eSports KeSPA 2
We did it! We filled the GPP’s yesterday and we have been awarded by DK with double the size main GPP! This is fantastic. Hopefully, we can do the same tonight and this streak can continue throughout the entire KeSPA and Demacia Cups. One thing to note, while yesterday we were able to avoid the roster shenanigans for the most part, tonight looks like it might be a bit trickier to navigate. I recommend waking up early just to be sure. If there are some unforeseen changes at least you’ll have that advantage over people that sleep through the night. Also, @kenzi131 on Twitter was pretty good about posting rosters yesterday and we only were burned by game 5. If you don’t want to do all that you can hop into TheEsportsDepartment.com’s discord and there should be folks there posting line ups as they come out.
Yeah, I already know what you’re thinking. That looks pretty busy, doesn’t it? SOOOOO many sub risks. KT has gone ahead and registered the maximum number of players for the tournament. You have 5 veterans of varied level of experience and 5 rookies from the academy ranks and it’s anyone’s guess how they’ll approach the tournament. The only thing that seems to be positive is that we’ll at least get a preview early of what the starting approach is as KT is in the first match of the night. If I knew that the experienced players would get both games I’d have some interest in this team and may just play them hoping that’s the case (even though I find that unlikely). Doran is my favorite target here, followed by Ucal and HyBriD. There is a legit chance they run out 2 different sets of five.
Day 1 Opponents Fredit Brion / GenG
On paper Hanwha has the most recognizable roster for day 2 teams, and only really trails Damwon when it comes to that. Chovy, Deft, and Morgan all played massive roles on good teams last year. I suspect their ownership will mirror that of Damwon yesterday, which is to say they’ll be 50%+ in most cases.
One of the ways I think you can get different with your Hanwha stacks is going to be getting the Jungle position into it. The three possibilities are relatively inexperienced and having to choose from three is never a fun prospect. The only thing I can foresee limiting that ownership is their match against T1. As we saw yesterday it’s not so easy to 2-0 on the day and stacking two teams that played each other is a strategy that can take down a GPP.
Day 1 Opponents T1 / Fredit Brion
A new addition to the LCK by way of franchising Fredit BRION has a few familiar faces those that watched the LCK and LPL last year may remember. Hoya was on Griffon and had a cup of coffee playing as the top laner in the spring. It didn’t go so well, but then again nothing did for them in the spring. Chieftain had a similarly brief stint as the Jungler for VG in LpL in the spring split, His time there was similarly poor, while UmTi was on Jin Air Green in the Challengers Korea league. Lava of course was on Hanwha over the summer, played 14 games with 1 win… as HLE didn’t get many of those. Hena was in Challengers Korea as well posting an approximately 50% win rate in 2020 across 57 games. Crescent played with the T1 academy roster that won both series in September and October. This bottom lane is the most intriguing part of the roster to me.
Day 1 Opponents KT / Hanwha Life
This roster has a lot of strange pieces to it. How they fit together after such a short time will be interesting to see, that’s the case for most rosters at this point but this one feels a bit different. Roach and Berserker are both from the T1 system. Mowgli returns from his time in LEC after being inactive all of 2020. Mireu was one of the many bodies that played for the bad Hanwha Life team the last split. Then you have the only question mark position in support. Hoit comes over from Damwon after losing his 2019 spot early in 2020 to Beryl. Then you have Asper who comes by way of the GenG academy. Unlike some of these other teams, this isn’t one piece together ripe with experience. This is a fairly raw squad but does give you some positional certainty. That along with the T1 name is sure to garner some ownership on its top 4.
Day 1 Opponents Hanwha / GenG
With the exception of Lonely and YoungJae this team is comprised entirely of academy players. Most of which only recently signed as on December 16th. This would be an easy team to pick on if it wasn’t for them playing a series against KT. Who I can see playing some strange combination out against a team they might feel is lesser in talent and certainly lacking continuity.
KT (-185) Vs Brion (+135)
Might take a small stab at Brion here. I’ll pick them for the upset.
Hanwha (-205) Vs T1 (+150)
Hanwha probably takes this, but I think T1 is a live dog. More so than most even in this tournament. My DFS exposure will likely have one or the other. The T1 pricing will make it easy to fit with just about anyone.
GenG (+125) Vs KT (-175)
Not looking to make a wager, but I’ll take KT here. I think it’s closer than what the odds say if KT runs out the inexperienced group. This game makes a perfect chance to do so.
Brion (+265) Vs Hanwha (-385)
Hanwha- No need to wager here.
T1 (-175) Vs GenG (+125)
T1 – If GenG can win their first game, and T1 loses to Hanwha. Maybe this line moves a bit towards even. In which case I might fire at T1, as I expect them to win this.
Predictions
Hanwha 2-0
T1 1-1
KT 1-1
Brion 1-1
GenG 0-2