OKSavingsBank BRION are on a two-game losing streak with defeats against Dplus KIA and T1; however, they beat Kwangdong Freecs twice in LCK 2024 Spring Week 5. Although losing to T1 and Dplus KIA isn’t surprising, BRION did not look good in either series, suggesting that their previous wins were nothing more than a flash in the pan.

DRX are not in a much better spot, having lost three of their last four series. They showed some signs of life against Dplus KIA, then defeated Nongshim RedForce at the end of February, but they also lost against Hanwha Life Esports in a very one-sided match.

Both teams have been very inconsistent this split anf come into this clash sitting at 2-10. While DRX have looked slightly better over the last two weeks, this should be a scrappy affair.

Hanwha Life Esports have not lost a game since they last played Gen.G at the end of LCK 2024 Spring Week 4. However, they had the luxury of facing mainly weaker opponents in KT Rolster, Nongshim RedForce, FearX, and DRX.

Gen.G, meanwhile, are on a five-game winning streak. While they have also played mostly weaker teams, that run includes a win over Hanwha Life Esports less than a month ago.

Gen.G have recently produced a few weaker performances, but this was likely due to the low-quality opponents they had to face. So, while they could’ve played better in their recent series, we can expect Gen.G to step up on Wednesday and begin their attack on the LCK 2024 Spring title.

Esports betting tips

HANWHA LIFE ESPORTS vs KT ROLSTER LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

?Hanwha Life Esports and KT Rolster will clash on Thursday, August 25, in the first round of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) 2023 Regional Finals. The winner will lock in a spot at LoL World Championship 2023 and join T1, Gen.G, and the winner of the Dplus KIA vs DRX series as one of four LCK representatives at the season-ending event.

These teams last met during the LCK 2023 Summer Playoffs, when KT Rolster won 3-0 with +9.4, +10.7, and +12.9k gold leads across the three maps. It was a very one-sided affair, and according to the top LoL esports betting sites, this one shouldn’t be much different.

KT Rolster are priced as $1.11 favourites to defeat Hanwha Life Esports for a reason. They won the LCK 2023 Summer regular season and have lost only three times this split – once against LCK champions Gen.G (1-2) and twice against T1 (2-3, 2-3).

Hanwha Life Esports have not been nearly as successful. They finished the regular season in third place, which sounds good, but it mostly had to do with Dplus KIA’s slow start and T1’s slump during Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s absence. More importantly, Hanwha Life Esports have a terrible record as underdogs (1-8).

This has to do with their one-dimensional playstyle. This works against lesser teams, but it leaves HLE vulnerable when faced with teams that can match them on an individual level.

But we don’t have to overanalyse the teams to figure out how this game will go. KT Rolster crushed Hanwha Life Esports 10 days ago, and due to their inflexibility, it’s hard to believe that HLE can forge a plan to upset KT.

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T1 vs KT ROLSTER LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

?T1 and KT Rolster will clash on Saturday, August 19, in the LoL Champions Korea (LCK) 2023 Summer lower-bracket finals. The two rivals last met in the second round of the upper bracket last week, when T1 edged past KT Rolster.

T1 had an excellent start to the regular season and looked like legitimate LCK 2023 Summer title contenders, but it all came crashing down in the fourth week when Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok took a four-week break with an arm injury. Without Faker, T1 would go on to win just one of eight series, but they quickly bounced back upon the mid laner’s return.

The three-time LoL world champions continued their resurgence into the playoffs, beating Dplus KIA (3-1) and KT Rolster (3-2), but proved to be no match for Gen.G (2-3) in the upper-bracket finals.

Overall, T1 have looked good, but despite their improvement and a 1-0 head-to-head lead against KT in the playoffs, Faker and co. enter this match as underdogs. On the one hand, it makes sense since KT Rolster didn’t play particularly well in their first meeting with T1; however, T1 have looked excellent in their three playoff games, suggesting they’re back in top form.

As with any edition of the Telecom Wars, this should be a very entertaining affair. On paper, there’s no clear favourite to come out ahead; however, if we ignore T1’s regular-season slump and focus solely on what they’ve shown in the playoffs, they shouldn’t be priced as underdogs.

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T1 vs DPLUS KIA LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

With their lineup back intact, T1 are firm favourites for their clash with Dplus KIA on Wednesday in the LCK Summer 2023 Playoffs.

?T1 looked terrible without Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, winning just one out of eight series while he was out with an injury. But as soon as the superstar mid-laner returned, T1 claimed back-to-back wins, albeit against Kwangdong Freecs (2-0) and Liiv SANDBOX (2-1).

Evidently, T1 are a much better team with their shot-caller on the Summoner’s Rift, but seeing them priced at $1.44 against Dplus KIA might be a bit of an over-exaggeration.

Dplus KIA haven’t looked too good this season, and they might not seem like a threat to win the LCK crown. But this squad is capable of much more than it has shown so far this year.

T1 and Dplus KIA have very similar stats across most performance metrics, and even if we compare the individual talent on the two rosters, it’s hard to pick a side. The numbers are skewed due to T1’s slump, but the eye test proves there isn’t much to separate the two squads.

T1 won against Dplus KIA in the fourth week of the regular season, but that was when Dplus were figuring things out, and it wasn’t until the final two weeks of the split that Dplus started showing some improvement.

Dplus KIA might have the tools to be great, but they’ve yet to put them to good use – and there is no guarantee that it will happen in the LCK 2023 Summer Playoffs either. Still, giving T1 a 69.4% implied probability of beating them is absurd.

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T1 enter their penultimate match of the LCK 2023 Summer regular season on a five-game losing streak, with defeats against KT Rolster (0-2), DRX (1-2), OKSavingsBank BRION (1-2), Hanwha Life Esports (0-2), and Dplus KIA (0-2). And still, they’re short-priced favourites to defeat Kwangdong Freecs.

This is mainly due to T1’s brand value and the fact that they field some of the best players in the league. But that hasn’t helped them accomplish much over the last two weeks, so why would it matter here?

That being said, Kwangdong Freecs have struggled even more than T1. KDF haven’t won a game since Week 4 of LCK 2023 Summer, which translates to eight straight losses and a 2-16 map record.

Since this is still a match between two struggling teams, it’s easy to make an argument in Kwangdong Freecs’ favour, but we would need a much better price to back the worst-performing team in the league. Even though it’s hard to feel optimistic about T1, they’re a good bet to sweep at $2.10 with LCK betting sites.

Dplus KIA head into the final week of the LCK 2023 Summer regular season as the same team we’ve known for this entire split – they’re extremely good at crushing weaker teams but can’t seem to figure out how to defeat the top dogs. This, however, comes with an asterisk.

On Sunday, Dplus KIA played a highly competitive game against Gen.G (0-2), and they came very close to winning the series. It was a frustrating loss, but it wasn’t a bad beat, demonstrating that Dplus KIA can dance with LCK’s top squads.

Nongshim RedForce enter this match desperately needing to win the next two games to overtake Liiv SANDBOX and lock a spot in the playoffs. But with Dplus KIA and KT Rolster standing in their way, RedForce’s chances to move up from a 5-11 record are slim to none.

Dplus KIA are 10-6 and can’t move up or down the ladder, so they might not care too much about winning on Wednesday. Still, they can’t afford to drop games to teams like RedForce, so even though they might not play at 100%, Dplus KIA should win this easily.

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Liiv SANDBOX won their fourth game of the split on Sunday against DRX (0-2), which puts them level on points with Kwangdong Freecs, OKSavingsBank BRION, and Nongshim RedForce. On the other side, Gen.G suffered their first defeat of LCK 2023 Summer against KT Rolster, who beat them 2-0 on Saturday.

Those results don’t mean much for this match – Gen.G are still a superior team to Liiv SANDBOX, who likely won’t even make the playoffs. But even though we know how this game should end, there is no value in backing Gen.G in the head-to-head markets.

LoL esports betting sites are paying $1.61 on Gen.G to secure first blood, which is a very generous offer. Gen.G have the league’s highest first blood rate (74.2%), whereas Liiv SANDBOX rank third-last with just 43.8%, and that number gets substantially lower against stronger teams.

First blood is a more volatile bet than most, but in this game it makes sense. Gen.G are extremely good in the early game and regularly punish weaker squads who can’t match their lane pressure.

Kwangdong Freecs will have to pull off a massive upset to make it past KT Rolster – who, with their 2-0 sweep of Gen.G last week, have earned the tag as the strongest team in the LCK. KT are undefeated over their last 12 fixtures; however, they’ve looked shaky in some recent outings against weaker teams.

In the sixth week of the regular season, KT Rolster dropped maps against Hanwha Life Esports and DRX through silly mistakes. That doesn’t prove that KT are easily exploitable, but they tend to play worse when not challenged.

The offered LCK betting odds for Kwangdong Freecs at the map line are too generous to ignore. Even though this looks like a very similar game to Gen.G vs Liiv SANDBOX, KT Rolster tend to take more risks than Go “Score” Dong-bin’s team. Also, the Freecs have side choice, which bumps them up a bit.

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?Kwangdong Freecs have been a solid team this season, but also not comparable to the elite few. They rank mid-table across most performance metrics and have proven to be very efficient in taking leads when the opportunity presents itself.

However, while Kwangdong Freecs look like an elite team for the first half of their matches, they struggle to close out games, which has been their main weakness and the big reason why KDF are not higher up the LCK ladder.

Gen.G are everything Kwangdong Freecs are and more. Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and co. have yet to lose a game this split (12-0) and have dropped just three maps across 27 played (24-3), which goes to show how dominant Gen.G are. We’re bound to see some regression at one point – the only challenge is to try and figure out when that’ll happen.

Kwangdong Freecs can take a game, but only if Gen.G give them some space, which we know doesn’t happen too often. But at the offered LoL betting odds, and considering KDF have side section, this is a bet worth taking.

?Seeing Nongshim RedForce priced as $3.00 underdogs against DRX is ridiculous, not because Nongshim RedForce are stronger than DRX, but because DRX aren’t that much better. DRX’s stock rose a bit on Sunday when they took a map off KT Rolster (1-2), but that was just one good game in a sea of mediocre showings.

Nongshim RedForce are essentially an LCK Challengers team, which only seems to win games in which their opponents mess up. They’ve not looked too good in their last two outings, but RedForce also had to play Gen.G (0-2) and T1 (0-2), which tells us nothing about their chances of defeating DRX.

Before the two-game slump, Nongshim RedForce swept Liiv SANDBOX (2-0), which is a much better indication of how they can perform against teams of similar calibre.

At the offered betting odds, you have to take Nongshim RedForce. DRX have looked slightly better recently, but they’ve not shown enough to justify being pegged as short-priced favourites.

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?Kwangdong Freecs suffered their third consecutive loss of the season on Wednesday against T1 (0-2). But according to the latest LoL betting odds, Kim “Taeyoon” Tae-yoon and co. should do better on Friday when they face off against Nongshim RedForce.

Nongshim RedForce are 1-3 ahead of Friday’s clash with Kwangdong Freecs, with just one close victory against OKSavingsBank BRION in the opening week of the split. Since then, RedForce have lost against Liiv SANDBOX (0-2), Gen.G (0-2), and Dplus KIA (0-2).

The main thing to take away from Nongshim RedForce’s recent outings is that they make too many mistakes, and while Kwangdong Freecs are known to slip at times, they also field better and more experienced players. Barring any surprises, Kwangdong Freecs should sweep.

?Liiv SANDBOX edged past OKSavingsBank BRION (2-1) on Wednesday and secured their second victory of the LCK Summer split. However, as bad as it may seem for SANDBOX to hold a 2-3 record, they had the displeasure of having to face Dplus KIA (0-2), T1 (0.2), and KT Rolster (0-2) across the first two weeks.

Liiv SANDBOX were a playoff team last split, and while their numbers in LCK 2023 Summer are a bit worse, this is still a quality squad whose only real issue is lack of consistency – with high highs and low lows.

Hanwha Life Esports are 2-2, but those defeats came against top-four contenders KT Rolster (1-2) and T1 (1-2) in the opening week of the split. Since then, HLE have beaten DRX (2-0) and Kwangdong Freecs (2-0). But even though Hanwha are doing well in the current meta, this head-to-head price is too short.

Hanwha Life Esports should win, but Liiv SANDBOX are good enough to show some resistance. Expect a close series.

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Hanwha Life Esports are 0-2 after the first week of LCK 2023 Summer, with defeats against KT Rolster (1-2) and T1 (1-2). But as bad as it is to start the split 0-2, HLE had to play against two of the strongest teams in the league, so things can only go up from here.

DRX share the same 0-2 record with defeats against Kwangdong Freecs (0-2) and Dplus KIA (1-2), which is not great, but DRX deserves some slack since they played well in both series. In addition, DRX fielded two rookies, mid laner Kang “kyeahoo” Ye-hoo and ADC Park “Paduck” Seok-hyeon, who performed surprisingly well, and now that they got rid of the stage nerves, DRX might start trending up.

Talent-wise, DRX look weaker than HLE, but that’s mostly because we don’t know what to expect from the rookies. Still, DRX showed a lot of good qualities last week and more than enough to deserve a shot on the map handicap market.

Gen.G are one of the main candidates to win the league, and they’ve yet to show any signs of struggle. In the first week of LCK 2023 Summer, Gen.G defeated KT Rolster (2-1) and T1 (2-1), so they already won against their main competition for the LCK crown.

Their next opponents, Kwangdong Freecs, were just a successful last week and secured two victories; however, those came against OKSavingsBank BRION (2-0) and DRX (2-0). Based on what we’ve seen, Kwangdong Freecs look like a decent team, but they’re nothing to write home about.

Gen.G are significantly stronger and should breeze past Kwangdong Freecs on Wednesday.

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According to the outright LCK 2023 Summer betting odds, Nongshim RedForce are one of the weakest teams in the league. They finished LCK 2023 Spring in 10th place with a 2-16 record, and without any significant roster changes, it’s tough to imagine them improving.

Nongshim opted to use 2023 as an experimental year by promoting the academy roster to the main lineup at the start of the season and sticking with the plan going into the summer split. But even though this roster lacks experience and doesn’t field any proven players, it has potential for growth.

Liiv SANDBOX finished LCK 2023 Spring in sixth place, but they likely won’t improve on that in this split – even with the signing of Park “Teddy” Jin-seong. Adding a former T1 ADC to the roster sounds good and adds to the hype, but Teddy is not the solution for SANDBOX, who have other areas they need to improve to be competitive.

The best League of Legends betting sites have Liiv SANDBOX priced as unbackable favourites, which means the value lies elsewhere. Nongshim RedForce might be one of the weaker teams in the league, but they don’t deserve to be $7.00 underdogs against a team that showed nothing in the opening match of the split.

Kwangdong Freecs made quick work of DRX (2-0) on Thursday, but they still have a lot more to prove before we can start talking about their chances to compete for playoff spots. And the same holds true for OKSavingsBank BRION, who kicked off LCK 2023 Summer with a rough loss against Nongshim RedForce (1-2) – one of the weakest teams in the league.

It’s not fair to try to rank teams based on their performances in the first match of the split, but Kwangdong Freecs are rightly considered favourites in this clash. While they’re not a very good team, if we consider what the two squads showed last split and the quality of the players, Kwangdong Freecs should defeat OKSavingsBank BRION more times than not.

This is Kwangdong Freecs’ game to lose; however, at $1.57 with GG Bet, they’re not a good bet. Instead, we like under 22.5 kills for both maps. We haven’t seen many bloody games this season in LCK, and the teams seem to prefer a more slow-paced playstyle which might be the theme of the Korean LoL league until the meta shifts.

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