The legend of Deft and Faker continues: LCK Week 1, Day 1 recap
Two Korean "League of Legends" titans, T1 and Dplus KIA (formerly known as DWG KIA), found 2-0 victories over 2022 LCK Summer champion Gen.G and 2022 world champion DRX respectively on the first day of League Champions Korea (LCK) 2023 Spring Season on Jan. 18 at LOL Park in Seoul, South Korea.
The first day of the 2023 LCK Spring Season featured three of four 2022 League of Legends World Championship semifinalists — DRX, T1, and GEN — but of those three, only T1 managed to kick off 2023 with a win.
Dplus KIA vs. DRX
Game 1: DK wins
In a 20-4 game that lasted 30:12, Dplus KIA took apart DRX's new roster. Legendary DRX botlaner Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu, who won Worlds in 2022 with DRX, achieved a 9/0/9 KDA on Lucian in his first game against his replacement, Seo "deokdam" Dae-gil, and his former lane partner, support Cho "BeryL" Geon-hee. Deft's new lane partner, support Kim "Kellin" Hyeong-gyu, went 1/0/17 on Nami. 2020 Worlds Final MVP jungler Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu notched a 4/1/5 KDA on his signature Elise and helped to secure all major objectives in the game except for one lone dragon. Former DK botlaner deokdam underwhelmed with a 1/6/2 Zeri performance. LCK Player of the Game: DK Canyon (1st)
Game 2: DK wins
Dplus KIA quickly closed out the first series of the split with a 17-4 win against DRX in 36:12. Kellin's 1/0/14 Yuumi enabled Deft to carry on Sivir with a 7/2/4 performance. With DK toplaner Kim "Canna" Chang-dong on Gnar again, Canyon picked another carry jungler — Lee Sin — and had a 5/1/6 scoreline. While DRX was able to take three of five dragons, the team never found any meaningful leads, and deokdam was mediocre on Zeri once more. LCK Player of the Game: DK Deft (1st)
Strafe Player of the Series: DK Deft (1st)
T1 vs. Gen.G
Game 1: T1 wins
The 2022 Worlds finalist T1 found an 18-12 victory against Gen.G in 36:02. The LCK's youngest player, 17-year-old botlaner Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan, attained a strong 7/3/3 KDA on Zeri in his pro debut, but T1 was able to shut down GEN on the back of star support Ryu "Keria" Min-seok's 0/1/17 Nami. GEN toplaner Choi "Doran" Hyeon-joon's K'Sante pick went 2/4/3 and didn't do much. This was the only game of the night with more than one Baron secure, as T1 found two. LCK Player of the Game: T1 Faker (1st)
Game 2: T1 wins
T1 ended their second game of the night with a 12.5k gold lead and beat Gen.G 24-6 in 32:20. Peyz was unable to recreate his earlier magic on Zeri and went 1/5/0, while T1 star botlaner Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong and Keria combined for a 9/0/22 KDA in their second straight Lucian and Nami game. Legendary T1 midlaner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok's Lissandra was 6/1/14, and jungler Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun's Wukong kept GEN from securing anything more than three towers, a dragon and a pair of Rift Heralds. LCK Player of the Game: T1 Oner (1st)
Strafe Player of the Series: T1 Keria (1st)
Featured photos courtesy of the LCK/Riot Games.