With only one day left until the LOL Mid-Season Invitational kicks off, T1, who must go through the Play-In stage, appears to have scheduled a practice match with WE. In WE's newest Vlog clip, Cube mentions that Erha will be up against Keria. As Erha was still puzzled, his teammates directly stated that T1 wants to scrim with them. What a surprise—a heavy favorite for the MSI title is requesting a scrim with an LPL underdog. T1's motives are clear as day.

In the first round of the LPL playoffs, WE defeated BLG 3-1. When the two teams clashed again later, WE only lost after a full five-game series. If T1 advances from the Play-In stage, their first match in the main event will be against BLG. By scrimming WE, T1 might be looking to learn how to beat BLG. However, even if they do scrim, T1 probably won't gain much, because WE doesn't really have a fixed strategy—they rely entirely on Monki's on-the-fly shotcalling.

Clearlove reportedly joins WBG

After falling into the Nirvana Group, WBG's roster will see significant changes in the third split. According to various leakers, Erha turned down WBG's offer, so the support position is being trialed with Jwei and Zhuo. Whoever works better with ELK in the bot lane will likely be signed. Additionally, WBG's head coach has been replaced. Kim "Kim jung-soo" originally had a performance-based agreement with WBG: reach at least one of the following: Playoffs, MSI, or Esports World Cup. But none of those goals were achieved.

Since none of the three goals were met, Kim was certainly going to be let go. The new head coach has been confirmed to be Clearlove. Last year, WBG competed with JDG for Clearlove, but JDG offered more money at the time. Now, WBG finally gets their wish. Clearlove's coaching ability was actually decent last year—he showed clear improvement—and this year he led EDG out of the Nirvana Group. Signing him shouldn't be a problem for WBG; it all comes down to how well the team meshes.

IG updates their home venue poster wall

After IG announced TheShy's return to the stage, the team's popularity skyrocketed again. Recently, fans noticed that the player posters at IG's home venue have been refreshed. Besides the starting bot lane, jungler, and support from the second split, both TheShy and Rookie are on the poster wall. It seems that for the third split, the "Incheon Mid-Top Duo" will reunite. However, Rookie might not be the starter, as Nia is still on the team roster.

Compared to last year's "All-Star" lineup, IG's third-split roster only changes the AD position. These players should have no issues with synergy, but how TheShy and Rookie will perform is anyone's guess. TheShy hasn't played a pro match in two splits and only recently started grinding solo queue again. Rookie also missed an entire split, so his form is probably not as good as expected. Still, fans don't have high expectations—just making it from the Nirvana Group to the playoffs would be considered a success.

Zeka: Faker always reads a book before bed

After the LCK Asian Games roster was finalized, players were gathered for a training camp. Zeka recently revealed during a stream that he and Faker were roommates. Every time before going to sleep, Faker would read a book for a while. Zeka, who was watching videos on his phone nearby, felt out of place. Seeing Faker, Zeka couldn't help thinking, "I shouldn't be here scrolling through videos; I should be reading a book too."

It's well known that Faker loves reading. Living with such a disciplined player is indeed stressful. Our suggestion for Zeka: just watch game VODs instead—preferably T1's games—so Faker realizes that reading is a waste of time! Of course, that's just a joke. Reading before bed is definitely more helpful for sleep than scrolling through a phone, especially when you stumble on an addictive short drama that keeps you hooked for hours.

Conclusion:

If Clearlove joins WBG as coach, the jungler probably won't be swapped. Jiejie will remain the starter next split. This team is truly strange—they played well in the first split, but just changing the support in the second split caused a sudden collapse. Could it be that Erha was the true backbone of WBG? With both the coach and support being replaced, maybe the next split will see some improvement.

So what do you think about Clearlove's coaching ability?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!