The LCK's second split regular season has now entered its third week. After defeating T1, DK faced two relatively weaker teams. With Showmaker in fiery form, DK secured a 2:0 victory over DNS in the previous match, achieving a three-win streak. DK's current record stands at 5-3, successfully climbing into the top three of the standings. Whenever strong teams falter, Showmaker takes off. It seems this year, Showmaker still has the chance to lead DK in restoring LCK's glory.

In T1's last match, they faced the bottom-ranked BRO. Although the score was a 2:0 shutout, T1's victory was ugly. The first game lasted 48 minutes, with T1 barely managing a comeback after the opponent secured a Dragon Soul. The second game was equally shocking, with T1 and BRO trading blows back and forth until the 43rd minute before a winner emerged. Seriously, guys, is it already this tough to beat the lowest-ranked team now? That's insane.

Oner calls out Riot for a version change

Other strong LCK teams usually finish matches against BRO within 30 minutes. T1 dragging both games past 40 minutes is truly somewhat absurd. Although they won, T1's sidelanes remain the same old story. In this BO3, Peyz seems to be competing with Teddy for the title of T1's historically weakest AD. A Caitlyn actually walked up to the opponent's face to output damage. Doran performed slightly better, generally weak early but contributing in late-game fights.

Getting sweatily pressured by a 1-7 bottom-ranked team really leaves little to say. After the match, Oner directly hinted at his own top and bot lanes in the interview: "The top lane meta has changed too drastically recently. Heroes like Vayne frequently appear, which is quite annoying. Hope other versions come faster." Oner's meaning is clear: I dislike this laning-focused version, designers please change it quickly—just not sure what Riot will think.

Daeny's post-game analysis criticizes all five

BLG recently shared a Vlog from their match against NIP. During the loss review, Coach Daeny got heated. Facing all five players, he directly vented: "Please stop attacking during defensive rounds, and also stop complaining about the draft." Daeny's words really hit the mark. BLG's top and jungle are too aggressive. The loss to NIP was because whenever the opponent initiated, BLG chose to engage.

Although LOL is a MOBA game, the essence of competition is still turn-based. When the opponent is strong, you must defend properly. Blindly engaging only lets the snowball roll bigger. Moreover, blaming the draft alone isn't reasonable. In the second game against NIP, the comp indeed lacked initiation and frontline, but match drafts can't always be advantageous. What Daeny meant is that losing shouldn't be entirely attributed to the draft.

Xiaohu interview reveals team issues

Before the match between WBG and AL, Xiaohu gave a media interview. He revealed that during Weibo's matches, there were many disputes, especially regarding the draft. Ultimately, it wasn't fully decided whose calls to follow, so management brought Coach Kim up to lead the drafting. But currently, there's still little change. Weibo's four lanes each want strong heroes every game, with no one willing to actively sacrifice.

Given the current state, top lane priority could really be lowered a bit. Apart from one Olaf game, Zika's recent performances haven't been particularly standout. Focusing on mid and bot might be slightly better. Besides, Weibo's teamwork has major issues. Xiaohu disclosed: "Sometimes teammates' coordination still feels like strangers." Regarding macro, he also feels it's only around sixty or seventy percent.

Conclusion:

The laning-focused version of Season 16 truly exposes many strong teams. Last year's T1 only had top lane issues; this year after changing AD, their power directly plummeted. Our region's AL is similar, completely unable to beat strong teams, only bullying those in poor form or inherently weak. Not sure if Riot will actually adjust the version later.

So what level of AD do you think Peyz is?

Feel free to leave comments and discuss!