. From their performance this year, it seems their early elimination was due to overestimated individual skill and chaotic team synergy. The three champion players on the team all performed poorly without any filter. Kanavi’s extreme playstyle is hard to change quickly, and internal disagreements may still exist.

Homme can be said to have inherited a mess; he expected to take over a fully leveled account but found otherwise. His premature champagne celebration after joining last year was also harshly criticized by netizens.